Businesses that don’t see after their vulnerabilities are just asking to be breached. That’s the consensus view in the IT industry. It’s disconcerting, then, to consider how many businesses don’t actively assess their IT security, especially considering how much these platforms change from year-to-year. Today, we’ll briefly discuss what a security and compliance audit is, and why we think you need one.
What is a Security and Compliance Audit?
This is pretty straightforward. There are a constant stream of threats that come at your business and the individuals that work in it. In order to keep your business’ assets safe from theft or corruption, you need to do what you can to protect them. That typically includes implementing security software, training your staff about phishing and other scams, and overall just being vigilant about the way you go about things. Most business owners would say that is all they can do and if that doesn’t protect them nothing will.
In the same breath, these same people will continuously add to their IT infrastructure, implement new technologies, and deploy alternative platforms if they think they can make a dollar and a cent doing so. The integration of these new systems can create holes in your business’ network, and these holes are what hackers use to breach your network and steal your data or corrupt your whole IT platform.
Furthermore, as a business’ IT gets more complicated, their compliance concerns get more complicated. Most businesses have certain compliance requirements they need to meet in order to keep doing business effectively, with more expected to pop up as privacy concerns get met with more policy.
The security and compliance audit is a full-blown assessment of the network and infrastructure designed to find potential holes. The security and compliance audit goes beyond your typical vulnerability scan because the results include a specific assessment of your specific IT profile. At GeekBox IT, we suggest getting a security and compliance audit done before you make any significant changes to your IT infrastructure. We also suggest getting a penetration test after any changes are complete to ensure that your platforms meet the security and compliance standards your business operates under.
Square Away Your IT Defenses
Getting a comprehensive security and compliance audit and a subsequent penetration test can be all the difference between a litany of potential troubles. On one hand, you may have vulnerabilities remaining in your IT infrastructure that could be exploited, putting your business in peril. On the other, non-compliance with regulatory standards can cause large fines or worse. If you would like to talk to one of our IT professionals about the possibility of getting your network and infrastructure audited and tested to help you close up any holes in your IT, give us a call today at (336) 790-1000.