Network auditing is very important for any organization. The networks keep on taking different shapes and their complexities also change with the passage of time. Many network administrators do not consider it as part of their job. Many network users do a lot of activities all by themselves including addition of new devices, managing hardware related issues and other network infrastructure problems. When the users do not inform about their activities to the network administrator, they can badly impact the overall network security. In order to make sure that all these kinds of activities remain in check, the network administrator needs to stay in touch with all the changes through continuous monitoring.
Let Us Define Network Auditing
Network auditing is the taking care of all the networking processes that are related to hardware and software. The process of network auditing can be done manually too. However the manual process of network auditing is lengthy as well as time consuming. The administrator who is responsible for managing the network must clearly know about all the machine and devices which are connected to the network. The operating systems used must also be well known to the administrator in order to timely understand and overcome any problems faced. Lastly, the administrator must have complete knowledge of all the users on the network and the privileges assigned to them. Network audit would take full stock of the hardware running behind the machines and policies which are impacting their functions.
Here is how network auditing actually helps organizations. Compliance
Network auditing greatly helps in carrying out the relevant compliance activities. You would be able to quickly establish if current systems comply with the company’s internal policies and the licenses of all the software being used have been updated. You can avoid mistakes like issuing usage right of software to several users which is actually meant to be used for one or two users.
It is important for any company that relies on IT to know about the software that it is using in-house. You would be able to know if certain computers or other hardware needs to be updated. This update would help you protect yourself from potential hacks and other IT risks faced by your organization. Some software updates help provide better user experience like for example use of a desktop publishing software, which resultantly enhances productivity.
It is important to not only take care of the software but also the hardware that you are using. Network auditing would help you recognize the need for updating the hardware that is either obsolete or insufficient for your current organizational needs. For example, a printer which was installed for an office of ten people is currently trying to survive a demand of over 50 employees. The entire organization is dependent on the papers printed from that printer. However, it has a low PPM speed that creates bottleneck once too many employees have given printing command to the printer. A network audit would let your company know and change that to a printer that would perhaps take care of printing commands from fifty or more employees working inside your company.
IT Issues Management
Network auditing also ensures that you are able to recognize the IT problems faced by your organization. The IT issues can create all kinds of problems for an organization from reducing efficiency of the employees to risking company’s sensitive data. Therefore, frequent network auditing saves you from these kinds of problems once you timely identify and eradicate them.
Overcoming of Vulnerabilities
IT networks need to be highly secure. Any organization that wants to survive and thrive in a highly connected IT network must ensure that it is able to identify and take care of the issues that it is facing. Network auditing also helps you create risk profiles and helps solves complex business problems.We can provide IT-Auditing-Solutions Services both on one time basis and on regular basis depending on your choice.