Local Businesses Should Schedule Regular Cybersecurity Audits

The second you hear “audit,” your brain likely goes into damage control mode. However, the purposes of an audit are not necessarily malicious. In fact, they can be remarkably beneficial for a number of reasons, including network security. A good audit can help your business stay secure from threats and vulnerabilities.

Let’s examine the many benefits of a security audit and how your organization can make them a priority.

The Importance of a Security Audit

A security audit comprehensively examines your business’ protections against today’s advanced cyberthreats. It can help you identify opportunities for improvement and existing vulnerabilities.

A security audit is vital to learning more about how your network can react to the various threats that can surface during day-to-day operations. Here are some of the ways a security audit can improve protections for your business:

• An audit helps you find and resolve digital vulnerabilities in your infrastructure
• You also get insights into your business’ security and ways to improve it overall
• Auditing your security preparedness also helps you meet the evolution of modern threats
• Taking the initiative to identify and improve these vulnerabilities helps you inspire trust in your clients/customers
• Many compliance standards that businesses are beholden to are more easily followed with the help of an audit
• The information gleaned during an audit can help you develop more effective security policies moving forward
• Cyberattack preparedness and response can also be informed by data collected in an audit

What Types of Security Audits Exist?

Depending on who is doing the audit, your business can conduct an internal or an external audit. Internal audits are done by someone within your business, whereas an external audit is conducted by a third party. They each have specific benefits and drawbacks. There are five categories that we can use to separate security audits:

1. Data - How protected is your data and access to it, whether at rest in a technology infrastructure or in transit?
2. Operational - When examining your data loss prevention strategies, does every policy and procedure meet applicable best practices?
3. Network - Are your network-wide security controls effective, including your antivirus and monitoring strategies? 
4. System - What processes and procedures are in place regarding account privileges and their management, patching, or role-based access controls?
5. Physical - While your team uses their devices, what requirements are in place for them to access your network securely regarding access controls, authentication measures, and on-device data protections?

How You Can Make the Most of Your Security Audits

No matter what type of security audit you conduct, you can make them more effective with the following actions:

Use Goals to Your Advantage

You should enter a security audit with specific objectives, such as examining how well your network security solution functions, what vulnerabilities you need to resolve, and so on. Having goals will help ensure that the audit fulfills its purpose.

Communicate Effectively with Your Auditor

You will need to communicate clearly with your auditor, whether they are internal employees or an external provider like Washington Works, throughout the auditing process. This will help ensure the evaluation is accurate, complete, unbiased, and compliant.

Make Use of Your Information

You should take advantage of your security audit’s results to make better and more informed decisions in the future. A security audit is all about action—doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t. You should seriously consider your auditor’s recommendations to improve the security of your business.

Let Us Help Your Business

If your business struggles with network security, or you want a second opinion of your current infrastructure security setup, Washington Works is happy to help. Learn more by calling us today at 301-571-5040.