Security Audit – A Simple Look Into What Actually Happens

A security audit is not just a bunch of policies being checked off on a clipboard. It's a structured review of an organisation’s frameworks, controls, and compliance readiness to ensure they meet certain security expectations. Whether it’s for legal compliance, internal improvement, or preparing for third-party evaluations, security audits are at the center of strengthening posture.

Types of Security Audit

There are two key types of audits you’ll hear about:

Internal Audit

Done by in-house roles like the compliance officer, security manager, or designated audit team. It's about proactively catching issues before regulators or attackers do.

External Audit

Performed by third-party professionals. These are formal, often tied to certifications or compliance programs (like ISO 27001, SOC 2).

Focus on Internal Security Audit

The internal audit plays a vital role in regulatory compliance and risk reduction.

Who's Involved?

Compliance officer

Security manager

Security analysts or engineers

They work together to prepare the organisation for external audits, avoid regulatory fines, and close security gaps early.

Components of Internal Audit

Let’s break it down into a proper flow:

1. Identify Goals and Scope

The goal aligns with the organisation’s security objectives.

The scope focuses on what systems, departments, or controls are being reviewed-say, software engineers' machines, cloud environments, or access policies.

This step ensures that everyone is clear on what is being tested and why.

2. Risk Assessment

This is about identifying potential risks that could affect the business.

You’re looking at:

Where could breaches happen?

What data could be lost?

What systems are vulnerable?

Example:

"The company’s physical and digital assets are at risk due to improper disposal methods of old hardware, which may contain unencrypted data."

This stage is less about fixing and more about discovery and understanding impacts

3. Controls Assessment

Now that risks are known, the next step is to assess what controls are in place.

Here are the types of security controls you’ll come across:

Preventive Controls

To stop incidents before they even occur.

E.g., strong password policies, firewalls, MFA.

Detective Controls

To identify that an attack has happened or is ongoing.

E.g., IDS/IPS, audit logs, SIEM alerts.

Corrective Controls

To restore systems after an incident.

E.g., restoring backups after a ransomware attack.

Deterrent Controls

To discourage attackers.

E.g., warning banners, legal disclaimers, surveillance cameras.

Three Main Categories of Controls

Control Type Description

Administrative Implemented by humans. E.g., training, policy enforcement

Technical Hardware/software-based. E.g., encryption, IDS/IPS

Physical Restrict physical access. E.g., locks, CCTV, biometric doors

Mapping the Controls

When documenting controls, it’s often structured like this:

Control Name Type & Description Needs to Be Implemented Prioritised

This kind of tabular breakdown helps during remediation or risk scoring.

4. Assessment to Compliance

Once the control checks are done, compare your status with standards and regulations you need to follow:

GDPR (for data privacy)

PCI DSS (if you handle card payments)

HIPAA, ISO 27001, SOX, etc.

If your internal audit shows non-compliance, it’s a red flag. But it also gives you the roadmap to get back on track.

5. Communicate the Results

This is the final-and arguably most important step.

Share the results with key stakeholders. Include:

Identified risks

Estimated impact

How quickly each issue needs to be addressed

Recommendations for mitigation

Timeline for compliance fixes

This part transforms your audit from a document into a security improvement action plan.

Final Note

Most people think of audits as annoying paperwork-but they’re not. They’re a mirror to your security maturity. A good internal audit will not only keep fines away but also stop data breaches before they become headlines.