An IT Audits Checklist By Joshua Feinberg At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

IT audits need to be absolutely thorough. The following checklist will help you get through every area you need to check during your IT audits:

1. You need to check PHYSICAL SECURITY during your IT audits and make sure controls are in place physically that keep servers, networking and telecommunications hardware safe and prevent unauthorized access.

2. A LOGICAL SECURITY investigation will check software security to make sure viruses and unauthorized access to important data is prevented.

3. Your IT audit should involve looking at LOGISTICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS to ensure that all the hardware is kept in facilities that will offer the best environmental conditions. The temperature, dust level, furniture, racks and physical structures used to support this equipment should be the best it can be.

4. During an audit you should check CONFIGURATION. Systems should be installed and configured in a way that aligns with all the necessary requirements and standards.

5. A check of SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION PROCEDURES will help guarantee that security and systems administrative procedures are clearly outlined for staff and assigned to specific individuals.

6. You should look into HARDWARE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT of the client's company. Hardware should all be inventoried, and all appropriate documentation including warranties and maintenance records should be organized and available.

7. SOFTWARE LICENSING should be in place for the company. During the IT audit you should make sure the client is in compliance will all agreements and has access to them.

8. DATA BACKUP AND DISASTER RECOVERY procedures should be in place for the company under optimal conditions. The client should be maintaining and testing data backup systems on a regular basis to ensure nothing is lost in an emergency.

9. Part of your IT audit should be devoted to checking DOCUMENTATION to ensure that all systems, procedures and policies are being regularly documented and updated. Logs of these systems should be kept by the client.

10. PERFORMANCE AND CAPACITY PLANNING will make sure that all systems are performing at their optimal and required levels in regards specifically to the following factors: uptime; systems availability; data storage availability; bandwidth; and archives of older data files.

11. Part of your job during an IT audit is to check how the client CHANGES MANAGEMENT. All changes to systems hardware or software should be logged, tested and verified before they are implemented and plans should be in place in case they have to be reversed.

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