What is an IT Security Audit?

An IT security audit can often cause stress within a company — but it doesn’t need to.

Security audits are technical reviews of an IT system’s configurations, technologies, infrastructure, and more; all to reduce the chance of a cybersecurity breach. These data details can intimidate those who feel less than savvy in IT, but understanding the resources and strategies available to protect against modern attacks makes IT security less overwhelming.

What Is an IT Security Audit?

An IT security audit encompasses two types of assessments: manual and automated.

• ​Manual assessments occur when an external or internal IT security auditor interviews employees, reviews access controls, analyzes physical access to hardware, and performs vulnerability scans. These reviews should occur at least annually; some organizations do them more frequently.
• ​Automated assessments involve system-generated assessment reports. Automated assessments incorporate data from software monitoring reports and changes to server and file settings.

How Do an IT Risk Assessment and an IT Security Audit Differ?

While IT risk assessments and audits are often used interchangeably, they serve different purposes:

• ​IT risk assessment: Provides a high-level overview of IT infrastructure, data, and network security controls to identify gaps and vulnerabilities. Typically occurs at the beginning of a risk management program.
• ​IT audit: A detailed, comprehensive review of IT systems and current security controls. Usually occurs toward the end of a risk management program, often for certification or attestation, or after a failed penetration test.

Why Is an IT Security Risk Assessment Important?

Before creating procedures and controls around IT security, organizations need an IT security risk assessment to determine their risk exposure. Performing an enterprise security risk assessment has six crucial benefits:

1. 1.Justify Financial Expenditures: Helps justify the financial expenditures needed to protect an organization, especially when budgets are tight.
2. 2.Articulate Risk and Quantify Threats: Articulates critical risks and quantifies threats to information assets, helping to justify security investments.
3. 3.Streamline IT Department Productivity: Formalizes structures for ongoing monitoring, allowing IT departments to focus on proactive review and documentation.
4. 4.Break Down Barriers Between Departments: Puts management and IT staff on the same page, facilitating support of security efforts beyond the IT department.
5. 5.Establish a Basis for Self-Review: Provides accessible reports focused on actionable information, enabling all involved to take responsibility for protecting systems and sensitive data.
6. 6.Share Information Across Departments: Offers insight necessary for meaningful discussions supporting IT security, especially in larger organizations.

What Does an IT Security Auditor Do?

External auditors review an organization’s information systems, security procedures, financial reporting, and compliance methodology to determine efficacy and identify security gaps. These areas often intersect, especially in legally required reviews such as:

• ​Financial audits: Include assessment of internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR), as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).
• ​SOC reports: Many businesses require vendors to complete a Service Organization Control (SOC) audit (SOC 1, SOC 2, or SOC 3), which involves hiring an auditor to determine data security protocols.

Engaging an IT security auditor helps protect information assets and offers opportunities to scale compliance.

What Should an Organization Seek in an IT Security Auditor?

Not all IT security auditors are certified public accountants (CPAs), but the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) offers resources to connect organizations with CPAs who have cybersecurity experience. Combining these skill sets helps develop or provide assurance for cybersecurity plans.

For companies starting with IT security controls, the AICPA provides research and frameworks for effective cybersecurity risk management practices.

As malware and ransomware attacks continue to threaten businesses, protecting information and ensuring customer safety is critical. Even a single data breach can be devastating, especially for small businesses.

What Is an IT Security Audit Trail?

The most time-consuming aspect of a cybersecurity audit is creating the audit trail. An audit trail consists of documentation provided to the auditor that shows proof of processes to secure an IT environment.

When preparing for an audit, companies should:

• ​Organize documents that meet audit requirements
• ​Use an IT security audit checklist to identify gaps
• ​Review previous audit reports and gather evidence of corrective actions
• ​Show risk assessments, evidence of compliance with regulatory statutes, and current financial information
• ​Gather information on IT organizational structure, security policies and procedures, user accounts, sensitive data inventory, and internal control tests

This documentation supports the auditor’s opinion on whether the organization can withstand a security breach and has taken due diligence to safeguard systems and sensitive information.

What Is the Difference Between General and Application Controls?

• ​General controls: Apply to the entire business, including operational, administrative, accounting, and organizational controls.
• ​Application controls: Focus on transactions and data within computer applications or networks, emphasizing IT security standards and data accuracy, particularly in input, processing, and output (IPO) functions.

How Does Automating the IT Security Process Streamline It?

IT security audits require vast amounts of documentation. SaaS tools such as ZenGRC speed up the process of aggregating information and eliminating security vulnerabilities, and help stakeholders communicate better.

When multiple areas of an organization create and implement their own controls, audit documentation can become unwieldy and time-consuming to compile. ZenGRC simplifies the IT audit process, starting with vulnerability assessment modules and risk assessment modules that provide insight into vendor and company risk management.

ZenGRC offers:

• ​Risk Trend and Risk Responsibility graphics for management
• ​Centralized storage for audit documentation with efficient user access moderation
• ​The ability to follow user access protocols within audit documentation processes
• ​Efficient report generation for both C-suite overviews and detailed IT professional needs

Worry-free IT security audits are possible with the right tools and processes in place.