The Complete Guide That Makes Conducting an IT Security Audit Simple
Did you know that there were more than 80,000 cyberattacks each day in the United States of America in the year 2018? Keeping your network and data safe is vital to running a successful business. One of the best ways to ensure that your IT department is providing professional IT services is to perform an IT security audit for your business.
True cybersecurity experts will know what needs to be done in order to save your business from cyberattacks. That could save you millions of dollars. The good news is that you’re in the perfect place to get a clearer picture of if you need to make the switch to managed IT services for your business.
Continue reading this article to learn more about how to perform a security audit within the IT industry today.
Assess Your Company’s Assets
When you first start out performing an IT security audit on your business, it is important that you start with your company’s assets. Start by listing every asset that the company has to start determining what needs to get audited. You’ll want to list all computers and any tech equipment that your business needs in order to function.
Another big asset that you’ll want to make sure to assess is your company’s sensitive data as well as the sensitive data of your customers. You’ll be facing major issues if one or both of those sets of data is vulnerable to theft from hackers. Make sure to account for all important internal documentation as well when you’re listing your business’s assets.
Keep in mind that it will be quite difficult to audit every single asset that your company has, but do your best to audit as many of them as you can. This is important for keeping your information and that of your customers safe.
Identify Any Threats
A company that provides good business IT services and security will have no problems identifying threats. They’ll find them when they start auditing your company’s assets. On the list of assets that you created, a good process is to list any threats that your assets could face. There are a number of things that count as a threat so you need to be aware of the potential threats you’ll face.
You should be sure to define a threat as anything that looks to cost your business a significant amount of money. This could be an activity, a behavior, or even an occasion. All of these things are threats that you’ll want to make sure that the cybersecurity experts address.
Conduct an Evaluation of Your Current Security
Once you’re done identifying the threats that your business faces, the next step is to do an evaluation of your company’s security measures. It is important that you be honest with yourself about your business’s cybersecurity flaws. This will help you to address them and prevent any cyber theft from occurring.
If you’re honest about your evaluation when it comes to your business’s security then you’ll have zero issues addressing those issues. That way you’re not vulnerable to them any longer. Be as objective with your assessment of your security as possible.
You might discover that your IT department is doing a wonderful job at preventing and identifying different threats that your company’s data faces, but that most of your employees require training when it comes to the different scams they could face.
You’ll want your IT department to be strong when it comes to the security needs of your business. At the same time, it is important that your other employees are also on board with the security needs of your company and the roles that they need to play in order to keep your information and data safe.
Designate Risk Scores
The main reason for performing this security audit is to identify threats that you didn’t know existed. Once you’ve completed that step, you’ll want to start looking for ways to eliminate these threats. The best way to get started is to designate risk scores for each of the threats your business faces.
This means that you’ll rate each threat so that you’ll know which ones are the priority. You’ll have no problem keeping things organized and knowing which order you need to go in when tackling these issues.
You should consider the potential damage that your business faces if a certain event happens, how likely that event is to happen, and how ready your company and your IT department are to handle that event if it happens. Combining these three different factors is the best way to get an accurate risk score for your company’s vulnerable areas.
You’ll also want to consider changes in the cybersecurity industry and the different trends that other companies are following. There are also things that your business will need to do in order to stay compliant with rules and regulations.
Put Your Cybersecurity Plan Together
Once you’re finished with assigning the risk score to each possibility, it is time to start putting your plan together. Again, you’ll return to the list you’ve created and look at the different events that might happen to your business. Start with coming up with a plan of action for when that event happens.
This allows for a quick and natural reaction that will help to prevent damage to your business. It will also help you to start eliminating all of the cybersecurity threats that your business faces. Your customers will be comfortable doing business with you because they’ll know that their information is safe. Use this as a list of things to do over the next few weeks to keep your business’s info safe.
Get Started On Your IT Security Audit Today
When it comes to performing an IT security audit, there is no better time to start than now. Cyberthreats cause millions of dollars of damage to companies across the globe every day. Using your IT department to help determine and eliminate threats is the best approach to take if you want to keep your business’s information and that of your customers safe and sound.
