The Scope of Cloud Computing Audit
Introduction
The cloud computing audit process for businesses is an audit process where an external and independent party to a company get invited to review, evaluate, and ascertain the facts of business. The process generally involves a set of guidelines, key observation, set of questions to stakeholders, and individual inspection among many means to ascertain the efficiency and effectiveness of the cloud operations. The audit gets usually carried out in the area, which includes management of data, possible risks, and security issues. Further, it accommodates the security of the networks, the vulnerability of the cloud, and the communication links.
Discussion
The cloud audit process has gained traction over the years, and its implementation has continued forcing many organizations to adopt the idea. As the cloud security and audit compliances get laid down in the inception stage through plans, the goals of the audit should be clear. Every business has to ensure that its objectives get fully aligned to the audit objectives. “This will ensure that time and resources spent will help achieve a strong internal control environment and lower the risk of qualified opinion,” states Finney 2020.
The audit objectives get used to drawing conclusions based on the observations and evidence found. Some of the critical business audit objectives include the definition of the plan for the strategic IT team, architectural information definition, association and IT procedures definition, and assessment of the IT anticipated risks. The communication of the management goals and realization of the provider’s management regulations also are part of the audit objectives.
The general scope of the audit process for the cloud typically entails particular audit subjects. Besides, the method includes some IT regulations that associate to the business administration, assessment of risks, communication, scrutinize activities, access to the logical and physical operations, and alteration of the management. Besides, the review of the evidence drawn is possible for better assurance that the regulations are practical and efficient. However, the governing rules applied by the cloud provider never get included in the cloud computing audit scope, as Finney 2020 suggests.
The comprehension of cloud computing audit objectives and scope helps one to determine the right audit for the business. Ciunci 2017 states, “In most cases, cloud service providers need to provide all stakeholders with an assessment of the effectiveness their cloud system controls and security.” Therefore, the scope of the audit gives typically a business the clue of examination to get conducted. That generally relate to governance, issues of contract compliance, and regulatory measures.
“IT security audits determine whether an information system and its maintainers meet both the legal expectations of customer data protection and the company’s standards of achieving financial success against various security threats,” suggests Rizvi and Aiken 2015. All these scopes that currently emerged in cloud computing, however, need customization. Since cloud computing encourages many users as compared to the traditional IT resources, more threats get expected in the business. These threats also expose problems to the audit security, but the cloud vendors continually respond effectively to them according to Rizvi and Aiken.
Metadata
Metadata generally refers to the data or information that is related to or associated with another group of data. In many a time metadata gets referenced to files. That is mainly because all records contain a particular piece of metadata. However, quantity, type and importance of data get determined by the file type and the kind of investigation to get carried out. The investigative metadata gets broken down in two forms that are internal and external metadata. All files in decent memory possess outside metadata and the data created by a user contain interior metadata.
The metadata in the investigation field has a wide range of use and application to large amounts of data, including in images. These can get used to indicate the particular time an event got captured, coordination of GPS of the devices or tools used, and the make and the model of the methods applied in investigation. These devices include cameras which get used to capturing the data. However, the data collected tend to vary from one device to another. Application of the information gathered, usually vary with prevailing conditions of the investigation and the resourcefulness of the investigators according to Berryhill 2019. Also, the mode of collection and handling is crucial in the interpretation process to realize its use.
References
Jaclyn Finney (2020) Cloud Audits & Compliance: What You Need to Know. Retrieved from: https://linfordco.com/blog/cloud-computing/cloud-audits-compliance
Jon Berryhill (2019) What is Metadata? Retrieved from: https://www.computerforensics.com/news/what-is-metadata
Mike Ciunci (2017) Keep Your Data Safe with the Right Audit for Your Cloud Service Provider. Retrieved from: https://www.ispartnersllc.com/blog/the-right-audit-for-your-service-provider
Syed Rizvi and William Aiken (2015) Cloud Security Auditing: Challenges and Emerging Approaches