subject: The Need And Implications Of Information Security Audit In It Field Today [print this page] Information in a corporate organization is arguably one of the most important assets or means which deserves utmost protection. Not only a corporate organizations data is important but also the information from a small or a medium organization is also important. The importance of corporate information requires that it must be protected under layers of security as this information contains delicate information about the operations of the corporate house. Most of us are aware that corporate information is under protection. But, the level of security will differ from organization to organization. This depends on the need of the organization in question. Every organization has unique needs which prompt it to take such unique IT security measures.
Information security audit (ISA) is a concept in the field of IT security. Information security audit can be seen today in many organizations where corporate information or company related information is at stake. ISA is the process through which the level of IT security can be ascertained either by the organization or by a third party authorized by the organization itself. This process is also called penetration testing.
This is a very important process which must be taken up from time to time. Information security audit can be used to check the level of security on a regular basis so that any lags in security can show up. There are different types of Information security audit which can take place with different objectives. These include technical, physical and administrative objectives. The Physical audit includes physical security in data centers along with logical security of databases.
Before the Information security audit takes place, the management has to decide what the areas of concern in which the audit is compulsory. The next step is the declaration of audit objectives. Audit objectives are very important because they are used to know whether all the procedures are taking place correctly or not such as data back up with minimal redundancy, cross functions and systems training, protection of the equipment from any accidents, etc.
The next step is to conduct network vulnerabilities. This is conducted because it provides an in-depth analysis about the strength of the network including the firewall, proxy servers, encryption and access controls capability in protecting the network from unwanted programs, viruses and hackers. This comes under the category of penetration testing. Penetration testing is used by an organization to determine how strong the firewall and the network of an organization is. Penetration testing is generally done by an outside party which tries to hack the system through every possible way. In this way, an organization can assume all possible ways through which programs, viruses or perhaps hackers try to attack the network and infiltrate. In information security audit, such things are also covered. Network attacks are the next big thing after the
The next is the application security. Application security is the next audit that takes place in the process of information security audit. Application security audit talks about the physical protection and password protection in servers and mainframes, etc. Segregation of duties is the next level. These include the financial aspects of information. Financial data is processed so that it yields the net incoming and outgoing finances and thus decreasing scope for any fraud.
These processes are needed to determine whether all the components in a corporate IT networking is running properly or not.
