Don’t use policies from a “template” and procedures from the “internet.”

Up-to-date and adequate policies and documents, not only protect the company from Internet threats, but also help keep work running smoothly.

IT auditors must always assume that a system is vulnerable to attacks, even if it is updated. No matter how resilient a network is, it can fail at some point, because of this, timely adjustments must be made. You can prepare for this by conducting vulnerability scans or penetration tests. You can choose between automatic and manual tests or both for better results. Penetration testing as part of an IT audit can reveal several problems with network and system architecture. Based on the results, possible entry points for hackers can be fixed to prevent them from bypassing security.

If you are still not using two-factor authentication, it will be difficult to confirm who is using your network.

As more companies allow employees to work remotely, the risk of exposure to data breaches and other attacks is also increasing. A strong password helps, but a resourceful hacker can use techniques such as social engineering to obtain or crack it. Two-factor authentication prevents such a scenario, and an IT audit should recommend the best type of security for the organization. Codes sent to smartphones are the most common method of two-factor authentication, but token and smart card devices can also be used as an alternative to mobile-initiated authentication.

Many organizations mistakenly believe that having one IT resource is enough to take care of everything.

On the contrary, IT specialists are like doctors. Each of them may have overlapping knowledge and skills, but their experience will vary depending on their field of practice. To ensure network security, there should be at least one person or one team that focuses solely on compliance and security-related tasks, and their role should be independent of other IT staff. Conducting a third-party IT audit is the best step to strengthen network security.

Does your IT provider offer solutions before problems occur?

Is there an up-to-date and effective contingency plan to guarantee uninterrupted business operations? If you haven’t encountered online threats until now, it’s not an obvious sign that your network is immune. An IT audit report not only gives insight into the security of networks and systems, but also provides recommendations on how to prepare for an attack. It will help you test your disaster recovery or business continuity plan and keep it up to date.

Every IT audit should be properly documented.

A modern, centralized logging system should ideally have common functions such as collection, ingestion and aggregation. On the operating system (OS) and other platforms, collection agents can be installed to stream log files from any directory. Log aggregation will be truly and effectively centralized when it works automatically and in real time.