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How Often Should You Audit Your Business Cybersecurity?

For many businesses, cybersecurity tends to sit in the background. It’s something we often seem to have a lot of confidence in without really fully understanding it. The only time we pay attention and question its suitability is when something goes wrong.

As it is one of the more important parts of running a modern company or organisation, it pays to step back and have a review of your cybersecurity processes, software and hardware on a regular basis.

According to Forbes recently, cyberattacks are only like to get smarter over the next few years and we all need to be on guard to prevent breaches.

Why You Need Regular Cyber Security Audits

The first thing to note is that you can’t say whether your business cybersecurity is performing as expected unless you carry out an audit. Most IT services will advise that this needs to be done on a regular basis, either monthly, quarterly or even just twice a year as a bear minimum.

A lot will depend on the size of your organisation or business, of course, and how many different departments you have. It’s much easier to keep track of a company that has ten employees than one which has thousands. Another factor is the amount of confidential data you handle and the sector you operate in.

What is a Cybersecurity Audit?

A regular audit is something that can be carried out fairly easily and, in some cases, remotely. It’s a service that many outsourced IT support companies provide nowadays. If there has been an incident or issue with your IT infrastructure, however, it pays to have a more in-depth audit that considers a wider range of parameters.

This kind of audit tends to use more advanced technology and will not only look at the software installed but the practices that you employ in your business.

You may have had a security breach or data loss, for example. It’s important to discover how this occurred and what processes you need to put in place to improve security. Or you may have updated or put in a new system, in which case, you’ll want to ensure your cybersecurity is working well with it.

There can be plenty of other reasons to carry out a more intensive audit. For example, if the compliance laws change for your business (as happened for many companies with the new GDPR). Perhaps you’ve merged with another business and want to ensure IT services across the board are uniform.

Outsourcing Your Business Cybersecurity Audit

It’s important to work with a partner that is able to deliver the kind of audit you are looking for. There are off-the-shelf auditing packages available but these may not be entirely suitable, especially if your company has specific cybersecurity needs.

Outsourcing your business cybersecurity audit to a third party is the most popular route and has a number of advantages, not least that you have access to the appropriate level of expertise. It’s not easy to find suitable companies that have a track record of delivering security testing within a range of organisations.

You should be looking for one that has a deep knowledge of operating platforms and understands how your business security fits into these and other IT deliverables. The other thing you will want is an IT audit service that will give you clear reports which you can then act on. Good communication is key.

While you may be able to undertake at least some of this internally, for a deeper audit most companies will lack the appropriately qualified staff. Even using the latest auditing software, it can be difficult to decipher the results and come up with appropriate recommendations if you do not have expertise in this area.

A competent audit team will be able to:

Interpret the data from your audit and understand how to action any changes to your systems.
Prioritise which are the most important factors and what steps you need to follow to improve your business cybersecurity.
Understand if information is missing and what other software and scans need to be applied to provide a full picture of your current cybersecurity.
Set benchmarks so that you have a baseline for future audits and a clear understanding of what you need to achieve.

At Cyan Solutions, we work with a wide range of businesses across different sectors. We understand that each company has its own set of requirements when it comes to fulfilling strong cybersecurity. Our team works closely with all stakeholders to ensure that we deliver a robust audit that keeps your business safe.

Contact us today to find out more.

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