Don’t Risk Your Data: Get the Best Outcome From Your Cybersecurity Audit

The need for sound cybersecurity measures has never been greater. As a business owner, CIO, or cybersecurity professional, you know that the risk and cost of data loss from a security breach can be astronomical, and it’s growing every year. If you want to protect your organization’s data and investments, the result of an effective cybersecurity audit should never be taken lightly; knowing how to get the most reliable outcome during your audit process, you’re safeguarding against potentially destructive consequences. In this blog post series, we’ll discuss why auditing is necessary in today’s business environment and the best practices and technologies available to help strengthen your security posture.

How Would Your Business Cyber Risk Management Perform If You are Hit by An Attack Tomorrow?

Cyber threats are increasingly becoming more sophisticated and are no longer a question of ‘if’ an attack will hit your business but ‘when.’ The challenge for any business today is to prepare Cyber Risk Management plans that equip them to fight off potential cyber intrusions. It is essential to design Cyber Security plans that anticipate future threats, respond promptly, and develop effective solutions when an attack occurs. Therefore, in the event of an attack tomorrow, having a Cyber Security plan in place can help protect against costly damages minimizing the impact of a cyber intrusion.

How will Cybersecurity Audit be helpful for your Business?

Cybersecurity audits can benefit any business because they help identify gaps in your security posture and recommend how to improve it. An effective security audit will include a comprehensive assessment of your existing policies, processes, tools, people skills and technologies needed to properly protect an organization’s information resources. It also helps discover weaknesses that may have gone unnoticed and can help businesses stay ahead of potential threats.

Benefits of Cybersecurity Audits

1. Identify areas of vulnerability.
2. Develop secure operational procedures.
3. Strengthen security posture with appropriate controls.
4. Identify malicious activities before they become a threat.
5. Save costs by reducing the chances of data loss, business disruption, and fines from the Government and/or regulators.
6. Improve customer trust and confidence.

Cybersecurity Audits: Best Practices + Checklist

Regarding cybersecurity audits, the best practices and checklists can make all the difference in achieving an effective and successful audit. A cybersecurity audit evaluates a company’s cybersecurity infrastructure and processes against criteria such as industry standards and compliance regulations. An ideal cyber security audit checklist should include

• a thorough assessment of the security controls in place and an adequate review of the audit scope.
• It’s important to have an established cybersecurity audit framework tailored to address any compliance issues, security gaps, and vulnerabilities that could arise from this assessment. For instance you can quickly go through PCI DSS Quick Reference Guide to identify requirements. You can do the same for other cybersecurity frameworks or standards
• Additionally, cybersecurity professionals must ensure that the timeframes for periodic reviews or updates match organizational needs.

By following these best practices and creating an effective cyber security audit checklist, organizations can better assess their security posture before something goes wrong and significantly reduce cyber risks over time.

How do you choose the right cybersecurity audit for your business?

When it comes to finding the right cybersecurity audit approach for your business, there are a few key factors that you should consider.

1. First, look at the Scope of a cybersecurity audit with reference to your organization’s current security posture and decide what type of audit would be most beneficial. For example, an in-depth technical audit may be best if you have a large network and complex system architecture. In addition, the cybersecurity audit can also cover Cyber Risk Management and Cyber Risk Governance Training – Awareness, Law, Regulations & Contracts, Technical Security controls, business continuity management and third-party data management as part of your organization’s cybersecurity practices.
2. Industry or Sector focus – Financial, government, and healthcare organizations, for example, often have specific requirements that must be met in order to remain compliant with your specific industry regulation, standards, or framework. In these cases, a specialized audit may be necessary to meet specific industry compliance standards. Hence, your scope of security audit will have to match relevant compliance standards applicable to your industry’s cyber security regulations.
3. Audit Frequency or Audit report timeline: Once you have identified the type of audit and scope that is best for your organization, it’s important to determine how often these audits should be conducted. While there are no hard-and-fast rules for this, a good rule of thumb is conducting an audit at least once yearly. However, if you are preparing for a certification audit, e.g. PCI DSS, ISO 27001, you must conduct your audit according to the frequency. For instance, the PCI DSS audit cycle is annual or bi-annual, which can be based on the acquirer’s (i.e. VISA, MasterCard e.t.c.) compliance report cycle requirement.
4. Budget or cost and resources required to complete any cybersecurity audits. Depending on the type and scope of your audit, costs can range from a few hundred dollars for simpler assessments to tens of thousands for more complex ones. It’s important to ensure that you are adequately budgeting for any audit and have the resources (e.g. personnel) needed to conduct a thorough audit review.
5. Internal and external auditors: You need to consider if you require to hire an auditor as part of your organization or engagement an external auditor depending on the type of industry and regulatory requirements

Remediating Security Threats

After determining what is going on, you can start addressing the problem. It’s quite possible that this investigation leaves you and your security teams with a number of follow-up tasks. The four main categories are people and systems, as well as policy. Many protection options are available to protect against the many threats mentioned in this article. Remember, the most appropriate solutions can differ among organizations. System scan. Compliance regulations might overlap with the cybersecurity responses you have implemented. ZenGRC is a free software platform which allows users to stay safe with various framework systems.

