1. Establish an audit framework.
This includes defining the scope of the audit, assigning responsibilities, and establishing a process to review audit findings.
2. Review existing policies and procedures.
Review and update existing policies and procedures, such as security standards and access control protocols.
3. Perform a risk assessment.
Identify potential risks and their associated impacts. This includes assessing the impact of malicious actors, natural disasters, system malfunctions, or human errors.
4. Identify security controls necessary to address identified risks.
Determine which security controls are necessary to mitigate the identified risks.
5. Create or review access control procedures.
Develop procedures to ensure that users have only the necessary level of access to sensitive data and systems.
6. Develop user authentication and authorization protocols.
Implement authentication and authorization protocols to securely identify and grant access to authorized users
7. Document network architecture, systems, services, and data sources.
Develop documentation to provide an inventory of all systems, services, and data sources in order to identify any potential security issues.
8. Identify physical security requirements.
Identify any physical security requirements and ensure that they are implemented.
9. Test applications for vulnerabilities.
Test applications to identify any vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malicious actors.
10. Implement incident response procedures.
Develop and implement incident response procedures so that organizations can quickly respond to potential security threats.