Information Technology Review - Auditing Information Systems: Enhancing Performance of the Enterprise - page 39

introduction of wearable devices which are used to communicate with office systems
via Bluetooth for example. All these devices introduce different risks when used to
connect to office networks.

The benefits of using workstations are that they provide us with the ability to capture
large volumes of data, access to data in remote locations through networks, and the
Internet. We can also use our workstations to process complex data either independ-
ently as a stand-alone workstation or through other bigger computers, such as main-
frames and supercomputers.

The IS auditor should understand the role of audit objectives and how they are deve-
loped. Audit objectives are normally determined by management or the department
concerned and may vary in content depending on business requirements. Below in
figure 4.1 are some generic audit objectives which can be considered when auditing
workstations:

# Audit Objective Environment

1 Security of the workstations (physical and logical) Workstation

2 Availability of antivirus and antimalware software Workstation

3 Access controls using user account and password Workstation

4 Hardening of security on the workstation operating system Workstation

5 Availability of supported version of operating system on workstations Workstation

Secure connectivity to network devices such as servers, printers, and
Internet

6 Workstation

7 Security for wireless connections Workstation

8 Determine approved application systems on workstation Workstation

9 Availability of patches to update workstation OS software Workstation

10 Protection of data on the workstation Workstation

Figure 4.1 Workstation Audit Objectives

b) Operating Systems