Understand the Basics of a Cybersecurity Audit – What It Is, What to Expect, and How to Prepare.

Cybersecurity audits involve assessing the organization’s IT infrastructure and policies to meet industry standards and best practices. During the audit, both automated and manual processes are used. It’s critical to be prepared to answer questions about access control protocols, authentication technologies, data storage security measures, patching schedules and more.

How to Prepare for Cybersecurity Audit

1. Know the different components of a security audit and what they evaluate.

Get the audit or compliance requirements, including control lists. Each standard cybersecurity framework and regulation has a list of required controls that the cyber security audit will be assessed. Ensure you understand the requirements and how they apply to your organization and the defined audit scope.

2. Perform a GAP analysis

The evaluation of your organization’s cybersecurity program against compliance standards, security benchmarks or cybersecurity framework is very important to gauge your readiness with respect to the cybersecurity audit checklist. Then highlight any areas where additional controls may be needed in order to meet the standards. The outcome of this initial assessment i.e. gap assessment should be with the auditing team and updated throughout the preparation for the cyber security audit.

Security gap analysis should be seen as a reality check of your cybersecurity risks by your cybersecurity team and, more importantly, the organization’s management even before the preparation for the audit begins.

4. Risk Assessment

The importance of cybersecurity risk assessment should not be underestimated. A risk assessment is essential to the preparation process as it helps identify potential issues and vulnerabilities before the audit begins. A quick guide on how o carry out a security risk assessment can be found in my blog post about network security. One important factor is to include your risk treatment plans.

6. Documentation and evidence

Auditors will need proof of security, compliance status, and the effectiveness of your cybersecurity program. As such, ensure all documents are up to date and relevant to the audit scope, including but not limited to policies, security architecture, procedures, logs, reports, records, cybersecurity performance over a certain period covered by the audit or any other artifacts demonstrating your organization’s security posture.

7. Identify key personnel to be involved in the audit process.

Identifying key participants and stakeholders before you perform cybersecurity audits is so critical to the success of your cybersecurity audit. First of all, your management must fully support the security audit and/or board.

1. The security auditors that will perform a cybersecurity audit. This can be internal or external auditors or both.
2. IT team, e.g. system administrator, network administrator, database administrator, developers, incident management teams, service providers
3. Business system or application owners
4. Risk and compliance personnel (if separate from your security personnel or team)
5. Legal Department
6. Information security team
7. Human resource personnel
8. Third-party vendor/software providers, where relevant.

One of the organizational benefits that cybersecurity audit offers is the need for collaboration across different stakeholders. Hence Identifying the roles and responsibilities of each key stakeholder is pivotal.

8. Audit Query Response

Ensure that you have an audit plan for responding quickly to any findings or issues raised by the auditor during the audit. This will help ensure that your organization is ready for the cyber security audit and that any remediation required can be implemented immediately.

Most auditors, especially for external audits, do have a template for audit queries and responses, go ahead and ask for one at the audit opening meeting or briefs.

Audit Management Automation or Tools

Continuous audits are essential to ensure and maintain a secure and compliant IT environment. The right cyber security audit management tools can make the auditing process more efficient and effective.

By automating tasks such as threat detection, vulnerability assessment, incident response, reporting, and compliance monitoring, you are able to save time, money and resources in maintaining security. Various audit management tools are available to help organizations implement the best security practices and manage their IT environment for compliance.

How to Conduct a Thorough Cybersecurity Audit

Conducting a thorough cybersecurity audit involves evaluating an organization’s security posture to identify vulnerabilities, risks, and areas for improvement. A comprehensive audit should cover technical, administrative, and physical security controls. Here’s a step-by-step guide to performing a cybersecurity audit:

