Learn IT security auditing best practices as well as the importance of conducting and completing security Without established policies and standards, there's no guideline to determine the level of risk. An established security posture will also help measure the effectiveness of the audit team. . List of application software.
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- IT security auditing: Best practices for conducting audits
But once the auditor is on board, don't assume anything--everything should be spelled out in writing, such as receiving copies of policies or system configuration data. These assumptions should be agreed to by both sides and include input from the units whose systems will be audited. Involve the business and IT unit managers of the audited systems early on. This will smooth the process and perhaps flag some potential "Gotchas! Consider the case of one respected auditing firm that requested that copies of the system password and firewall configuration files be e-mailed to them.
One of the targeted organizations flatly refused. In fact, they thought the request was a social engineering test. Their security policy prohibited external release of any files requiring privileged access to read. If the audited organizations had been involved in the process from the start, problems like this might have been avoided.
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So, set the ground rules in advance:. Your managers should specify restrictions , such as time of day and testing methods to limit impact on production systems. Most organizations concede that denial-of-service or social engineering attacks are difficult to counter, so they may restrict these from the scope of the audit.
Make sure the auditors conform to your policy on handling proprietary information. If the organization forbids employees from communicating sensitive information through nonencrypted public e-mail, the auditors must respect and follow the policy. Give the auditors an indemnification statement authorizing them to probe the network. This "get out of jail free card" can be faxed to your ISP, which may become alarmed at a large volume of port scans on their address space.
As part of this "prep work," auditors can reasonably expect you to provide the basic data and documentation they need to navigate and analyze your systems. This will obviously vary with the scope and nature of the audit, but will typically include:. The entire process of analyzing and then testing your systems' security should be part of an overall plan.
Make sure the auditor details this plan up front and then follows through. The auditor should begin by reviewing all relevant policies to determine the acceptable risks. They should check for unauthorized implementations such as rogue wireless networks or unsanctioned use of remote access technology. The auditor should next confirm that the environment matches management's inventory. For example, the auditor may have been told all servers are on Linux or Solaris platforms, but a review shows some Microsoft servers. If the auditing team was selected for Unix expertise, they may not be familiar with Microsoft security issues.
If this happens, you'll want the auditor to get some Microsoft expertise on its team. That expertise is critical if auditors are expected to go beyond the obvious. Auditors often use security checklists to review known security issues and guidelines for particular platforms.
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Those are fine, but they're just guides. They're no substitute for platform expertise and the intuition born of experience. The auditor will use a reputable vulnerability scanner to check OS and application patch levels against a database see cover story, "How Vulnerable?
Require that the scanner's database is current and that it checks for vulnerabilities in each target system. While most vulnerability scanners do a decent job, results may vary with different products and in different environments. The auditor should use several tools see "The Auditor's Toolbox" and methods to confirm his findings--most importantly, his own experience.
For example, a sharp auditor with real-world experience knows that many sysadmins "temporarily" open system privileges to transfer files or access a system. Sometimes those openings don't get closed. A scanner might miss this, but a cagey auditor would look for it. Discovering security vulnerabilities on a live production system is one thing; testing them is another.
Some organizations require proof of security exposures and want auditors to exploit the vulnerabilities. This can be dangerous. A successful system compromise may be a graphic way to convince management of the dangers of the exposure, but are you prepared to risk compromising or even bringing down a live system? The SOW should specify parameters of testing techniques. And the auditor should coordinate the rules of engagement with both your IT people and the business managers for the target systems.
If actual testing isn't feasible, the auditor should be able to document all the steps that an attacker could take to exploit the vulnerablility. For example, if the system password file can be overwritten by anyone with specific group privileges, the auditor can detail how he would gain access to those privileges, but not actually overwrite the file. Another method to prove the exposure would be to leave a harmless text file in a protected area of the system. It can be inferred that the auditor could have overwritten critical files.
