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ISACA CISA Study Guide

ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

ISACA CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) is the certification for professionals who audit, control, monitor and assess an organization's information technology and business systems. It covers five domains, from the IS auditing process to the protection of information assets, always from the auditor's viewpoint. The exam has 150 multiple choice questions in four hours, and certification requires five years of IS audit, control or security experience.

  • Exam code CISA
  • 5 exam domains
  • 150 questions

This guide is free, with no sign-up. It explains every ISACA CISA exam topic in plain English, one chapter at a time. Read them in order or jump straight to the topic you need.

  • 5chapters
  • 30topics
  • 12diagrams and exhibits
  • 1 h 37 minfast track
Start with Information Systems Auditing Process
  • Every topic follows the same simple pattern: what it is, how it works, common mistakes
  • Diagrams and real command output where a picture explains it best
  • Exam tips and worked subnetting and IPv6 practice, with answers

How the exam is weighted

Each domain is worth this share of the exam, so spend your study time in proportion. Select a domain to open its chapter.

Chapters

Open a chapter to see its topics and how long each takes.

1Information Systems Auditing Process5 topics · 16 min fast trackAudit standards and ethics, audit types, risk-based planning, controls, sampling, evidence, analytics, reporting and quality.
  1. 1Audit Standards, Ethics and Types of Audits4 min
  2. 2Risk-Based Audit Planning and Types of Controls3 min
  3. 3Audit Project Management and Sampling3 min
  4. 4Audit Evidence and Data Analytics3 min
  5. 5Audit Reporting and Quality Assurance3 min
Read the chapter overview →
2Governance and Management of IT5 topics · 16 min fast trackLaws and standards, IT governance and strategy, policies, enterprise architecture, risk, privacy, data, vendors and performance.
  1. 1Laws, Standards, IT Governance and Strategy3 min
  2. 2IT Policies, Procedures and Enterprise Architecture3 min
  3. 3Enterprise Risk, Privacy and Data Governance3 min
  4. 4IT Resource and Vendor Management4 min
  5. 5IT Performance Monitoring and Quality Management3 min
Read the chapter overview →
3Acquisition, Development and Implementation4 topics · 13 min fast trackProject governance, business cases, development methods, control design, testing, release, migration and benefits review.
  1. 1Project Governance and the Business Case3 min
  2. 2Development Methodologies and Control Design4 min
  3. 3Implementation Testing and Release Management3 min
  4. 4Migration, Data Conversion and Post-Implementation Review3 min
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4Operations and Business Resilience8 topics · 27 min fast trackIT components, assets, scheduling, interfaces, shadow IT, service management, logs, databases, continuity and recovery.
  1. 1IT Components and Asset Management3 min
  2. 2Job Scheduling, Interfaces and End-User Computing3 min
  3. 3Availability, Capacity and Service Level Management3 min
  4. 4Incident, Problem, Change and Patch Management3 min
  5. 5Operational Log and Database Management3 min
  6. 6Business Impact Analysis and Business Continuity Planning4 min
  7. 7System Resilience and Data Backup4 min
  8. 8Disaster Recovery Plans and Testing4 min
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5Protection of Information Assets8 topics · 25 min fast trackSecurity frameworks, physical controls, IAM, network security, DLP, encryption, PKI, cloud, testing and incident response.
  1. 1Security Frameworks and Physical Controls3 min
  2. 2Identity and Access Management3 min
  3. 3Network, Endpoint Security and Data Loss Prevention3 min
  4. 4Data Encryption and Public Key Infrastructure4 min
  5. 5Cloud, Virtualization, Mobile, Wireless and IoT3 min
  6. 6Security Awareness and Attack Methods3 min
  7. 7Security Testing and Monitoring Tools3 min
  8. 8Incident Response, Evidence and Forensics3 min
Read the chapter overview →

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The full ISACA CISA question bank has 1,050 questions, with timed practice exams and an explanation for every answer.

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This study guide is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ISACA. Vendor names, certification names and exam codes are trademarks of their respective owners and are used for identification only.