Secure your organisation with a cyber security audit and manage the risk of cyber threats, prevent revenue loss and mitigate reputational damage.
What is a cyber security audit?
A cyber security audit is designed to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of your business’s IT infrastructure. It identifies threats and vulnerabilities, exposing weaknesses and high-risk practices. Regulations such as the EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) can impose hefty penalties in the event of a breach that results in exploited data. A cyber security audit will help mitigate the consequences of a breach and demonstrate that your organisation has taken the necessary steps to protect client and company data.
Our cyber security audits can be tailored to your business and we work to identify any vulnerabilities that may result in a breach. This could include unauthorised access to confidential and sensitive information, plus any poor internal practices that could potentially result in employee error causing accidental or negligent breaches.
Cyber security audits should be performed by an external third party, such as our team here at CYFOR Secure, as the results found within the security audit act as a verification to stakeholders or management that your business’s defences have been audited and are adequately protected.
What are the benefits of a cyber security audit?
One of the main reasons why you may wish to conduct a cyber security audit is to identify any weaknesses within your organisation’s networks. By conducting a thorough cyber security audit, you can then gain a comprehensive insight and overview of the systems and networks used by your organisation, and gain further information about how to address vulnerabilities.
A cyber security audit reduces the risk of a data breach occurring, plus any following repercussions that may occur as a result. A security or data breach can have huge financial and reputation implications, which can often have a lasting effect. With a cyber security audit, you can also identify any process that could be causing your organisation to be non-compliant in terms of GDPR, which can also result in a regulatory fine. Keeping ahead of any breaches and weaknesses within your organisation, as well as avoiding fines and financial penalties are just a few of the benefits of having a cyber security audit.
Cyber security audit: An overview
Our comprehensive cyber security audit is divided into two distinct phases: a Gap Analysis and a Vulnerability Assessment. The Vulnerability Assessment service assists in preventing network attacks by identifying the vulnerabilities and configuration issues that hackers use to penetrate your network.
Phase 1 | Vulnerability Assessment
- Vulnerability Scanning and identification
- Configuration and compliance checks
- Malware detection
- Web application scanning
- Data back-up review and analysis
Phase 2 | cyber security audit remediation action points:
- Breach response plan
- Staff training and awareness
- Detailed report including strategy overview
- Cyber resilience assessment
How A Cyber Security Audit Can Help Your Organisation
Cyber attacks and breaches such as ransomware attacks and phishing attacks are more profitable than other criminal activities, which only helps to motivate cyber criminals. One way in which to prevent attacks and breaches to your organisation is to ensure a regular cyber security audit forms part of your ongoing cyber security defence plan.
At CYFOR Secure, we believe that cyber security audits should form part of your overall business security plan. Cyber security forms more of a process, rather than being a standalone product or service and by treating it as such, you can ensure that your business is regularly monitored and audited for breaches and threats to your networks and organisation. Cyber security audits provide the following:
- Risk management
- Cyber risk governance
- Legal and regulatory requirements
- Business continuity
- Incident management
- Training and security awareness
- Security controls
- Data security
Who is a cyber security audit designed for?
Cyber security audits are a valuable tool for organisations that haven’t yet documented their internal and external risks, vulnerabilities and threat exposure. It is also applicable to businesses that have expanded, implementing various software and security controls but are inevitably overwhelmed by the volume of data being processed in daily communications.
Why choose CYFOR Secure to assist your organisation
We specialise in providing cyber security audits and risk assessment services to organisations from a multitude of industries. Starting from initial consultation to identify your company’s resilience to a cyber-attack, through to being protected if an employee steals sensitive company information, our Cyber Security Specialists understand the complexities of protecting your organisation’s electronic data. They are experienced in conducting information security assessments and provide a comprehensive analysis of an organisation’s security position with our cyber security audits.
- Certified to ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management
- Certified to ISO 9001:2013 Quality Management
- Certified under Cyber Essentials Plus, the UK government-backed cyber security certification scheme
- IASME Gold-certified company
- Combined digital forensic and cyber security expertise
- Our Cyber Security Specialists can advise on the best course of action to vastly improve your cyber resilience, secure your data and protect your business across the following areas. Speak with our experts for more information on our Cyber Security Audit services.
FAQs
Who needs a cyber security audit?
If you are a business owner, shareholder or manager, then you will likely already be aware of just how important cyber security audits are. They are essential for any business, company or organisation that wants to make sure its data and networks are protected. A cyber security audit helps businesses to identify weaknesses within their network structure which may be all that a cyber criminal needs to infiltrate your organisation.
With more and more businesses reporting that they have fallen victim to a cyber attack, it’s no surprise that there is now an increased risk when it comes to cyber security. If you have recently made significant changes to your business operations, or are simply looking to improve your cyber security defences, then a cyber security audit is recommended.
How do I prepare for a cyber security audit?
In order to get a realistic gauge of how your business fares in the face of a cyber attack, you may wish to do nothing, or very little, in order to prepare for a cyber security audit. This will then provide you with a true reflection of how your business will be affected should a cyber attack or breach occur.
However, you may want to prepare for a cyber security audit in order to ensure that it runs smoothly. Firstly, before you initiate a cyber security audit, you may want to consider the reasons why you need one.
There are many different reasons why businesses look to have a cyber security audit which go above and beyond the fact that it is simply “time to have one”. You may need one to comply with regulations, spot gaps within your network’s security or respond to a breach. Once you have decided that you need a cyber security audit conducted, you may wish to let both stakeholders, managers and directors know in case they are asked for information or documents to support the cyber security audit.
Following this, you may wish to take inventory of your current hardware, plus make note of the software and networks that you use. Cyber security audits can be tumultuous for businesses, so any further interruptions caused by a lack of knowledge in your business operations can make the audit take longer.
Why are cyber security audits important?
The purpose of a cyber security audit is to assess compliance in line with regulations, plus identify any potential vulnerabilities within your networks and devices. Cyber security audits provide a complete analysis and review of each cyber security aspect within the IT infrastructure of your business and almost everything is inspected, from your adherence to policies to your response plans in the event of a breach. One of the main purposes of having a cyber security audit is to understand just how much data your organisation holds, plus how well it is protected.
What’s the difference between a cyber security audit and cyber security assessment?
Cyber security audits essentially go one step further than a standard cyber security assessment would. A cyber security assessment will establish the existence of security measures and controls within your networks, whilst a cyber security audit will work to test those controls and measures. A cyber security audit will involve a substantial and formal review of systems and processes in place within your infrastructure, such as networks and firewalls, but it will also consider things such as operating systems and procedures and policies.
How often should I have a cyber security audit?
For most organisations, a cyber security audit should be conducted at least once a year to protect against threats and attacks, as well as ensure your systems and networks are kept up to date. But, you may wish to carry out more frequent cyber security audits depending on several different factors. One of these is the size of your organisation and the resources it has available. Cyber security audits can be an extensive process which can be costly, so smaller businesses may find that they are less able to have regular audits carried out.
Larger businesses may find that, due to using a larger number of systems and utilising more complex procedures, they are at increased risk of cyber security breaches and attacks. Businesses should also consider conducting a cyber security audit in the event of any large or significant operational changes, or if compliance and regulations change. We recommend getting in touch with our team to discuss your unique business requirements, as they’re best placed to provide recommendations as to how frequently you should consider having a cyber security audit.