Independent Cybersecurity Audit

An impartial, third-party audit of your cybersecurity program that evaluates technical, legal, compliance, and business factors together, giving boards and senior leadership independent verification of compliance and visibility into blind spots.

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Independent Cybersecurity Audit capabilities

Independent Program Evaluation
We conduct thorough cybersecurity audits tailored to your organization and detached from existing processes and vendors, examining policies, procedures, controls, IT systems, cybersecurity tools, incident response plans, insurance agreements, and critical contracts against relevant laws, regulations, and frameworks.
Multidisciplinary Legal and Technical Review
Our audit goes beyond a traditional cybersecurity assessment by evaluating legal frameworks as experts, providing an opinion on the most critical legal ramifications of the risks identified alongside the technical findings.
Validation Through Simulated Scenarios
Following the initial audit, we run carefully crafted simulated cybersecurity scenarios to corroborate the findings, validating technical and non-technical security controls and testing your incident response capabilities.
Board-Focused Reporting
We deliver board-focused results that evidence the active and appropriate oversight exercised by your board and senior management, enabling directors to demonstrate independent third-party review of the cybersecurity program.
Regulatory Compliance Demonstration
An impartial third-party audit credibly demonstrates your organization's commitment to legal compliance with European, state, and federal regulators, including agencies such as HHS, FTC, DHS, NY DFS, and the SEC.
Actionable Remediation
Beyond confirming compliance, our audit pinpoints areas for improvement and provides targeted remediation strategies that strengthen your organization's overall cyber resilience.

Independent Cybersecurity Audit — matters we are engaged for

A consent order or settlement requires an independent assessment
The obligation names an assessor who is genuinely independent of the programme being assessed, on a fixed cadence, reporting in a form the regulator will accept. Meeting that is a different exercise from a routine internal audit.
CCPA and CPRA obligations attach to high-risk processing
California's regime contemplates independent cybersecurity assessment for businesses whose processing presents significant risk. Establishing whether the threshold applies, and evidencing the assessment if it does, is the work most organisations have not started.
The board needs an opinion it did not write
Directors relying solely on management's account of the security programme have no independent basis for the oversight they are accountable for. An outside evaluation gives them one, in language they can act on.
Controls are documented but never validated
Policies exist, tooling is deployed, and nobody has tested whether the control operates under a realistic scenario. Simulated exercises are what distinguish a programme that is described from one that works.

Independent Cybersecurity Audit — frequently asked questions

What does the Independent Cybersecurity Audit evaluate?

The audit examines policies and procedures, security controls, insurance agreements, critical contracts, IT systems, cybersecurity tools, and incident response plans, measured against relevant laws, applicable regulations, and frameworks.

How is this audit different from a traditional cybersecurity audit?

Our methodology extends beyond the traditional scope by evaluating legal, compliance, and business factors alongside technical ones, and by including an expert opinion on the potential legal ramifications of identified risks. We also corroborate findings through simulated cybersecurity scenarios that test controls and incident response.

Why does an independent audit matter for the board?

Relying on senior leadership's attestations alone is no longer a credible option for boards. An independent third-party review of the technical, legal, compliance, and business factors allows directors to demonstrate active oversight to regulators, clients, and shareholders who increasingly call for verification of those attestations.

Does the audit constitute legal advice, and can the work product be privileged?

The audit does not constitute legal advice, but it provides thorough findings, actionable insights, and training. We work with your legal team to help ensure the work product is privileged.

Which regulators does an independent audit help address?

It supports demonstrating compliance with European, state, and federal regulators, including agencies such as HHS, FTC, DHS, NY DFS, and the SEC, whose 2023 rules require boards to oversee cybersecurity management and demonstrate active oversight.

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Cybersecurity experts who testify to this work

Full expert panel →

Roland Cloutier
Expert Consultant
Board-Level Consulting · Enterprise & Corporate Security · Risk Management
Daniel B. Garrie
Founder
Board-Level Consulting · Cybersecurity Audits & Assessments · Incident Response
Gary Corn
Director, Technology, Law & Security, American University
Cyber Warfare Consulting · Cyber Warfare Training · National Security Law