Cybersecurity Audit India

In India, a Cybersecurity Audit is a formal, systematic evaluation of an organization's digital infrastructure, policies, and operations to ensure compliance with national regulations and industry standards. It goes beyond a simple vulnerability scan; it is a comprehensive validation that "technical and organizational measures" are effective, documented, and actively protecting data against cyber threats.

For Indian enterprises, these audits are often mandatory under specific legal frameworks, such as the DPDPA 2023, RBI regulations for the financial sector, and CERT-In directives.

Types of Mandated Cybersecurity Audits in India

Different sectors in India are subject to specific audit requirements. Understanding which applies to your organization is the first step in compliance.

• CERT-In Mandated Audits:

  • Applicability: Applies to all government bodies and "service providers, intermediaries, data centers, and corporate entities" when directed.

  • Requirement: Organizations must conduct regular security audits using CERT-In empanelled auditors.

  • Focus: Validating the security posture of the IT infrastructure, including vulnerability assessments (VAPT), and ensuring that the organization can detect and report incidents within the mandatory 6-hour window.

• RBI Cybersecurity Audit (Banks & NBFCs):

  • Applicability: Scheduled Commercial Banks, Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).

  • Requirement: A strictly regulated audit cycle that includes internal audits and external audits by CERT-In empanelled firms.

  • Focus: The audit checks for "baseline cyber security controls," SWIFT security, and the robustness of the bank's Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP). It also scrutinizes vendor risk management.

• SEBI Cyber Resilience Audit:

  • Applicability: Stockbrokers, Depository Participants, and Mutual Funds.

  • Requirement: Annual system audits and cyber resilience framework audits.

  • Focus: Ensuring that market intermediaries have systems to "anticipate, withstand, contain, and recover" from cyberattacks to protect investor data and market integrity.

• DPDPA 2023 Compliance Audit:

  • Applicability: All "Data Fiduciaries" (entities processing personal data). Significant Data Fiduciaries (SDFs) face stricter norms.

  • Requirement: SDFs must appoint an independent Data Auditor to evaluate compliance with the Act.

  • Focus: Verifying consent logs, data erasure protocols, breach notification readiness, and the effectiveness of technical safeguards.

Core Components of an Indian Cybersecurity Audit

Regardless of the specific regulator, most Indian cybersecurity audits scrutinize the following four pillars:

1. Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing (VAPT)

Auditors will require evidence of regular VAPT to demonstrate that technical vulnerabilities are being identified and remediated.

• External VAPT: Simulating attacks from the internet to test the perimeter (firewalls, web apps, cloud buckets).

• Internal VAPT: Testing how far an attacker could move if they breached the internal network (lateral movement).

2. Governance and Policy Review

The audit verifies that security is not just a tool but a documented process.

• Board Oversight: Is there a Board-approved Information Security Policy?

• Roles & Responsibilities: Is there a designated CISO (Chief Information Security Officer)?

• Asset Inventory: Does the organization have an up-to-date list of all IT assets (hardware, software, cloud instances)?

3. Data Localization and Privacy Checks

Under the new DPDPA rules, auditors will specifically check data handling.

• Data Flow Analysis: Mapping where data comes from and where it goes (especially cross-border transfers).

• Access Controls: Ensuring only authorized personnel have access to sensitive personal data (SPDI).

4. Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)

Since organizations are liable for their vendors, auditors review the supply chain.

• Vendor Audits: Have you audited your critical IT vendors?

• SLA Review: Do your contracts with vendors mandate security controls and breach reporting?

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can conduct a cybersecurity audit in India? For regulatory purposes (like RBI or SEBI mandates), the audit must typically be conducted by a CERT-In Empanelled Auditor. These are specific firms vetted by the government to perform security audits.

What is the penalty for failing a cybersecurity audit? Penalties vary by regulator. Under the DPDPA 2023, failure to implement reasonable security safeguards can lead to fines of up to ₹250 Crore. RBI can impose business restrictions or monetary penalties on banks for non-compliance.

How often should a cybersecurity audit be conducted? Most regulations (RBI, SEBI, CERT-In) mandate an annual audit at a minimum. However, "Significant Data Fiduciaries" or critical infrastructure providers may be required to conduct them more frequently (e.g., half-yearly).

Is VAPT the same as a cybersecurity audit? No. VAPT is a technical test of systems. A cybersecurity audit is a broader review that includes VAPT but also evaluates policies, compliance, people, and processes.

