IT Audit for Small Businesses

Starting a small business takes up a lot of courage and brings up huge responsibilities with it. The owners need to continuously monitor the company performance & management and ensure steady growth of the company. This is where the ‘Audit’ term comes in. The Audits help small businesses to solve the problems and maintain the business in line through goals, initiatives, and plans.

These types of Audits cover all the IT Infrastructure of the small businesses that include the servers, computers and network routers. The IT audit also regulates & ensures the protection of the data & business assets along with the overall goals of the company. Additionally, the audits also recommend and give tips to speed up and improve the business if needed.

Why do Small Businesses need IT Audits?

Nowadays, the frequency of cyber-attacks has increased to a great extent. The smaller businesses have been affected severely and as per data by Breach Investigation report, 43% of the cybersecurity attacks were aimed towards Small businesses.

This is why these Small businesses must set up a strong defense against the attacks & threats and must also be aware of IT securities and vulnerabilities. The threats have been evolving & changing daily and therefore the Small business owners must ensure that the IT security of their company evolves continuously.

Benefits of IT audits in Small Businesses:

Most of the small business owners are very much scared at the thought of an audit, however, an IT audit can be very productive and can help the company to plan better for the future. Some of the most common benefits are:

• IT audits can ensure that the business operations are being done at the lowest possible risks. It also helps in taking proper security measures to counter high-risk threats.
• When an audit is done, then all types of fraud, theft or operating inefficiencies come in limelight and this helps the business owners to rectify their mistakes and achieve profitability in the future.
• Since the IT Audits involve in confidentiality, availability, and integrity of data, therefore, they ensure that the safety of sensitive information.

Below are the main assessment steps involved in the IT Security Audit:

• Network Security: This is a common area of the Small Businesses that the cyber attackers target because most of the time their devices like the firewalls, routers, and switches are not maintained at the required security level. Here, all the anti-malware applications are checked if they are up to date. The supported software and the latest security patches are also checked if they are properly licensed & installed properly.

 

• Technical Security: This part of IT audits not only involves proper checkup of IT infrastructure but also other complex advancements like SaaS, cloud services and network devices. Additionally, they also conduct penetrations tests & phishing simulations for maintaining security to an optimum level.

 

• Administrative Security: Nowadays a small USB device along with a high-speed internet connection can cause great damage to the business by methods like network hacking or file copying. This fact is very scary indeed. This is why the IT audits to check if proper administrative security control measures are carried out like regular background checks of the contractors & employees. They also inspect & examine if the Small business owners are making their employees & workers aware of important security protocols & latest policies. They also check if the employee IDs are proper and if every individual has their own user account credentials.

Therefore IT audits help Small businesses and improves business efficiency by acting as a quality control mechanism. Although these audits take some of our time and money but they are worth investing in to boost the company’s business incomes and growth.