Network Audit

When was the last time that you and your team performed an audit? A lot can change overtime – mergers and acquisitions, new and existing application demands on the network, budget forecasting and capital expenses, and turnover within IT and especially network infrastructure.

There’s a tendency for network admins to fall into an operational state where their main priority is the day-to-day operations. I like to call keeping the lights on. However, networks need to be upgraded and refreshed from time-to-time. This is especially true when upgrading your networking technology. This includes performing an audit to identify which hardware and software need to be replaced or upgraded.

It’s probably the last thing that IT or a Network Administrator wants to hear is – we’re experiencing a major network outage, we can’t connect to the internet, or latency issues are having an impact on applications, clients, users, and partners. In this scenario, it’s needed on an emergency basis as a way of troubleshooting the network.

For many industries including financial and healthcare, regulatory and compliance standards are an important reason to initiate a network audit. This includes adhering to HIPAA, SOC1, SOC2, FedRAMP, PCI, FISMA, NIST, and other critical standards for compliance. It may be used by internal or external auditors to assess the compliance of the organization as a whole.