A regular cyber audit should be an integral part your organisation’s IT disaster recovery plan. Why? The tricks and techniques that cyber criminals use are forever evolving, which causes new system vulnerabilities to emerge continuously.
Undertaking a cyber audit is also important whenever your business undergoes operational changes. That’s because those changes might have created hidden weaknesses in your overall cyber defence posture.
Of course, during the past 18 months almost all businesses have gone through one or more phases of monumental change. In March 2020, the world shifted to home working. Since July 2021, the world has adopted a mix of office, home and hybrid working strategies. Unfortunately, there are cyber defence consequences to consider for all three approaches.
In short, the best time to review your cyber defences is NOW.
NVT Group company Blue Rock can provide a thorough assessment of your overall cyber defence position.
The audit evaluates your IT infrastructure and procedures to help minimise the likelihood and impact of cyber-attacks. Ultimately, it gives you an overview of the status of your environment and recommends a set of actions to make your cyber defence systems more robust.
Here are some of the main ways that the cyber audit will benefit your organisation:
Vulnerabilities are identified before they result in a breach
We identify vulnerabilities across your whole IT environment, including hardware, software and endpoints, including any “Bring Your Own” devices.
If required, we can then assist with remediation to remove any weaknesses that are categorised as medium, high, or critical straight away.
It’s important to note that the security measures you last put in place may not necessarily cover you in the future. It’s also a fact that it’s always more expensive to deal with data recovery after a cyber-attack, so being proactive is key.
A deeper insight into how your systems operate
Understanding how data moves around your organisation is crucial to protecting it. That’s why we examine your data management cycle, the tools used to manage data life cycles and the roles and responsibilities that are allocated across staff members in different departments.
This allows you to identify vulnerable access points and put the protective measures in place ahead of time.
Staff training will be at the heart of the audit
It is common knowledge that human error is often at the root of many data breaches. That is why we make training a staff a priority. We host sessions with IT staff, any staff members responsible for Information Governance and your data protection officers.
Training will educate, instil confidence and inspire staff to maintain a secure system. Vitally, it will also cover how to handle a data breach, minimising the impact of human error on your organisation.
Policy reviews are key
As part of the audit, it is important to review your existing IT, security and information governance policies.
The audit will focus on password management, educating staff in best practices to ensure everyone is playing their part in creating a highly secure network.
The audit will also review your incident management procedures and how you handle the onboarding and offboarding of employees.
Who carries out the audit?
Blue Rock’s highly experienced Managing Director Lorraine Mills will carry out the audit. Lorraine has an MSc in Advanced Security and Digital Forensics and a GCHQ accredited qualification. She will provide results and recommendations that will inform the basis of your future cyber defence strategy.
When it comes to keeping your organisation safe, IT disaster recovery planning always pays off.
Click here to visit the Blue Rock website
To book a Cyber Audit, call us on 01698 749000 or send an e-mail to info@nvt.co.uk.