Specialised Information Systems Auditing - Auditing Information Systems: Enhancing Performance of the Enterprise - page 176

The challenge of auditing an information security infrastructure is that every day there are
new threats as the enterprise grows, evolves, and find new opportunities of conducting
business. The IS auditor, just as the information security teams, must always be on the
lookout and ensure that they are abreast with new developments in information security.
The security team should always be on the lookout for new security risks, threats and vul-
nerabilities. On the other end, hackers are also in action, trying to find new ways of penet-
rating systems of governments and enterprises.
Information security is a specialised field, and it is recommended that audit teams make
use of experts in this area. This is particularly important if the audit objectives are specific
and require a detailed and technical security audit. Securing high-end systems which are
used to manage operations of large enterprises with millions of customers require special-
ised skills.
Computer Forensic Auditing
The ever-growing incidents of computer crimes being committed around the world has also
led to the increased demand for services from computer forensic specialists. IS audit teams
regularly make use of computer forensics specialists to investigate computer crimes. The
specialists join the IS audit team as other experts.
Computer forensics involves the use of special investigation techniques to collect evidence
from computer systems where crime has been committed. Forensic specialists use special
software tools to carry out investigations and preserve evidence. The evidence obtained by
the forensic expert is used by the IS audit team to support their audit findings, conclusions,
and recommendations.
The audit objectives of a computer forensic audit are developed to ensure that evidence is
collected to support findings from the IS audit team. The IS audit team might find that there
is possibility of fraud having been committed. In order to have a strong case, the IS audit
team would request that other experts investigate the case further using forensic techniques.
The audit objectives given to the IS audit team and the forensics expert would generally be
the same. What would differ are the techniques used to collect and preserve digital eviden-
ce.
Computer forensic standards have been developed by International Standards Organisation
and other professional associations to support forensic work. The suite of forensic ISO
standards includes ISO/IEC 27037, 27041, 27042, 27043, and 27050. ISACA has also de-
veloped guidelines on carrying out computer forensic audits.
The evidence collected by forensic experts has been regularly used in courts of law, and the
experts are required to follow standard procedures of collecting and preserving evidence.
In many countries, laws have been enacted which should be followed in order for eviden-