IT audit is essential for any business. Cyber-attacks have devastating effects on business. It results in a loss of customer confidence and damages irreparable damage to the company’s reputation.
While technology is an integral part of useful and modern society, it is also vulnerable.
Information technology audits provide organizations with the information they need to help assess their security and identify possible vulnerabilities.
Purpose of Information Technology (IT) audit
It involves a formal inspection of your IT infrastructure, which includes an in-depth study of the operations of your policy and organization. Its goal is a comprehensive evaluation of your IT infrastructure and its future improvement.
An audit is part of evaluating your IT security infrastructure. It will be used to assess whether IT control procedures are in place to safeguard company assets. This is essential to ensure that data is properly protected and that all aspects of IT are aligned with the company’s goals.
Accordingly, the information technology audit will examine all aspects of the company that covers any form of IT. This includes examining both the organization’s general financial problems and business, as well as its physical security.
Information Technology (IT) audit categories
There are two main aspects to an IT audit:
- Extensive control check and
- Application control overview.
However, effective audits cover five areas in more detail.
First, information processing facilities must be evaluated. The main purpose of this area of an audit is to check that the process itself is working properly. It also focuses on how accurate and timely the information processing facilities are.
The second area of audit focuses on IT systems and applications. An audit is needed to verify the proper and effective functioning of all systems and programs used within the organization. Another key aspect is that all systems must be secure, at all levels of activity within the organization.
The audit will also include telecommunication control procedures, servers, and networks. This is a particularly important security area that connects servers and clients. It will evaluate its functionality and effectiveness in your organization.
If your organization currently has any systems under development, then they will need an audit. This is especially important to determine whether everyone meets the company standards and whether they meet them.
Lastly, IT audit also focuses on the management of the organization. One of the objectives of it is to ensure the organization of IT management as well as effective and controlled functioning.