What is IT Auditing?
Without beating around the bush, let me explain that IT Audit is examining and evaluating an organization’s information systems, data, policies, and procedures against generally accepted industry standards (COBIT).
Long story short, IT auditors assist management in identifying threats and vulnerabilities to information assets and determining the likelihood and impact a potential threat would have on the organization.
Once threats or vulnerabilities (risks) are identified, they are prioritized in risk rankings, and IT auditors work with management/key stakeholders to mitigate those risks.
Some of the risks that are common (see below), if not addressed early on with strong controls, can result in devastating consequences to the organization:
1. Inadequate and poor access management (to both physical facilities and information systems)
2. Weak systems development life cycle policies and procedures
3. Poor or no cyber-security policies, procedures, and practices.
Here are some recent damages faced by critical organizations around the world due to ineffective system controls:
1. Ransomware attacks on the department of defense data that compromised sensitive government data
2. DDoS attack on government websites belonging to the defense ministry, interior ministry, and justice ministry
3. Hacking of major telecommunications, internet service providers, big gas and electric agency, and universities
The list goes on and on and on…….
It’s never too late to give your IT auditors a call to help prevent damages and procrastinate your efforts in safeguarding critical information assets.
Who is an IT auditor?
An IT auditor is responsible for analyzing and assessing a company’s technological infrastructure to ensure processes and systems run accurately and efficiently while remaining secure and meeting compliance regulations. An IT auditor also identifies any IT issues that fall under the audit, specifically those related to security and risk management. If issues are identified, IT auditors are responsible for communicating their findings to others in the organization and offering solutions to improve or change processes and systems to ensure security and compliance.
In short, their main role and responsibilities are to help organizations protect valuable assets, thus increasing key stakeholders/investors’ confidence and safeguarding their financial interests in an organization.
IT auditor’s sole responsibility is not only to help management safeguard key assets, but they are also involved in helping the organization find inefficiency in critical systems, service level agreement failures, evaluating technology innovation strategies compared to competitors, evaluating system development lifecycle processes that meet business objectives, and so on…
Data and Information are the new gold rush, and loads of unwanted risks come with that. Key to any organization’s success is the effective use of data, and that data must be safeguarded from internal and external threats and vulnerabilities. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by creating an audit function and recruiting knowledgeable and skillful IT auditors.