External Audits and Assessments

(OBJ 5.5)

External Audits and Assessments

• Essential tools for maintaining a robust security posture and ensuring regulatory compliance
• Conducted by independent third parties to provide an unbiased perspective on an organization's security infrastructure, identify potential vulnerabilities, and assess the effectiveness of security controls

External Audits

• Systematic evaluations conducted by independent entities
• Assess information systems, applications, and security controls
• Provides and objective perspective on an organization's true security posture.
• Focuses on various areas
  • Data protection
  • Network security
  • Access controls
  • Incident response procedures
• Objective is to identify gaps in security policies and controls for compliance with regulatory standards such as
  • GDPR
  • HIPAA
  • PCI DSS

External Assessments

• Detailed analysis by independent entities to identify vulnerabilities and risks in an organization's security systems
• Utilize automated scanning tools and manual testing techniques
• External assessments can take various forms
  • Risk assessments
  • Vulnerability assessments
  • Threat assessments
• Example:
  • A healthcare organization might engage a cybersecurity firm to conduct a vulnerability assessment of its electronic health record systems to ensure that it's compliant with the HIPAA regulatory requirements.
  • Find outdated software or misconfigured settings and then provide a report detailing these vulnerabilities and recommend mitigation strategies

Regulatory Compliance

• The goal is to ensure organizations comply with relevant laws, policies, and regulations
  • "Objective that an organization attempts to reach"
• Organizations adopt consolidated and harmonized sets of compliance controls to achieve regulatory compliance, e.g., NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• Compliance includes adherence to industry-specific rules (e.g., HIPAA, PCI DSS) and more generalized regulations like GDPR
• To achieve compliance with these regulations, orgs will often implement specific security controls, maintain certain policies and procedures, and regularly audit and assess their organization's security posture.

Examinations

• Detailed inspections of an organization's security infrastructure conducted externally
• Cover various areas
  • Network security
  • Data protection
  • Access controls
• May include testing of the following
  • Key personnel
    • Using standardized testing
  • Certifications
    • Check if certifications are up-to-date
  • Standardized assessments
• Crucial for maintaining a strong security posture and regulatory compliance.
• Examinations review policies, procedures, and controls, and address weaknesses. Provide a roadmap for making necessary improvements.
• Example:
  • A Nuclear Energy company that assess the operators personnel every quarter so knowledge on how to operate machines is verified.
• Industry-specific examinations can also arise based on sector regulations

Independent Third-Party Audits

• Provide an unbiased perspective on an organization's security posture
• Validate security measures and build trust with
  • Customers
  • Stakeholder
  • Regulatory bodies
• Required by regulations like GDPR and PCI DSS for organizations to undergo regular independent third-party audits.