A network security audit is designed to find areas in your network that may be venerable to attack by hackers or cybercriminals. It’s usually offered by IT managed service providers to ensure the integrity of your network. A thorough investigation is made of your cybersecurity assets and policies as well as they way you apply them to ensure you’re not at risk of a security breach.

The exact method will vary depending on your network operation and they type of website you have, but the basic steps are similar to:

• Asset Identification

The first thing that must be done is to identify all your network assets including the devices of all people who access to it. The operating systems of all users must be checked and analyzed

• Security policy reviews

Reviewing who has access to which areas of your network and accessing whether other parties are a security breach. Making sure all the relevant standards are being used and analyses the technologies, controls and uses of the various devices

• Updates

Ensures that all manufacturers updates of hardware, software and apps are current and working

• Risk Assessment

Looks at assessing the possible risks and or threats to your business and what impact they could have. Placing of safety nets in case of breaches to minimise any damage and downtimes. Then prioritise all possible threat controls from the largest threat with the simplest fix to the threat that’s the most difficult to remedy

• Firewall Configuration review

Your network security audit will involve reviewing your fire wall, its configured and ensure it meets the latest protocols and how it deals with remote access

• Penetration testing

This is a test of all your security measures, where the auditors use the latest techniques to try every possible way to break your security in order to find any weaknesses that may have been missed so they can fix these issues

After your network security audit has been completed the auditors will provide you a detailed report that explains any issues they found and the remedies they used to settle these issues. This report is very important because it helps you understand the areas that you need to take particular care in for you future security management and deploy extra measures to keep those areas secure.

Network security is a major issue with all businesses from sole traders with none or only one employee to multinational corporations. Cyber criminals are actively searching for website they can corrupt and invade so it’s vital you take every possible precaution to safeguard you network and business.

A full network security audit should be done at least once a year for low risk businesses but if you’re dealing with a lot of sensitive information you network is a prime target and should be reviewed and audited on a much more regular basis possibly monthly.

A cyberattack or security breach can destroy a business overnight and also leave you open to litigation