IT Audit’s Perspectives on the Top Technology Risks for 2021

Cybersecurity, privacy, data and resilience dominate the top technology challenges for organisations, according to ISACA/Protiviti global survey of IT audit leaders and professionals

In September/October 2020, ISACA and Protiviti conducted a global survey of more than 7,400 IT audit and risk leaders and professionals to obtain their perspectives on the top technology risks their organisations will face in 2021. We also addressed the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic as well as ongoing digital transformation efforts.

The results are enlightening, with cybersecurity and privacy issues, regulatory compliance, data, disaster recovery, and other pandemic-driven concerns ranking among the top technology risks for organisations globally. Interestingly, the top technology risk issues are generally consistent across different industries and regions, yet there are noticeable differences between organisations we classify as Digital Leaders and other organisations (we define our Digital Leader categorisation on pages 6-7). The risks, which reflect our current times, provide a clear roadmap for IT audit functions as to where they should focus their attention and energy in 2021.

From their commitment to continual risk assessments to their perception of virtually all technology risk issues to be more significant compared with other organisations, Digital Leaders are able to see their organisation in different ways, which is to their advantage.