How effective is your cybersecurity audit?

Cybersecurity is an ever-increasing priority, and organizations need to be able to measure their cybersecurity audit effectiveness to understand how best to move forward and strengthen their cybersecurity practices. Internal audit is effective if the procedures of planning, performing and reporting on audit findings on cybersecurity risk management follow standards, professional guidelines and best practices.

The results of research show that certifications in IT audit matter but can be partially offset by outsourcing cybersecurity audits to third parties. Also, internal auditors should be wary of giving the board an overall opinion if the planning and performing stages of internal audit are not done properly. Ultimately, cybersecurity is not just the responsibility of one person or team, it is the responsibility of the entire organization, since collaboration between internal auditors and other teams (e.g., operational IT, information security) leads to better cybersecurity risk management.