3 Benefits of Cybersecurity Auditing and Risk Assessments

Maintaining your company’s network integrity and confidentiality is vital, as downtime and security breaches can affect your entire business operation and reputation. To do so, businesses of all sizes benefit from hiring an experienced IT provider for comprehensive cybersecurity auditing and risk assessments for them. 

During a detailed security risk audit, the IT provider will assess your company’s systems, infrastructure, networks, data encryption, compliance, and policies to determine any security gaps or regulation misses. A security risk audit is also called an IT infrastructure risk assessment or a security audit. 

Cybersecurity professionals strongly recommend that all companies—regardless of size—invest in audits and risk assessments because recovering from data breaches is a costly and time-intensive affair. There’s a misconception that cyberattacks only target big companies when 71% of cyberattacks happen to companies with fewer than 100 employees. 

A cybersecurity audit and risk assessment will provide you with three main benefits, including: 

• An accurate snapshot of network risks
• A detailed plan to avoid security breaches & downtime
• Preservation of legal compliance 

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Get Stronger Network Integrity & Confidentiality With 46Solutions.

We have over 300 years of combined IT and cybersecurity experience. We’ve performed cybersecurity audits and risk assessments for various Kentucky businesses of all sizes and industries, and we’re certified in compliance for healthcare and financial entities. 

Call us at (859) 788-4600, email us at info@46solutions.com, or fill out our easy 5-question online form below to book a free consultation. 

Schedule free consultation

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Accurate Snapshot of Network Risks 

A security risk assessment reviews and evaluates a company’s technology and cybersecurity safeguards and all potential points of entry. It identifies risks to your company and verifies that you have the right procedures to protect against security threats. 

Most IT providers will customize security risk assessments to your business and compliance needs. Risk assessments are holistic and will test critical hardware and software systems, employees (including your IT team!), and vendors for security weaknesses. Audits emphasizing policy, user access, and devices are important because human error is the reason for 95% of cybersecurity breaches.

Your security audit can include any of the following risk assessments and real-time tests: 

Infrastructure

• Backup power, UPS, and generator capacity
• Facility cooling capacity and redundancy
• Server wiring and cabling
• Server rack infrastructure

Servers & Systems

• Server inventory, including detected OS systems
• Server vulnerability reports
• Server resource utilization
• Server backup processes
• Redundancy / high availability configuration
• Anti-virus/anti-malware systems
• IT asset inventory processes
• Server update processes
• Identity and authentication systems

Network

• Complete network discovery mapping
• Discovered network inventory list
• Internal network device vulnerability scan
• External network device vulnerability scan
• Firewall vulnerability scan
• IDS/IPS review
• Spam filtering review
• Web filter device review
• Data loss prevention systems review

Application Scanning

• Discovery of all internal web applications
• Discovery of all external web applications
• Application vulnerability assessment
• Application server vulnerability scanning

Information Security

• Sensitive data inventory
• Data classification
• Data risk analysis
• Data encryption review
• Access authorization procedures 
• Access controls

Policies

• Comprehensive IT policy review
• Disaster recovery plan review
• Business continuity plan review
• Device and media control policy review
• Security incident procedure review
• Log monitoring process review
• Workforce security policy review
• Workforce “hire and fire” policy review
• Risk management process review

Once your IT provider has identified threats, they will rank them based on the level of risk they bring to your business and create a plan for you, which we’ll cover next. You’ll have an accurate snapshot of any network risks for your company and the next steps to take. 

Detailed Plan to Avoid Security Breaches & Downtime

After a security audit, you will receive a detailed plan to help your company avoid security breaches and downtime. Following this plan can help your company prevent security breaches, a damaged business reputation, revenue and time spent on data breach resolution, and potential legal litigation because of compliance violations. 

Over half of America’s small businesses have suffered a data breach, with many having to spend $250-500k to resolve the breach over 1-2 years. Meanwhile, 62% of severe outages can cost companies anywhere from $100,000 to over $1 million. Both data breaches and downtime can cause a reputational hit as customers expect continuous, smooth service and increased data protection. 

For example, the cybersecurity experts at 46Solutions will create an executive summary report for our clients. It will have narratives of security penetration tests, any found vulnerabilities and exploited systems, and our recommendations with a detailed remediation plan to protect your internal and external information. 

The plan will prioritize security solutions that reduce the number of entry points for an attacker to access your organization’s data, such as having your employees undergo training to stop preventable human error incidents. Or maybe the plan will recommend an enterprise password manager and automatic patch updates. Other solutions can include: 

• Securing devices
• Controlling user access
• Setting up security configuration standards

Your IT provider will include action items, key milestones, and whether your company may need extra monitoring and support depending on whether you’ve experienced a data breach recently in the plan. Typically, IT providers will provide 24/7 cybersecurity options for monitoring malicious activity and producing audit logs in real time.

Preservation of Legal Compliance 

Depending on the industry that you work in, you may be federally mandated to meet compliance standards, which require security risk assessments. Banking, medical, and insurance companies work with sensitive customer information and must meet strict compliance. 

All companies that store, process, or transmit credit card data should meet Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). Any company with European Union customers must meet General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards for keeping personal data safe. 

Financial companies must meet risk assessment and security standards set by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). The FDIC sets information technology standards and requires regular audits for banks. SEC and OCIE recommend risk assessments and security best practices for investment advisers, brokers, and exchanges. Cybersecurity audits are especially important since 38% of financial companies are unaware of vulnerabilities until a bad actor reaches out.

Healthcare companies are bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to meet national standards for protecting sensitive patient health information. A security audit can discover whether cybercriminals are exploiting outdated security measures or mining information. Your IT provider can properly train your employees to recognize phishing, establish processes to avoid information misdelivery, and implement strong user access control to secure data to HIPAA standards. 

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Want Thorough Cybersecurity Audits & Risk Assessments For Your Business? Contact 46Solutions! 

46Solutions offers full-service cybersecurity audits and risk assessments for Kentucky business owners. We can provide you with peace of mind against cyberattacks, data breaches, and downtime. With over 300 years of combined technical experience, our security consultants can help your business meet best practices for regulatory compliance, hardware and software setup, and operational employee policies. Not to mention, our consultants attend regular trainings by global security councils. 

We’re a Top 3 IT Firm awarded by Business Lexington with expertise and certifications in the following:

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
• Offensive Security Web Expert (OSWE)
• Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) 
• HIPAA compliance for healthcare entities
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ SOC2 compliance standards 

Contact us at (859) 788-4600 or info@46solutions.com for stress-free security audits. You can also fill out our easy 5-question online form below to book a free consultation. 

Take our 30-minute network assessment challenge! If we cannot find any vulnerabilities or security gaps in 30 minutes, we’ll donate $100 to a local nonprofit of your choice. 

Schedule free consultation