How to Conduct An Effective IT Audit

IT audits are an essential part of any business. Cyber-attacks can have devastating consequences on a business, causing customers to lose trust in your organization and causing irreparable damage to your reputation. Whether it is an external attack or internal sabotage, your network could be at risk.

Whilst technology is useful and an integral part of modern society, it is also vulnerable. IT audits provide organizations with essential information to help them assess their IT security and to allow them to address any potential gaps.

The Purpose Of An IT Audit

The first thing to establish is what exactly an IT audit is and what is involved. An IT audit is essentially an official examination of your IT infrastructure. That involves an in-depth examination of your policies, as well as the operations of your organization. The purpose of the IT audit is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of your IT infrastructure and to suggest improvements for the future.

Part of the audit is to assess and evaluate the security of your IT security infrastructure. The audit will be used to assess and evaluate whether there are IT controls in place to properly protect the company’s assets. This is crucial to ensuring that data is properly stored and that all aspects of IT are in-keeping with the objectives and aims of the company.

The IT audit will therefore examine all aspects of the company that involve any form of IT. This includes conducting a full examination into all aspects, from the organization’s overall financial concerns and business, as well as its physical security.

Categories Of IT Audits

There are two main aspects to an IT audit. Firstly, there is a broad control review. The second aspect is the application control review. However, an in-depth, throughout audit will look at five areas in greater detail.

Firstly, the information processing facilities will need to be assessed and reviewed. The main purpose of this focus of the audit is to verify and check that the process itself is working properly. The audit will also focus on verifying whether information processing facilities are working accurately and in a timely manner. These will be checked for functionality, both during normal conditions, as well as during disruptive times.

A second area of examination will focus on the systems and applications of IT. The audit will be necessary to verify that all systems and application used within the organization function appropriately and efficiently. They will also be checked to ensure that they are reliable, timely and valid. Another key aspect is to verify that all systems are secure, across all levels of activity conducted within the organization.

The telecommunications controls, including servers and networks, will also be audited. This is a particularly important area, especially in terms of security, because it is the bridge that connects servers and clients. The audit will evaluate the functionality and efficiency of intranets and extranets within your organization.

If your organization currently has any systems which are under development, then these too will need to be audited. This is especially important in helping to ensure that any systems being developed meet the company’s standards and comply with these.

Finally, IT audits will also focus on the actual management of IT within the organization. Part of the audit’s purpose is to ensure that the IT management is well structured, as well as functioning in a manner which is both efficient and well controlled. This is an important aspect to make sure that the organization has the necessary infrastructure in place to deal with an IT problem, should it arise.

Who Is Responsible And When Should They Be Done?

It is important to fully understand who is in charge of conducting an IT audit and how often to do these. An IT audit is the responsibility of an IT auditor. This is a skill for which you are able to get certifications. For example, you may have acquired a certified information systems security professionals (CISSP) or a certified information system auditor (CISA) certification.

The key role of the IT auditor is to be responsible for verifying both the internal controls, as well as any risks that may be associated with a particular organization’s IT network. As part of the role, the IT auditor is responsible for identifying any potential weaknesses with the IT system. If any such weaknesses or areas of vulnerability are identified, it is their responsibility to respond to these. This also includes ensuring that careful and detailed planning is undertaken to prevent any security breaches from taking place.

How often IT audits should take place can vary.

Undertaking regular IT security audits should be part of embedded practice within an organization. However, they do take time and effort, so it requires some careful planning and scheduling. “If you’re unsure of how often to conduct them, investigate what other organizations within your industry are doing.

Compare your current audit frequency with those of other companies of a similar size to yours and use their frequency as a baseline for your own. If an audit reveals many areas that require improvement or areas of vulnerability, then you should consider having more frequent audits, at least in the short term, whilst you implement the necessary changes.”

Conducting An Effective IT Audit

Understanding the purpose of an audit is only part of the process. The IT audit itself is a complex process. A successful and thorough IT audit will require that all aspects of your information systems are properly examined.

As well as overarching issues, such as management and policy to consider, you will also need to evaluate the security design and architecture. This can often be one of the most time-consuming and important areas to assess, particularly given the increase of cyber-attacks and threats.

The audit will also need to evaluate the networks and systems, as well as authorization, authentication and even the physical security itself. As well as evaluating the current systems which are in place, the audit should also involve continuous planning and disaster recovery, as part of effective risk management practices within the organization.

In order to conduct an effective and efficient IT audit, you can focus on some important aspects of audit best practice, to help you navigate through all the areas that require examination. These will help you to focus the IT audit, ensuring that it is conducted properly, as well as enabling you to carry it out within the expected and planned for time frame.

Clearly Identify The Scope

Planning is essential for a successful IT audit. The audit will be more likely to run smoothly and be completed without problems if you spend sufficient time planning it ahead of time. A priority at this point is to clearly identify the scope of the audit. It is important that you involve any relevant stakeholders at this stage, as this will help to ensure that all units of the business are being covered.

You should also aim to speak to all the people who are actually working in the IT environment itself. Not only will they be able to provide you with invaluable insight, but they can also help you to understand and be aware of any risks that you may need to focus on or identify during the course of the IT audit.

Furthermore, they can also help you to gain a clear understanding of the existing capabilities of the system. As part of the IT audit, you will also want to assess whether or not there is a need to adopt any new technologies. You will also need to ensure that you are up-to-date and clear on any laws and regulations which are applicable and you will need to ensure that you are complying with all of these.

