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How safe is your data?

A basic security audit is required to make sure that the data that is stored in the computer system is safe. The same is the case with systems when they are connected through networks. In such cases extra protection and awareness needs to be given. Irrespective of the size of the organization who relies on the IT assets such as computers, data, networks, requires to work on the security measures to protect these assets. To evaluate these security measures one should assess the risks and threats these assets face and propose solutions for the same.

Below are mentioned 10 basic steps to Security Audit, to get you on the path of protecting your organization:

Determine the scope of Audit

The initial step is to determine what all aspects need to be included in the asset list for reviewing. This list should contain assets that requires to be controlled for the company’s security such as Computers, Laptops, Company PDAs, Phones, Servers, VOIP, Printers, Networking Devices, Emails, Employee logs, Access cards, Security cameras and so on.

Prepare the threats list

Once you have listed out the assets, you should also work out on the threats that each of these assets face. Some of the most prevalent threats being how secure are the computer passwords, threat for Laptops or company PDAs to be removed from the company, does backups exist? How safe are they, is the data access logged as to who, when where and what, How secure are your clients / customer information, are emails protected, and many more.

Due Diligence

Once you have listed out the currents threats you are facing, it is also crucial to figure out what other threats can happen in the future.

Prioritizing Assets

Now that you have the list of assets and the possible threats that are or can be faced by them, the next step will be to prioritize your assets based the intensity of risks faced by them. This will help you allocate you company resources accordingly.

Developing Response Plans

While working on the priority list and the risks, you may come across favorable plans in response to the threats. These primary responses can benefit in the detailed planning of security measures for the threats. Some potential responses would be implementing Network Access Controls to check the security of the asset and also the user permissions trying to access the asset in the network, plans for preventing intrusions by hackers or malware and also physical intrusions, implementing access management can limit the access of users to specific assets, creating back ups, protecting emails.

These 5 steps to conducting basic Security Audit will give you an awareness of threats your company faces and will help you develop plans for confronting them. Security Audit is a continuous process as security threats always keep changing.

 

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