1. Audit the organization’s security posture: We look at the organizational structure, security policies, standards and procedures, and culture to see how they support or hinder security. It also includes assessing the organization’s security program’s maturity and ability to manage risk effectively. This is also called phase 1 tabletop audit in some cybersecurity compliance assessment or certification processes.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of security controls: This includes testing and evaluating physical, technical, and administrative controls to ensure they protect assets and information effectively. This can include network security, system security, data security (including data encryption), remote network access controls, privileged account management, physical security systems and business continuity practices. It also includes assessing the organization’s security incident response capabilities and ability to effectively detect, contain, and respond to incidents.
3. Analyze findings: Compile the findings from your assessments and risk analysis. Identify vulnerabilities or security gaps, including identifying weaknesses in the organization’s security posture that attackers could exploit across your enterprise networks in the scope of the audit. It also includes assessing the company’s exposure to external cybersecurity threats and its ability to defend against them with respect to the network security practice. A thorough understanding of the organization’s systems, network structure or architecture will be required.
4. Recommend corrective and preventive actions (CAPA). This includes recommending changes to the organization’s security posture, controls, and processes to improve its overall security posture. It also includes providing guidance on how to manage risk effectively.
5. Report and communicate: Present the audit findings and action plan to key stakeholders, such as executive management and the board of directors. Ensure clear communication of the risks, impacts, and recommended actions.
6. Follow-up and continuous improvement: If you are an internal security auditor or consultant, ensure regular review and update of your organization’s security posture, policies, and procedures. Schedule periodic cybersecurity audits to ensure ongoing improvement and compliance with industry best practices and regulatory requirements.

After the Audit: Securing Your Business Data

Once the cybersecurity audit is completed, now is the time to take stock of the outstanding audit findings by the audit team and work on remediation to ensure that your organization has the right security controls to address the cyber security audit gaps. This includes ensuring security policies, people, processes, and technology are in place to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or misuse. Additionally, continuous or regular internal audits as part of the cybersecurity assessment should be part of regular business security practices to ensure controls remain effective against potential threats.

Develop a plan to address any vulnerabilities that may exist within your network.

As a security expert, I would develop a comprehensive plan to address vulnerabilities in the network that covers both technical controls and human factors. On the technical side, I would conduct a thorough network security audit of the network structure and architecture to ensure all components are properly segmented and patched. Security policies would be reviewed and updated as needed, including network access control and control around access management and data classification. Biometric data and credentials would be secured, and continuous monitoring would be implemented to detect and respond to threats in real time to mitigate or avoid data breach.

Organization-wide Cybersecurity Awareness

However, technology alone is not enough. Employee training is critical to build awareness of social engineering tactics and other risks. A strong security culture starts at the top, so leadership must set the right example through their words and actions. With technical safeguards and human vigilance working together, we can effectively manage risks and protect the network.

In Conclusion

A cybersecurity audit can be a beneficial investment for businesses of any size. Not only does it help identify potential vulnerabilities or risks in the system, but it also helps ensure that the company’s data is secure and compliant with industry regulations. By undergoing cyber security audits, businesses are more likely to detect and prevent data breaches before they occur, saving both time and money.

Good luck!

FAQ

What is Included in the Cybersecurity Audit?

The audit should include:

• In-depth review of IT policies, standards and procedures
• Identification and assessment of risks associated with IT systems,
• Evaluation of security awareness training programs and their effectiveness,
• Testing of technical controls as well as physical security,
• Review of the vulnerability management process,
• Examination of all data and application access controls.

Internal vs. External Cybersecurity Audits

Usually, IT departments do cyber security audits. However, there is the possibility that these people will lack the tools for such work effectively. Working in a professional environment is a good way to understand the network and systems. The idea that cybersecurity and internal audit should not be a separate concepts is to lower expenses. Time also plays a major role, as audit work is often done at home. Outsourced outsourcing might be very expensive for companies without IT support. You still have a chance to audit your internet.

Best Practices for Internal Cybersecurity Audits

internal audit

Preparing for an External Cybersecurity Audit

Being audited by an external auditor especially if this is a result of industry regulation or compliance like PCI DSS, GDPR or certification audit to security standards like ISO 27001 or BSI Standard 100-1. The audit should be planned and executed in a professional way. Preparation for the audit requires one to have

• a good understanding of all security areas,
• know the relevant laws and regulations,
• analyze the data collected during the process,
• review any third-party vendors used by your organization and establish KPIs to monitor progress.

Checklist for a well-rounded Cybersecurity Audit

Audit Management Tools

Eramba, a security audit management tool, is designed to help organizations manage and track audit cybersecurity processes. This tool assists in automating the entire audit lifecycle, from planning and execution to reporting and follow-up. Eramba also offers to track corrective actions teams take when responding to identified risks. This can be used to ease the burden of regular cybersecurity audits.

ZenGRC, a governance, security risk and compliance (GRC) solution, helps organizations manage their security audits more efficiently. It allows users to automate audit process management and document control while providing full visibility of the enterprise’s security posture. ZenGRC also provides reporting capabilities at the enterprise level on relevant regulatory requirements and standards.