Employees are spending more time online than ever before. Whether at home or back in the office, employees spend hours each day fulfilling organisational functions like client contact, data entry, meetings, payments and the list goes on…

Naturally, all this internet usage is a positive for cyber criminals, eager to capitalise on the weak security of an organisation’s IT infrastructure. They are simply always on the hunt for vulnerable IP addresses and connections they can exploit.

This can be terrible, even disastrous, for businesses. For example, in July 2021, a Swedish supermarket had to close all its stores because they could not operate their cash registers due to a cyber attack (it was part of one of the biggest ransomware attacks in history).

Therefore, periodic or regular cyber security audits in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and beyond are imperative, and here are their benefits…

1. Periodic & regular cyber security audits

Both periodic and regular audits can be beneficial for your business. Periodic audits are unscheduled and can be performed when necessary to meet an organisation’s changing IT needs.

In contrast, regular security audits are scheduled and are always planned before the event. Both forms of audits carry their own benefits, with organisations being able to incrementally conduct audits in each quarter.

Businesses may need to conduct periodic and regular cyber security audits throughout the year as their infrastructure may be under threat from attack. Overall, a working combination of both methods is a valuable way to ensure year-round cyber security for your organisation.

2. See what needs fixing

Cyber security audits allow you to understand your framework and where it could be vulnerable. Cyber criminals are becoming more advanced, and they utilise all kinds of information to attack businesses. Organisations are often unaware of any vulnerabilities in their infrastructure until it’s too late - this is where cyber security audits are a valuable weapon at your disposal.

It’s important for organisations to understand that there is a lot of hard work and planning that goes into the strategy, structure and application of a well-conceived security system. Regular and periodic audits are there to find any weak points in your IT security before cyber criminals can, allowing cyber security professionals to fix those weak points before they are used against your organisation.

3. It’s important to reassess

Even if your organisation has installed a well-conceived cyber security system and performed regular updates, you can never be sure that the controls that have been implemented can fully protect your network. New malware and ransomware algorithms are constantly being created and circulated amongst cyber criminals, with the more advanced technologies making it easier to attack even sturdy controls.

A reassessment is always a good idea for organisations that care about their cyber security (as all organisations should!) - they can be conducted at least bi-weekly. For example, your organisation may have installed a new security pass to enter your network. However, a cyber security audit may find that this authentication request is faulty and susceptible to cyber criminals.

Conducting the cyber security audit has ensured that you have realised the problem before any cyber criminal group and can rectify it before it is targeted.

It’s simply the safest way to go!

Cyber security is an ever-evolving, reactionary process. Security controls are put in place to increase your organisation’s safety against a cyber attack, but you can never be sure that these controls are consistently working properly unless you conduct regular and periodic cyber security audits on them.