Make Use Of Outside Resources

You need to be aware of the resources that are available to you within your existing organization and team. Examine carefully whether you have staff within your in-house team who are capable of conducting the IT audit. You may well feel that you have sufficient staff within your organization who can carry out the audit. Certainly, this can seem like the most cost-effectively approach.

Your internal resources may be sufficient to help you maintain and implement changes identified during the audit. However, unless they are a dedicated IT auditor or a risk manager, you may well need to consider using outside resources. Make sure that you check and plan for this ahead of time.

You may decide to have a dedicated member of the team undertake dedicated IT auditor training, so that they can conduct these in the future. Alternatively, you may hire a consultant to provide additional support to your organization, as and when it is needed. This can be particularly effective in helping to provide in-house training to your full-time staff. This training can help your team to know what to look out for in between audits and, with time, make your organization more knowledgeable.

Another increasingly popular tool for conducting IT audits is to use software to help you perform the audit itself. There are already existing software packages which monitor IT security. However, for the purposes of an audit, you might choose to use a project management software tool. These can help to facilitate not only your organization of the audit itself, but also help you to produce charts, graphs and meaningful data which you may wish to use when providing feedback.

Implementation Is Key

You must make sure that you have developed a complete and thorough inventory of your information systems. Ensure that you are clear about these and organize them in a list by priority. It is essential that you carefully analyze all the existing IT procedures and methods which you have in place and ensure that all relevant industry standards are adhered to and followed. Make sure that you are up-to-date with the most current practices.

You will also need to evaluate all security controls in order to fully gauge whether the organization’s business assets have been adequately protected. It is also important l that you evaluate whether or not any potential risks have been accounted for and mitigated.

Ensure Feedback Is Clear

IT audit reports tends to be extremely technical. They can be very difficult to understand, especially if you are not an IT professional. The most important aspect of an IT audit, to ensure that it is in fact effective, is to make sure that the audit findings are clearly understood so that they may be able to be implemented.

Given their complexity and level of detail, it is crucial that the manager who commissioned the IT audit itself, is able to fully understand the findings of the audit.

The best scenario involves you being able to deliver the IT audit report findings in person. The main benefit of doing this report in person is that it allows for the people receiving it to ask you any questions and to clarify anything they don’t understand. If they are not IT professionals, then there are likely to be a lot of things they don’t understand, so it’s best to try to keep your language simple. Don’t give an overly complicated or convoluted report. Be clear, specific and professional. Where possible, try to avoid using too much technical jargon.

That won’t always be possible to avoid, but it is important that you are fully aware of your audience. After all, in order for the audit to be effective, the decision-makers and managers need to be able to understand it. Encourage them to ask you questions, so as to avoid any confusion later on.

The main aspects of the report to include, particularly in your in-person feedback, are the details which were covered in the initial scope. These will include details, such as any devices and applications which are in use, as well as any security measures. You should aim to provide detailed recommendations, as well as provide solutions. Your solutions should be feasible and any costs should be calculated and included.

You should also provide detailed analysis of the cost-benefit of the consequences of not implementing recommendations. Above all, ensure that you clearly communicate any areas that were found to be particularly vulnerable and ensure that all parties are clear about the necessary actions that need to be taken to mitigate these.

Repeat For Future Success

An audit is not a one-off event. In between audits, there should be ongoing work to not only maintain but also improve your existing IT systems and practice.  This means that the findings of the audit should provide valuable recommendations which can be used moving forward. Such recommendations should include information and details on how to maintain existing IT resources.

It is also possible to use IT auditing software to enable you to perform ongoing, automatic monitoring of network users, assets and systems. One of the benefits of the audit can be to help you to identify and select specific tools to aid you in maintaining the solutions that emerge from the audit.

You should also aim to implement a plan to allow you to review and revisit relevant laws, regulations and developments. In the fast-paced and evolving world of IT, this is particularly important. It is a good idea to review these on a quarterly basis to ensure that you remain up-to-date with the latest developments and are able to apply these to your IT systems and infrastructure effectively and in a timely fashion.

You can also keep informed of new developments by reading key industry publications, as well as through media outlets. By remaining aware of changes as they emerge, particularly any changes to increase security, you will be better placed to react quickly to any changes that may be impacting on the business environment.

Conclusion

Although and IT audit may seem like an unwelcome and complicated exercise, it is in fact a valuable and important tool for organizations. IT audits should be properly and carefully planned and they should be undertaken by a designated IT auditor. Consider using external resources or support to help you, if you do not have a sufficiently qualified in-house auditor.

Make sure that the scope of the audit is clearly planned and organized ahead of time, including allowing for sufficient time in which to undertake the audit. Make sure that all feedback and the audit report is fully understood and that any recommendations are clearly explained, so that they may be easily implemented.

When properly conducted, IT audits will provide your organization with detailed analysis of your current systems and practices, including identifying any areas which require further development. Most importantly of all, it will allow you to identify vulnerabilities within your system and allow you to take the necessary steps to prevent and control these. Rather than viewing IT audits as an assessment, view them as the opportunity to develop and improve your working practices.

By Molly Crockett who is an expert marketing and business writer at Ukservicesreviews and Australian Reviewer, where she writes content offering advice to managers looking to optimise their business practices. Molly also tutors at Writemyaustralia, where she regularly seeks to find new ways to help young people to develop their writing and research skills.

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 30,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview, or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles. Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully we can share your story too and reach our global audience.

Irish Tech News

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking