How to use When to use For whom Planning pitfalls Reaching deadlines

FREE Security Audit Template

Master security audit project plan timelines with our intuitive security audit template project plan Gantt chart template.

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Gantt chart template

Why use our Security Audit Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?

Get started with our Security Audit Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.

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Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

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Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

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Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.

How to use Tom’s Planner’s security audit template to build and share your security audit project.

Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step #1

Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Security Audit Template.

Step #2

Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.

Step #3

You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Security Audit Template based on your project description.

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What is a security audit template?

Security is a hot topic today. Both physical and IT assets must be protected from threats. However, it’s not enough to put defenses in place. You must regularly examine those defenses to ensure that they’re up to the task.

The term for this type of assessment is “security audit”. It’s an inspection of specific security-related infrastructure, how it works, potential vulnerabilities, and the associated risks. Security audits can include physical infrastructure, such as access control to a building, but can also include non-tangible security elements, such as operating systems and applications.

As you can imagine, these processes can be very complex. A security audit template can act as the framework for your assessment, allowing you to avoid having to start from scratch with each audit. A information security audit checklist includes frequently needed security items and allows you to build around them.

Better peace of mind with a security audit Gantt chart

There are instances where a generic security review checklist might be useful, but these documents don’t really have a place in an in-depth security audit. They’re just too inflexible and don’t offer the customization in planning that you need and deserve. Instead, consider a security audit Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner, which can help you:

  • Set custom tasks
  • Identify and track dependencies
  • Create visual timelines
  • Assign roles and responsibilities
  • Share the template with others

When to use a security audit template

A security audit Gantt chart is a powerful tool for planning and fleshing out your audit strategy. It should be used at several pivotal points in the process, including:

Planning Phase:

A successful security audit is a well-planned security audit. Without accurate planning, it’s all too easy to overlook areas or cause business disruptions. An IT security audit template helps you flesh out the audit process so nothing’s overlooked and all eventualities are accounted for.

Resource Allocation:

You’ll need a wide range of resources during the audit process. Security audit checklists allow you to plan, allocate, and manage resources during all phases, ensuring a smooth process.

Stakeholder Communication:

An IT security audit checklist helps keep key stakeholders in the loop throughout the audit process. This can include auditors, department heads, team leaders, and members of the C-suite, as well as external stakeholders.

A security assessment checklist is a strategic framework that helps keep auditors, managers, teams, and stakeholders on track.

Who should use a security audit template?

Many professionals will need to use a security audit Gantt chart as part of the auditing process, including the following:

Auditors:

Auditors may be internal employees or employed by an external third party. They will use the audit template as a framework to outline the process, allocate and manage resources, and communicate with stakeholders and others involved.

IT Teams:

In-house IT teams may work with external auditors or conduct the audit themselves. A security audit Gantt chart allows them to access tasks, see dependencies, manage resources, and communicate.

Other Stakeholders:

Many stakeholders will need to be kept in the loop throughout the audit process. This includes IT managers, but also leaders of departments affected by the audit and C-suite members.

A security audit template can mean the difference between the success and failure of the audit itself, but also affects the timeline, costs, and more.

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The top three pitfalls to avoid when planning a security audit

When creating a security audit strategy, there are a few critical mistakes that managers and decision-makers must avoid to improve outcomes:

  1. Failure to Plan For Staff Awareness

    IT audits will eventually affect critical systems. Failure to plan for how that will impact staff outside the IT audit team is a major mistake that could lead to lost time, data, and other problems.

    Solution:

    During your planning phase, identify how the audit will affect other staff members and inform other departments of the impacts before issues arise. Tom’s Planner can help you flesh out your strategy and identify these hurdles.

  2. Failure to Embrace Automation

    There’s a lot to be said for manual processes. However, they shouldn’t play a major role in your IT auditing processes, particularly when it comes to reporting. Manual report compilation is prone to error and immensely time-consuming.

    Solution:

    Embrace technologies that can automatically create detailed, error-free reports to ensure a smoother process and more accurate communication.

  3. Not Having a Plan for Remediation

    The IT audit is only the first step. You must be prepared to act on the findings. If you cannot, then you’ll be unable to address security vulnerabilities.

    Solution:

    Make remediation planning a central part of your preparation. Be ready to act once the final reports are in your hands.

What does a security audit template include?

To be clear, your security audit plan’s components will vary depending on the type of audit in question, as well as its scope. However, some of the most commonly planned elements include the following:

  1. Software Security Analysis:

    Preventing software-related risks is an important step. Within this phase, you’ll use your security audits checklist to identify your software inventory, review documentation, review source code, scan for vulnerabilities, analyze patch/update management practices, and study external threat protection.

  2. Information Handling Review:

    Information handling within the organization can also be a source of risk. Steps in this phase include identifying data types handled in the organization, reviewing data access policies, conducting confidentiality assessments, examining data storage practices, analyzing data disposal procedures, auditing privacy law compliance, and assessing employee training on information handling.

  3. User Behavior Evaluation:

    Human behavior is the most significant risk factor for most organizations. Steps in this phase include defining user roles and responsibilities, assessing password policies, evaluating user access controls, auditing user account management, analyzing security training records, conducting user activity monitoring, reviewing user compliance with policies, and testing social engineering defenses to name just a few. Record these results within your access control audit checklist.

  4. Physical Setup Assessment:

    Physical threats also exist, including the risk of fire. Here, you’ll identify the facility layout, evaluate physical security measures in place, assess access control systems, review fire safety measures, inspect server room security, examine maintenance routines, and assess the safety of workstations.

  5. Risk Identification:

    It’s important to know the types of risks your organization faces and record those in your information security checklist. This phase requires establishing a risk assessment framework, identifying potential threats, categorizing identified risks, assessing vulnerability to risks, evaluating the potential impact of risks, and prioritizing risks based on those impacts.

  6. Security Measures Evaluation:

    To evaluate security measures, you’ll need to inventory those currently in place. You’ll also need to evaluate network security measures, assess endpoint protection measures, review data encryption policies, verify firewall configurations, review incident response plans, evaluate user access controls, and more.

  7. Vulnerability Testing:

    Vulnerability testing is an active form of risk assessment that can pinpoint weaknesses within your network. Steps here will include defining the scope of testing, setting up a testing environment, scanning for vulnerabilities, conducting penetration testing, testing database security, and analyzing the test results before preparing a detailed security report.

Planning your security audit accurately is critical. Tom’s Planner can help.

Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines

1. Plan Your Audit in Detail

Want to achieve key deadlines? Make it a point to flesh out the entire audit process using a security audit Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner. This will help you understand key tasks, dependencies, and more.

2. Break Things Down

Break the larger audit down into smaller tasks. This allows IT auditors to complete each task in sequence while encouraging faster and more accurate progress.

3. Have Realistic Deadlines

Setting realistic deadlines is key here. Let the experience of your IT team or auditors guide you in determining what’s a realistic deadline and what isn’t.

4. Stay on Top of Patches and Updates BEFORE the Audit

Want to streamline the security audit process? Stay on top of patches and updates. The fewer vulnerabilities exist, the faster auditors can complete the process.

Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel

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