Performing regular cybersecurity audits is now critical in assisting companies with managing the daily battle of cyber threats. Many organizations have weaknesses in their information technology infrastructure that leaves them open to cyber attacks and data breaches. Cybersecurity audits will locate these weaknesses so they can be patched to decrease the likelihood of future attacks. Many businesses have adopted cloud services and though using the cloud can lead to better productivity and increased data storage, cloud optimization has led to many cyber-attacks. As long as an organization can regularly audit its cybersecurity, adopting cloud services can positively transform how a business is run. Our blog this week will focus on what cybersecurity audits are and how they can benefit your organization.
What is a cybersecurity audit?
A cybersecurity audit involves the analysis of the IT infrastructure of a business. The purpose of a cybersecurity audit is to detect various vulnerabilities, threats, weaknesses, and high-risk practices within the business. The audit is also used to examine compliance and evaluate against specific standards to validate that exact needs are being met.
What is tested when a cybersecurity audit is performed?
Data Security – This involves a review of network access control, encryption, and transmissions.
Operational Security – A thorough review of security policies, procedures, and controls.
Network Security – An inspection of network and security controls, anti-virus configurations, and security monitoring capabilities.
System Security – This review covers the hardening processes, patching processes, account management, and role-based access.
Physical Security – A review of disk encryption, role-based access controls, data, and multifactor authentication.
What kind of businesses need cybersecurity audits?
The short answer is all of them. In today’s world of cyber-attacks, every organization, large or small, needs a cybersecurity audit. It should be a large concern for businesses that handle sensitive information such as medical facilities or law firms. Some organizations are even required to perform cybersecurity audits because of federal regulations or industry guidelines.
How do I know if my business needs a cybersecurity audit?
One of the more common reasons businesses opt for cybersecurity audits is that they are using legacy equipment with outdated security measures. Technology is ever changing and so are hackers. Conducting an audit will allow the business to upgrade to the newest and most effective cyber defense technology.
Another reason might be that your business has recently fallen victim to one or more cyber-attacks. Getting hacked is an obvious indicator that your infrastructure has weakened defenses. You should also never assume that because you have suffered one attack, you will not suffer another. Hackers always exploit weak targets and if you have been targeted in the past, you are advertising that your security infrastructure is not particularly robust.
A growing business also needs to conduct regular cybersecurity audits. Because many organizations are choosing to utilize productivity and cost saving technology such as cloud computing and IT (Internet of Things), they need to be assessing their security measures at the same time. Utilizing these technologies without strengthening defenses can put the whole company at risk for a major cyber-attack.
How often should a cybersecurity audit be conducted?
This is a tricky question to answer. It depends on the size of your company and budget. Larger corporations often perform monthly audits because of the sheer amount of data they handle. A medium-sized company may only require audits twice a year while small businesses only need a single yearly audit. Scheduling your audits and performing them is much less stressful when working with a managed service provider like Tekscape. We will perform the audits for you and then assist in addressing the weaknesses that come up. You do not have to worry about having your internal IT staff being distracted from problems because they are too busy running the company’s cybersecurity audits.
About Tekscape
Tekscape is committed to providing proactive, responsive, and timely managed IT services support for our clients. We start with our comprehensive new client onboarding process designed to get your business up-and-running on our monitoring and management tools with as little disruption as possible. For over 15 years, we have successfully onboarded simple and complex IT infrastructure supporting multiple users including:
• Servers and Systems
• Networking
• Collaboration (Phone, Video)
• Desktop, Email and Endpoints
• Microsoft Office 365 & Azure
• Security & Disaster Recovery
As your trusted partner, Tekscape becomes your go-to-guide for technology best practices aligned with your industry and your unique business goals. Our technology solutions can help reduce operational costs, eliminate downtime and decrease overall IT spend.
