Cybersecurity Audit Survival Kit

A rise in cybersecurity threats has made safeguarding organizational assets more critical than ever and it’s no longer just the responsibility of information security teams.

Cybersecurity audits provide an essential checkpoint to evaluate the robustness of your defenses and identify vulnerabilities — but often, they create friction between internal audit and InfoSec teams. Misaligned objectives, insufficient resources, and a lack of understanding result in inefficiencies and frustration on both sides. 

Today’s threat landscape requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and cybersecurity audits are essential for evaluating defenses and identifying potential vulnerabilities. They can also be an excellent opportunity to secure a budget for critical security initiatives — with the help of your internal audit team.

If you’re not familiar, The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is a standard-setting body for the audit profession, and they’ve recently released a new Cybersecurity Topical Requirement. This requirement aims to standardize cyber audits so all teams are on the same page and emphasize collaboration to present a unified front against security risks. 

This requirement seeks to address current challenges by providing specific, actionable guidance to internal auditors on auditing cyber risks. For information security professionals, the requirement increases transparency by providing insight into the control expectations that internal audits will be assessing. 

The requirement also aims to foster a shared language related to cybersecurity risk and control and common objectives between audit and InfoSec teams — increasing coordination while ensuring audits are rigorous, consistent, and aligned with organizational priorities. When internal audit and InfoSec work together effectively, there will be less tension, more trust, and stronger cyber resilience.

If you’ve struggled to secure a budget for key cybersecurity initiatives, the requirement presents an opportunity for internal audit to help. Share your concerns during the audit, as they can help convince the board to invest in cybersecurity when reporting on their findings.

To jump-start collaboration under the new IIA requirement, we’ve broken down key actions for both teams leading up to, during, and after a cybersecurity audit and included a cybersecurity audit readiness checklist to support audit and InfoSec in working together.