Social media governance is critical to enterprises that are seeking the right balance between transparency and control of these rapidly growing tools. ISACA, the global association of 95,000 IT assurance, security and governance professionals, has issued a new customizable audit program to help enterprises address this emerging and complex area. The Social Media Audit/Assurance Program focuses on effective policies, training and awareness, and monitoring.

Additional audit programs recently published by ISACA include:

•   Apache Web Services Server Audit/Assurance Program;

•   MySQL Server Audit/Assurance Program;

•   VMware Server Virtualization Audit/Assurance Program;

•   Microsoft Internet Information Services 7 Web Services Server Audit/Assurance Program;

•   Windows Active Directory Audit/Assurance Program;

•   Mobile Computing Security Audit/Assurance Program; and

•   Cloud Computing Management Audit/Assurance Program.

“These audit programs are templates designed to be starting points and can be easily customized to fit a specific operating environment,” said Norm Kelson, lead author of the programs. “Developed by a global team of experienced assurance professionals, they represent the latest expertise, and are peer-reviewed for added value.”

The audit programs provide guidelines and direction for the practice of IT audit and assurance and can be used as a road map to complete a specific process. ISACA developed this guidance for IT audit and assurance practitioners; however, security and business professionals can also benefit from applying the control objectives and audit steps to make scope areas more robust.

All audit programs, available here, are free for ISACA members and $45 for nonmembers. Additional guidance on social media governance is available here.