Security Audit

A cyber security audit is often the first step to ensuring the security of your business, especially when most employees work remotely. An audit is the starting point for building a continuous safety improvement process in the company. The process starts with non-invasive testing of specific resources in the infrastructure and checking these against given threats. The audit may be performed by an independent third party or by an internal team who will then take the necessary steps to correct identified issues.  

It’s important to mention that an IT security audit is not there to point out how poorly the IT department is doing. On the contrary, an audit (especially an external one) should give your security engineers gear to protect your data, system, and users in the best possible way.  

Here are four reasons why you should consider doing a cyber security audit today: 

1. Assessment of the strong points and the weak points of existing security measures. 

2. Continuous improvement approach. 

3. Building credibility among business partners. 

4. Sharing best practices between the auditor and auditee. 

Let’s take a closer look at the reasons listed above. 

Cyber security audit helps to assess potential risks  

Creating a security inventory and evaluating its value is the core of an ICT audit and, at the same time, a good reason itself to start the auditing process. It will give you an overview of your security procedures (if you have them in place) followed by potential risks and vulnerabilities.  

The assessment will show you the real picture of the potential of your IT security measures compared with the risks and faults still present in your infrastructure or applications. Don’t worry if the assessment uncovers problems you couldn’t spot before. That’s exactly what you should expect. 

What’s more, the assessment should be followed by a detailed list of threats along with their risk level and specific recommendations on how to deal with the vulnerability. This list itself is a valuable foundation for a long-term security strategy. 

Security audit helps your organizations continuously learn 

Many say that securing IT systems is more like a marathon than a sprint. The same applies to security audits with the reservation that repetition is a key success factor. How often a company conducts an IT security audit should depend on the specifics of the industry in which it is located. It can be performed on-demand, monthly, quarterly, or annually, however, it is recommended to keep at least a semi-annual frequency.  

Why so often? Regular cybersecurity updates not only will help your engineers learn the hard facts about the state of security in your company. Most of all, they will deliver the knowledge in chunks that are possible to digest in 6 months. In other words, every six months, your IT team will receive a list of suggestions for improvement, most of which can be implemented before the next planned audit. This way, your organization will get stronger with every security audit. 

Apart from regular checks, it is worth checking the health of our cybersecurity in given circumstances: 

• after a data security breach, 

• when you implement a new IT system, 
• when your company grows by acquisition and thus increases the number of employees and systems, 
• after you changed hardware or network devices, 
• when a high level of security can make you distinguish yourself from your competition, 
• when your last audit was conducted later than a year ago. 

Security means credibility 

We often see that the frequency and depth of audits are influenced by external factors, e.g. regulatory requirements. This refers to sectors such as banking, fintech, or e-commerce. However, setting high standards in terms of cyber security audits can become a brand differentiator and trust factor.  

If you decide to regularly fill in the gaps, streamline external technology processes and improve security configurations, you will gain strong credibility as a trusted business partner among your current and potential future customers. 

Knowledge beyond borders 

Finally, there’s one more reason to mention, especially about audits conducted by external teams. The findings of an audit should bring new knowledge to your internal IT department. Ask the auditing company to conduct a summary session with Q&A to discuss their methods and findings with your team. This way, you’ll be able to learn from the expertise of the auditors. You may also want to think about additional training for your team so that next time, they could run some parts of the audit internally.  

Cyber security audits – key takeaways 

What can you do with the results obtained from the IT security audit? Certainly thanks to the audit you will: 

• understand what security gaps you have in your company, 
• adjust the solutions to the required safety rules,  
• direct and increased the awareness of managers of individual departments in your company, 
• select better-secured equipment, 
• increase network security in areas that are most at risks, such as email and websites, 

• create a list of actions and prioritize corrections and changes.  

Thanks to the cyber security audit, you will be able to assess the potential of the IT security department, get a full picture of security threats and discover hidden vulnerabilities before hackers do it. You can focus on improving security in the areas of IT that require it.