What Is a Cyber Security Audit?

While the overarching goal of a cyber security audit is to reduce the downtime, loss of revenue and reputational damage that a cyber attack may bring, there are specific benefits to organizations that conduct regular and well-structured audits.

Similar to financial audits, cyber security audits are typically carried out by independent third parties. This ensures an objective approach and eliminates any conflicts of interest that could come into play with an internally performed audit. An in-depth analysis of the organization’s IT infrastructure by an external source provides an objective and unbiased view of its operations. Free of preconceptions, this objective analysis can be used as the basis for solutions that can protect the business based on its own unique characteristics, conditions and vulnerabilities.

An organization may not have been the victim of a cyber attack before, but that doesn’t mean it’s not at risk for one. By regularly auditing network access control, encryption use, transmissions and other activities, IT professionals can be assured the mechanisms they’ve put in place to protect these systems are functioning as intended. 

Another fundamental benefit of a cyber security audit is that it can uncover gaps in a company’s online protection, enabling their skilled cyber security professionals to devise a well-informed approach to shoring up firewalls and other cyber defenses. 

Companies that fail to take a hard look at their security systems may also be falling behind in regulatory requirements. Security audits are often used to determine compliance with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that have specifications for how organizations must manage sensitive consumer health and financial information. By regularly conducting thorough audits, businesses can avoid the regulatory penalties that can be part of the consequential fallout from a data breach.

Considering the enormous amount of ground that an audit could potentially cover, it is important to determine the audit’s subject as a first step. The cyber security audit universe is actually quite broad, encompassing all of an organization’s control sets, management practices and governance, and risk and compliance provisions. In some cases, this is expanded to include third parties, such as vendors, and it is now common practice for most enterprises to extend the scope of the audit to external infrastructure such as travel and in-home settings and cloud infrastructure. 

An organization’s cyber security checklist should consider all of these elements when conducting an audit to ensure that the relevant controls are in place, optimized and compliant:

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Since a cyber security audit is like a snapshot of a company’s IT security health, the frequency of such audits depends on a wide range of factors, including an organization’s budget, whether they’ve recently made significant software changes and the regulatory environment they operate in. Considering this, it’s good practice to conduct audits on a regular basis, especially when a new measure or protocol has been implemented.

As noted by cyber security ratings firm Security Scorecard, there are distinct differences between cyber security audits and cyber security assessments. 

Cyber security audits are point-in-time evaluations that confirm specific security controls are in place. A cyber security assessment is a high-level analysis that evaluates the effectiveness of those controls and an organization’s cyber security maturity. 

An audit is typically performed by an independent, third-party organization whose members are connected to a regulatory body. Organizations can assign an internal team of auditors, but it can be difficult to get an objective picture of the state of the security protocols without an unbiased outside perspective.

Another distinction is that audits typically follow established checklists to verify compliance with the company’s controls, policies and procedures. While they confirm the presence of controls, they can’t guarantee the effectiveness of those controls and may fail to identify potential vulnerabilities. 

Cyber security assessments are driven by business outcomes such as continuity and resilience and can provide an in-depth look at the effectiveness of a company’s security program. 

Whether a cyber security audit is conducted internally or with external partners, best practices to follow include:

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