Since organizations around the globe began investing more aggressively in their digital transformation by migrating and modernizing applications within the cloud, the value of audit logging has shifted. It has expanded from industries like finance and healthcare to nearly any company with a digital strategy.

Keeping Active Directory secure is one of the most critical tasks for organizations’ information security. Keeping track of users’ activity is a fundamental part of AD security. But before jumping into purchasing shiny tools, there’s a lot you can do by simply changing and leveraging AD built-in audit capabilities.

One of my first tasks after leaving NSA for private industry in the early 90s was to write my new company’s information security policy. I’m not sure my previous job as a cryptanalyst left me qualified for this, but I was viewed as the security guy. So, I attacked the task with vim and vigor. That first information security policy I wrote was a thing of beauty. I scoured the Orange Book and other resources to find every security requirement that might help us prevent a security incident.

The PCAOB published fresh guidance last week about how auditors should handle evidence supplied by others to help the auditor assess financial statements, important performance or valuation metrics, and, well, all the other stuff that can go into an audit report these days.

An audit universe is a document that details all the audit activities to be carried out by the internal audit function. It consists of multiple and distinct auditable entities, processes, and activities, which can be considered “auditable units.” The number of these auditable units varies depending on the organization’s size, business complexity, and operational scale. In some cases they can run into the hundreds or even thousands.

Business owners whose revenue streams depend significantly or partially on government contracts have been recently faced with the mandatory emerging regulations called Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, also known as CMMC. All organizations working with the Department of Defense (DoD) and Federal government as their prime or subcontractors must be audited against these requirements by a competent third-party CMMC auditor.

Audit procedures are the processes and methods auditors use to obtain sufficient, appropriate audit evidence to give their professional judgment about the effectiveness of an organization’s internal controls. Internal controls are the mechanisms and standards that businesses use to protect their sensitive data and IT systems; or as a means of providing accountability on financial statements and accounting records.

Open source software audits can identify undetected issues in your codebase. Learn how our audit services can help you understand the risks during an M&A. Most of our clients understand that an open source software audit differs from an automated scan. An audit involves expert consultants analyzing a proprietary codebase using a combination of Black Duck® commercial tools and tools we’ve developed and use internally.