IT infrastructure is one of the most important parts of a modern-day business. From a minor issue impacting day-to-day work to network-wide downtimes and data loss, IT-related problems can cost time, money, reputation and even threaten business continuity. To ensure IT infrastructure is robust, resilient, and secure, periodic audits are a necessity. Auditing existing IT processes to identify strengths and weaknesses and creating a checklist can help you have a comprehensive understanding of your IT setup and the steps required to protect it.
Why is an IT Infrastructure Audit Important?
An IT audit provides insight into the overall health of your IT infrastructure, security, and reliability of data and if the IT processes are aligning properly with your business goals. An audit can help with budget allocation by identifying where a business is overspending. IT infrastructure audits empower the IT team and ensure that they have the right tools necessary to meet infrastructure and security challenges. It can also educate employees on best practices and security pitfalls that need to be avoided. Furthermore, it can detect security vulnerabilities in hardware and software.
Key Areas of an IT Infrastructure Audit
Different businesses have varying needs so a one-size-fits-all IT infrastructure audit checklist template may not work, and you may have to create a checklist specific to your needs. There are, however, areas that should be focused on when creating a checklist.
1. Physical, Network and Data Security
To protect data and prevent unauthorized access to systems, ensuring physical security is necessary. The audit should uncover which individuals have access to facilities including server rooms and if security badges or biometric authentication is required. It should also assess if data is stored separately according to their sensitivities and assess which users have access to sensitive data and what credentials they need to access that data. To perform a risk assessment of your IT infrastructure you need to include a security vulnerability assessment in your audit.
- Perform external penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in the network’s intrusion prevention system or firewall.
- Ensure that wireless networks are secure and make sure those accessing the network from outside the office use secure methods such as VPNs.
- Detect unauthorized access points by scanning the network thoroughly.
- Confirm employee education program covers password policy, avoiding risky websites, enabling multi-factor authentication, and following cyber security best practices.
- Identify all APIs and other data transmission methods that may be vulnerable to data leaks.
- Ensure access controls are correctly configured.
- Check if there is sufficient error and attack logs and adequate monitoring.
- Ensure that all software including antivirus software is regularly patched and updated.
These are just a few key checkpoints, for a comprehensive security audit, you may want to include OWASP top 10 security risks in your checklist.
2. Regulatory Compliance
Businesses are required to follow several rules and regulations by authorities and industry regulations. For instance, every business operating in the European Union must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) while handling customer data. In healthcare, organizations operating in the US must adhere to HIPAA. Healthcare providers in the UK follow regulations of the Data Protection Act. An IT audit should check and ensure that the relevant rules and regulations are being adhered to.
3. Data Backup and Recovery
Even if you have adequate cybersecurity measures in place, there is no guarantee that there won’t be data loss due to cyberattacks. Data loss can also result from other factors such as hardware failure, natural disasters, and insider threats. Data backup and recovery mechanisms can ensure business continuity and minimize downtime in case of a data loss incident. The IT audit checklist should assess how frequently data is being backed up, the cost of downtime and how much time is required for complete recovery.
4. Hardware
Hardware should be monitored continuously to keep the business running smoothly. An IT audit can be a convenient way of maintaining an inventory of all hardware components with information on their performances and age so that they can be replaced before they malfunction, ensuring the continuity of the infrastructure.
