Security Audits Do Customers Listen
Of the survey participants, 76% have employed third-party experts to audit network security practices. However, only 35% conduct these audits every year. About 27% hire a third party to audit every two years and 14% do so every three years or more.
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The key driver for bringing in an outside organization to conduct an audit was the need to prove to other parties that the company had passed that audit. Approximately 65% of those who’ve had an audit reported this as a top priority.
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Good news for channel partners: a whopping 72% of those who ponied up for outside audits reported them a worthwhile investment. Approximately 23% felt neutral about the spend and 5% didn’t feel it was a good investment.
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Among the quarter of respondents that reported never conducting a formal third-party audit, 47% said they did not need one and 24% reported cost as a barrier.
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Among all of the respondents, approximately 67% conduct internal security audits at least annually and an additional 17% do one every two years.
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About half of the respondents who conduct internal audits reported that these in-house probes identified significant security problems. But 33% reported that they “don’t go far enough” with internal audits and 43% believe that their organization needs to hold up to auditor scrutiny more frequently.
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However positive IT executives feel about outsiders conducting audits, they still have a ‘hands-off my network controls’ attitude when it comes to outsourcing. Approximately 69% believe that outsourcing technology jobs adversely affects network security. About 22% said that it has no impact and 9% believe it has a positive effect.