Any
company that has carried out an audit of information security will be
happy in the long run that has taken the trouble to do . A review of security is essential to review data from existing funds and the current state of security applied to them . Sometimes
called a "security check " , this process is not only to catalog all
assets, but also to assess the risks to these assets, and the commercial
consequences of compromise.
Assets held by an enterprise information represents valuable intellectual property , and must be carefully protected. This
is true even if the data in question is not part of the business : for
example, the phone book of the company could be very useful for a spy or
a particular industrial pirate. So the question arises: what is a security audit and what you can offer the business owner information ?
For starters, the patch is to catalog all pieces of information, and evaluation of risks associated with each . The risks are not only technical, but also involve an assessment of the impact on the business if the asset was in danger. This
impact could be formulated in terms of low income , business operations
discontinued , dedicated staff and customer safety , the research
effort disclosed to a competitor and thus lost, or a number of results
that are not strictly technical form .
The
next step is a " gap analysis" on the verification of the security of
the information compares the current state of the security of each
element of the desired state. This comparison will be the basis for future efforts to implement a system of management of information security in place. Security control is informed by the selected criteria , such as the international standard ISO 27001 .
Verification of information security can be an internal or external review. If internal , which is carried out by the staff of the organization itself , and serves as a useful first step in the process. If the hotfix is external, carried out by independent consultants with expertise. This is often the case when a company is in the process of certification to an international standard. A
review of the external security has the advantage of being seen to be
independent of the company, and so the result is more credible partners,
customers and the general public.
An audit of information security requires special skills that are not in the business beyond the big organizations. Thus, a company may choose to hire a consulting firm to perform the security status monitoring . This means that the safety audit will be carried out with maximum experience in minimum time. The result can be very beneficial for any company that needs to protect information assets - ie all companies.
Andrew
Leith is a security consultant in commissum a consulting firm based
information security in the UK that specializes in penetration testing ,
vulnerability assessment , the ISO27001 consulting services, security
systems and configure the business .
