Boost your cybersecurity for your small business.
Is your small business’ cyber defenses enough to protect it from a cyberattack? Unfortunately, just incorporating the latest antimalware software or firewall to your system won’t guarantee your company’s safety. Conducting a security audit will give you a complete picture of your company’s data integrity, giving you a greater chance of successfully meeting your cybersecurity goals.
Auditing and the security strategy
Audits are required to ensure and maintain the quality and integrity of a system. These system tests aid in the identification of security flaws and reassure business stakeholders that your organisation is doing everything possible to protect their data.
Assess, assign, and audit are the three phases of a typical audit. You can prevent overlooking vital details by following a thorough auditing process. To ensure thorough and comprehensive outcomes, each stage must be treated with the same amount of attention.
Following the assessment, you must deploy the relevant solutions and form partnerships with the suitable vendors. Inquire with your IT supplier about possible fixes for each of your network/system flaws. Ask your IT provider for a list of recommended partners if they can’t solve your problem (maybe because specific machines and software are very specialised).
Finally, before releasing the system back into the wild, conduct a “audit,” which is a final check of the system. Ensure that all installations, fixes, and upgrades are correctly integrated and functioning. Take notes in case you need information regarding the software and hardware advancements made during this audit cycle in the future.
What exactly should be audited?
When conducting an audit, there are three factors you should focus on:
The state of your security
Security — especially digital security — is never at an impasse, and it is always in flux. That’s because cybercriminals are always concocting new malware attacks and threats to infiltrate company networks. And that’s not even accounting for cyberattacks that exploit human error like phishing and other social engineering attacks. This means that system security has shorter and shorter expiration dates nowadays, making audits all the more crucial to implementing your security strategy.
The changes made
The key to having long-term data integrity is a continuity plan, and not just one that addresses severe business disruptions such as those caused by calamity or disaster. A true continuity plan tries to address every conceivable risk realistically, especially those that can trip up business operations, such as cyberattacks. This can only be possible if you know what kind of hardware and software comprise your system, as well as their respective updates and improvements.
Who has access to what
Data systems should allow administrators some control over who sees what. Total accessibility is a very dangerous prospect, especially since business nowadays is increasingly hinged on internet presence. An audit will let you check on user access so that you can make necessary adjustments to protect your data.