The audit's done, and you look at the report. Did you get your money's worth? If the findings follow some standard checklist that could apply to any organization, the answer is "no. While some commercial vulnerability scanners have excellent reporting mechanisms, the auditor should prove his value-added skills by interpreting the results based on your environment and a review of your organization's policies. That analysis should reflect your organization's risks.
Tools lack analytical insight and often yield false positives. You hired expert people, not tools, to audit your systems. So, how do you know if the auditor's risk assessment is accurate? For starters, have your IT staff review the findings and testing methods and provide a written response. The auditor's analysis should follow established criteria, applied to your specific environment. This is the nitty-gritty and will help determine the remedies you implement. Specifically, the report should outline:.
The auditor's report should include a brief executive summary stating the security posture of the organization. An executive summary shouldn't require a degree in computer science to be understood. A statement such as "fingerd was found on 10 systems" doesn't convey anything meaningful to most executives. Information like this should be in the details of the report for review by technical staff and should specify the level of risk.
Finally, there are occasions when auditors will fail to find any significant vulnerabilities. Like tabloid reporters on a slow news day, some auditors inflate the significance of trivial security issues. What do you say if there's nothing to say? Rather than inflate trivial concerns, the auditors should detail their testing methods and acknowledge a good security posture. To add value, they could point out areas for future concern or suggest security enhancements to consider.
However, it should be clear that the audited system's security health is good and not dependent on the recommendations. Remember, the purpose of the audit is to get an accurate snapshot of your organization's security posture and provide a road map for improving it. Do it right, and do it regularly, and your systems will be more secure with each passing year.
She has more than 20 years experience in Unix system administration, primarily focused on security. What are the top 3 best SQL Server security auditing tools? Please check the box if you want to proceed. Organizations have the necessary tools to protect data stored and processed in IaaS platforms.
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IT security auditing: Best practices for conducting audits
It focuses on issues like operations, data, integrity, software applications, security, privacy, budgets and expenditures, cost control, and productivity. Guidelines are available to assist auditors in their jobs, such as those from Information Systems Audit and Control Association. The following are basic steps in performing the Information Technology Audit Process: Auditing information security is a vital part of any IT audit and is often understood to be the primary purpose of an IT Audit.
The broad scope of auditing information security includes such topics as data centers the physical security of data centers and the logical security of databases, servers and network infrastructure components , [6] networks and application security. The concept of IT auditing was formed in the mids. Since that time, IT auditing has gone through numerous changes, largely due to advances in technology and the incorporation of technology into business.
Currently, there are many IT dependent companies that rely on the Information Technology in order to operate their business e. Telecommunication or Banking company. For the other types of business, IT plays the big part of company including the applying of workflow instead of using the paper request form, using the application control instead of manual control which is more reliable or implementing the ERP application to facilitate the organization by using only 1 application.
According to these, the importance of IT Audit is constantly increased. One of the most important role of the IT Audit is to audit over the critical system in order to support the Financial audit or to support the specific regulations announced e. The following principles of an audit should find a reflection: This list of audit principles for crypto applications describes - beyond the methods of technical analysis - particularly core values, that should be taken into account.
There are also new audits being imposed by various standard boards which are required to be performed, depending upon the audited organization, which will affect IT and ensure that IT departments are performing certain functions and controls appropriately to be considered compliant. The extension of the corporate IT presence beyond the corporate firewall e. The purposes of these audits include ensuring the company is taking the necessary steps to:.
The rise of VOIP networks and issues like BYOD and the increasing capabilities of modern enterprise telephony systems causes increased risk of critical telephony infrastructure being mis-configured, leaving the enterprise open to the possibility of communications fraud or reduced system stability.
Banks, Financial institutions, and contact centers typically set up policies to be enforced across their communications systems. The task of auditing that the communications systems are in compliance with the policy falls on specialized telecom auditors. These audits ensure that the company's communication systems:. Enterprise Communications Audits are also called voice audits, [16] but the term is increasingly deprecated as communications infrastructure increasingly becomes data-oriented and data-dependent.