What Is A Network Security Audit ?

What exactly is a network security audit and how will it help us?
They are the questions that you normally hear as soon as you suggest that your company should call in a specialist to do a network security audit.

If you are thinking of going to any kind of budget meeting where you ask for some money to run a network security audit you need to have some answers ready for these questions.

A network security audit, just means someone comes and checks the security of your computer network. These checks can vary from being just computer based right through to including a on site evaluation of the physical security of your company network. Network security threats come in all different shapes forms and styles so it really does make sense to call in the experts.

When the question of “how will a network security audit help us?” is bought up I always ask people if they ever have their car serviced or do they just wait till it breaks down on the road to an important meeting to get that funny noise looked at.

Having a Network security audit done is like servicing for your network, but instead of fixing a small oil leak, it stops a huge information, profit and business leak.

Since we have an IT dept why do we need to get someone else in from the outside to do a network security audit?

This is another common question when you are trying to get budgetary approval for a network security audit, the answer is that you need specialists for each job. You wouldn’t expect the guy who sells pet food to be able to fix your roof as efficiently as someone who has spent many years learning all there is to know about roofs.

Computers are exactly the same, there are people who specialize in setting up websites, people who specialize in keeping servers running and people who do nothing but run network security audits all week. They also fix the problems they find of course.

Paying for a network security audit may seem like an added expense that your company doesn’t need in this tough economic climate but try and work out a cost for one day of total down time should your pc’s be infected with some nasty virus.

How much would it cost your company in man hours, lost business and goodwill if your whole computer network was compromised?

While it doesn’t pay to be too much of a scaremonger, network security isn’t something that should be taken lightly by anyone. Sadly enough network security audits are only considered to be worth investing in by some companies after they have already had a catastrophic computer failure.

There is a old expression in England, Penny Wise and Pound Foolish, this is especially apt in the world of computers. You may save some money by not paying for a network security audit, but that saving will pale into nothing when you consider the loss if you don’t get a professional company in to run a network security audit today.