Security Audits have become part of maintaining flawless IT processes. Acknowledged by board members and IT managers as an important information security tool, security audits serve two or three purposes at a time. They may be undertaken by the management as an IT strategy to safeguard the bottom line of the company. Security audits can also be done so that corporate data complies with the state or local laws. These are especially important for public risk element issues.

So what exactly do security audits do? They are meant to analyse whether the IT systems of an enterprise are adequately safeguarded by their security measures. Audits can be undertaken for all IT systems of a firm, or for certain IT systems or processes of an information technology infrastructure. A number of consultancy set ups undertake security audits for companies in India. Most of these audits are based on industry-accepted standards including BS7799, CoBIT and legal aspects related to a particular industry or country.

Aspects of Security Audit
Security audits involve machine as well as human aspects of maintaining IT safety. They may include encryption, testing of human skills or engaging other elements of online security. Auditors employ various tools to measure security of IT tools. These include penetration tests, different security assessments, and judging judge how secure an IT system may be. They incorporate steps such as user interviews, scans for vulnerability of the organisation’s IT structure, review of OS set up, analysis of network shares, and understanding historical data. Penetration tests are often mistaken as computer security audit. Also called pen test, it only makes part of the audit where one undertakes a devoted check for security loopholes in a critical resources such as a firewalls or web servers. Security audits are part of an organisation’s process of maintaining foolproof security policies. Computer audits are therefore systematic tools for technical assessment of the IT security policy at a particular site. This involves knowhow of the business, its workings and all its critical information.

Measureable Audit Concerns

• That security settings of a company’s operating system employ standard security practices
• That access control lists of a network are apt to safeguard important data across network devices
• That all audit logs are able to record each system that accesses the data
• That audit logs are regularly reviewed
• That passwords of an IT infrastructure safe
• That the backup media is stored securely
• To ensure that users are hands on with all disaster recovery plans
• That all custom-built applications are safe

The one important thing that IT auditors believe in implementing is a written code of security. This ensures that effective security policies are seriously implemented across the organisation. Security audits not only ensure that a company correctly complies with all security issues, they also offer solutions to enable organisations better-meet these compliances.