What Is an IT Infrastructure Audit – Internal vs. External IT Audits – Ask the Engineer [VIDEO]
Ask the Engineer
Jack Kauter and Park Place Technologies Director of Product Operations, Jordan MacPherson, discuss the question – “What Is an IT Infrastructure Audit?” in this month’s Ask the Engineer.
You can learn more about IT infrastructure auditing here.
What Is an IT Infrastructure Audit?
Jack: Hi, guys. Jack here from Park Place and it’s time for Ask The Engineer. Joining me today is Director of Product Operations, Jordan MacPherson. Jordan, how’s it going?
Jordan: I’m living the dream, Jack.
Jack: Aren’t we all? Jordan, today’s question is concerning IT auditing to kick things off. What is an IT audit? Now this can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, but how would you perceive it?
Internal vs. External IT Auditing
Jordan: Yeah, I think that it starts with the idea of we’re trying to inspect what we expect, right? So that can either, be: do we have these things, or are we actually doing these processes? So whether that’s an inventory or a proof point. The other thing to keep in mind is there’s internal and external audits. So, some are done for different reasons.
When to Consider an IT Infra Audit
Jack: Yeah, absolutely. And when should one consider getting an IT audit?
Jordan: So I think that’s going to be driven by compliance and what’s required. Every business is different. When we think about internal IT infrastructure audits these are really going to be around IT maturity and and process improvement optimization. As you get into the external IT audits, those are going to be things for either third-party certificate or a regulatory requirements.
In the case of a third-party certificate you’re looking to prove you do things the right way so that customers can trust that you know you’re secure. Especially in this day and age, it’s really important for the regulatory IT auditing. It it’s things like HIPAA, PCI where you have a statute or something that dictates you must be compliant. And so that’s where the auditors will come in and and check you out from a frequency standpoint. Again, that’s going to depend on what you’re trying to accomplish. Some things you’re going to want to do monthly, others annually.
Jack: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Makes perfect sense. What is interesting is the different dynamics with internal and external audits there as well. Hopefully that should help some of those who are considering undertaking an IT infra audit. If you’d like to suggest a question to one of our engineers, please feel free to reach out to us! For now, we’ll see you next time on Ask The Engineer.