Saturday, November 7, 2009
IT audits: best service provider venomit
<p>IT Audits are essential for companies large or small in order for you to identify what you have in place, why, and also to help identify improvements and system vulnerabilities. An information technology audit, or information systems audit, is an examination of the controls within an Information technology (IT) infrastructure. An IT audit is the process of collecting and evaluating evidence of an organization's information systems, practices, and operations. The evaluation of obtained evidence determines if the information systems are safeguarding assets, maintaining data integrity, and operating effectively to achieve the organization's goals or objectives. These reviews may be performed in conjunction with a financial statement audit, internal audit, or other form of attestation engagement. <p> <p> An <a href="http://venomit.co.uk/services/it-consulting/it-audits.html">IT audit</a> should not be confused with a financial statement audit. While there may be some abstract similarities, a financial audit's primary purpose is to evaluate whether an organization is adhering to standard accounting practices. The primary functions of an IT audit are to evaluate the system's efficiency and security protocols, in particular, to evaluate the organization's ability to protect its information assets and properly dispense information to authorized parties. The IT audit's agenda may be summarized by the following questions: ⢠Will the organization's computer systems be available for the business at all times when required? (Availability) ⢠Will the information in the systems be disclosed only to authorize users? (Confidentiality) ⢠Will the information provided by the system always be accurate, reliable, and timely? (Integrity) Types of IT audits Various authorities have created differing taxonomies to distinguish the various types of IT audits. Goodman & Lawless state that there are three specific systematic approaches to carry out an IT audit: ⢠Technological innovation process audit. The aim of this audit is to construct a risk profile for existing and new projects. The audit will assess the length and depth of the company's experience in its chosen technologies, as well as its presence in relevant markets, the organization of each project, and the structure of the portion of the industry that deals with this project or product, organization and industry structure. ⢠Innovative comparison audit. This audit, as its name implies, means conducting an analysis of the innovative abilities of the company being audited, in comparison to its competitors. This requires examination of company's research and development facilities, as well as its track record in actually producing new products. ⢠Technological position audit: This audit reviews the technologies that the business currently has and that it needs to add. Technologies are characterized as being either "base", "key", "pacing", or "emerging". Others describe the spectrum of IT audits with five categories of audits: ⢠Systems and Applications: An audit to verify that systems and applications are appropriate, are efficient, and are adequately controlled to ensure valid, reliable, timely, and secure input, processing, and output at all levels of a system's activity. ⢠Information Processing Facilities: An audit to verify that the processing facility is controlled to ensure timely, accurate, and efficient processing of applications under normal and potentially disruptive conditions. ⢠<a href="http://venomit.co.uk/services/it-consulting/it-audits.html">Systems Development: An audit</a> to verify that the systems under development meet the objectives of the organization and to ensure that the systems are developed in accordance with generally accepted standards for systems development. ⢠Management of IT and Enterprise Architecture: An audit to verify that IT management has developed an organizational structure and procedures to ensure a controlled and efficient environment for information processing. ⢠Client/Server, Telecommunications, Intranets, and Extranets: An audit to verify that controls are in place on the client (computer receiving services), server, and on the network connecting the clients and servers IT Audit Process <p> 1. Planning 2. Studying and Evaluating Controls 3. Testing and Evaluating Controls 4. Reporting 5. Follow-up Venom IT can undertake an audit of your network to help identify improvements and troubleshoot any problem areas. We will visit you onsite and provide you with a written report detailing our findings, we will outline potential improvements that could be made and provide you with a breakdown of costs for any suggested work. Not only do we ensure you have exactly what you need to ensure your business is up and running 100% of the time but we will also look at your overall IT spenditure and other products available to you which may ultimately reduce your overall costs which is essential in this ever changing climate. To know more details please go through our website http://www.venomit.co.uk <p> <p></p>
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