How to Prepare for a Security Audit

Modern organizations need to deal with various security risks. There are various types of cyberattacks that you need to deal with. Also, you need to worry about things like human error. These things can expose your organization data. IT security failures can affect your business reputation. Security audits can help you in protecting your business from these risks. In this article, we are going to share some tips that will help you in preparing for a security audit.

Definition of an IT Security audit:

An IT Security audit will help you in finding weaknesses in your cybersecurity architecture. These assessments will help you in testing your security solutions. It will help you find gaps in your IT architecture. This will ensure that you can improve your network security.

However, most companies are not ready for a security audit. You need to do some preparations before the auditor visits your company. We are going to share some tips that will help you in preparing for an audit.

1. Network Assets diagram

The main aim of a security audit is to find unknown assets in your network. However, you should provide a network diagram to your auditor. This will ensure that they can quickly check your entire network. A network diagram will help the auditor in understanding your entire network. You should mention all the assets that you own. Also, you should mention how they are connected with each other.

The network diagram will help you in streamlining the auditor assessment. They will get a basic idea of your network. Thus, they can quickly assess your entire network.

2. Review your IT Security policy

Your organization should have a clear IT security policy. This policy will help you in handling your organization data. It should highlight all the security controls that you are using to protect your data. Your policy should talk about the responsibilities of your employees. This policy should be available to your employees.

Your policy should mention the type of data that you are storing. This will help you in determining the level of security that you need for protecting your data.

You might have access to high-risk data. If you are storing PHI records or financial information, then you need to protect them. This data will mostly fall under some legal restrictions or compliance.

It is also important to protect confidential data. This data might not be protected by law. It will contain proprietary knowledge or data that can cause your organization’s reputation. However, you don’t need to worry about public data. You can distribute this information without worrying about any consequences.

3. Organize your IT security policies

Your auditor will mostly conduct interviews with your employees. This will help them in understanding your business security level. However, you should tell them about the compliance policies in the starting. You should organize all your IT security policies.

You need to include your password policies document. It will contain password creation rules. You also need to include your user account restrictions document. This document will contain details about how users are defined. You need to mention the access controls that you are using.

If you have some internet usage policies, then you should include it. Many companies restrict some websites at their workplace. You should also mention your BYOD or bring your own device policies. This policy will ensure that your employees can use their personal devices at the office.

This will ensure that your auditor can understand your cybersecurity strategy. They can also quickly find gaps in your procedures and policies.

4. Review all compliance standards

Most companies need to follow some compliance standards. For example, if you are in the healthcare sector, then you need to follow HIPAA compliance. Similarly, financial companies need to follow the PCI DSS compliance. You should ensure that you are following the required security compliance. It is also important to inform your compliance team about the standards that you need to meet.

If your auditor knows about your compliance requirements, then they can adjust their assessment criteria. It is very difficult to evaluate an IT security strategy without this information. Your auditor doesn’t need to guess the compliance standards that you need to follow.

You should educate yourself about compliance requirements. This will help you in ensuring that you are following the compliance requirements. You can work with your compliance and audit team for finding weaknesses in your plan.

5. Conduct an Internal audit

First, you should take all the preliminary steps. After that, you should conduct a self-assessment. Your internal security team can manually check your security controls, processes, and policies. They can also use automated tools for checking your security systems and infrastructure.

You need to ensure that your internal audit is similar to an external audit. This will help you in finding potential gaps in your network. It will help you in preparing for the real audit. Your team might have worked hard to prepare for a security audit. However, they might still don’t know about how to answer difficult questions that an external auditor can ask. If you are conducting an internal audit, then it will be very beneficial for your team members.

You will find many gaps in security procedures or controls during an internal security audit. The best thing about an internal audit is that you can still fix your mistakes. This will ensure that you will easily pass the external audit. An internal audit will help you in modifying your security procedures. It will ensure that you can quickly fix the issues in your infrastructure.

Conclusion

These tips will help you in preparing for a security audit. Most SMBs don’t have access to an internal IT security team. Thus, it is very hard to prepare for an IT security audit. You should consider working with an MSP like Bleuwire. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in preparing for an audit. They will help you in creating an IT security strategy for your company. Also, they will help you in finding potential weaknesses in your network. You can fix these issues before a real audit. If you need more information regarding IT security, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.