ThreatNG and Cybersecurity Audits in India

ThreatNG significantly aids organizations undergoing cybersecurity audits in India, particularly those mandated by CERT-In, RBI, SEBI, and the DPDPA 2023. By providing comprehensive external attack surface management (EASM), digital risk protection (DRP), and security ratings, ThreatNG aligns directly with audit requirements for vulnerability assessment, governance, and third-party risk management.

External Discovery: Validating Asset Inventory & Shadow IT

A core component of Indian cybersecurity audits is maintaining an accurate IT asset inventory. ThreatNG’s External Discovery capability supports this by performing purely external, unauthenticated discovery without requiring connectors or internal agents. This helps auditors and organizations:

• Uncover Shadow IT: Identify unknown subdomains, cloud environments, and digital assets spun up without IT approval, ensuring the asset inventory presented to auditors is complete and accurate.

• Cloud Exposure Detection: Specifically locate exposed open cloud buckets and externally identifiable SaaS applications. This is critical for DPDPA compliance, as open buckets are a common source of data leaks.

• Mobile App Discovery: Evaluate the exposure of an organization's mobile apps in marketplaces, identifying those that may be unauthorized or contain sensitive hardcoded credentials.

External Assessment: Testing Technical Safeguards

Audits require evidence that "technical and organizational measures" are effective. ThreatNG’s External Assessment module validates these controls from an attacker’s perspective.

• Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: ThreatNG assesses subdomains for missing security headers like Content-Security-Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options. A high rating here (A-F scale) serves as evidence to auditors that the organization is actively preventing client-side attacks like XSS and clickjacking.

• Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: The solution identifies "dangling DNS" records pointing to inactive third-party services (e.g., AWS S3, Heroku, GitHub). It cross-references hostnames against a comprehensive Vendor List and validates if the resource is unclaimed. Securing these prevents attackers from hosting malicious content on legitimate domains, a key check for brand reputation and phishing prevention audits.

• Data Leak Susceptibility: Assessments uncover digital risks across cloud exposure and compromised credentials, directly addressing data privacy mandates.

Reporting: Documenting Compliance & Governance

To satisfy auditors, organizations need documentation. ThreatNG’s Reporting module generates the necessary artifacts.

• External GRC Assessment: This feature maps technical findings directly to relevant governance frameworks, including DPDPA, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and GDPR. This allows Indian CISOs to present auditors with a report explicitly showing how external risks align (or conflict) with compliance mandates.

• Executive & Technical Reports: The solution provides prioritized reports (High, Medium, Low) and security ratings (A-F) that serve as tangible proof of due diligence and continuous improvement in security posture.

Continuous Monitoring: Meeting Real-Time Requirements

Regulations like CERT-In require rapid incident reporting (within 6 hours). ThreatNG’s Continuous Monitoring ensures the external attack surface is continuously evaluated in real time. This allows organizations to detect and remediate new exposures (like a newly opened port or leaked credentials) immediately, rather than waiting for an annual audit cycle.

Investigation Modules: Proactive Threat Hunting

ThreatNG’s Investigation Modules allow teams to hunt for specific threats that could lead to audit failures or breaches.

• Domain Intelligence: This module analyzes Domain Name Permutations (typosquatting) and Web3 Domains (e.g., .eth, .crypto) to prevent brand impersonation and phishing attacks.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: ThreatNG scans public code repositories for leaked Access Credentials (e.g., AWS keys, Google OAuth tokens). Identifying and revoking these keys is a critical audit checkpoint for access control.

• Social Media & Dark Web Monitoring: The solution monitors Reddit for "Narrative Risk" (leaked internal info) and scans the Dark Web for compromised credentials. This helps auditors verify that the organization is monitoring external threat landscapes.

Intelligence Repositories (DarCache)

ThreatNG’s Intelligence Repositories provide context to findings, helping prioritize remediation based on real-world risk.

• Ransomware Groups: It tracks over 100 ransomware gangs (e.g., LockBit, BlackCat) and their tactics.

• Vulnerability Intelligence: It correlates findings with KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities) and EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System), ensuring that the vulnerabilities auditors care about most (those being actively exploited) are fixed first.

Cooperation with Complementary Solutions

ThreatNG acts as a force multiplier when used alongside other security tools in an audit ecosystem.

• Complementary to GRC Platforms: ThreatNG feeds External GRC Assessment data into GRC platforms. While GRC tools manage policy and workflow, ThreatNG provides the technical evidence of external compliance, validating that policies (like "all subdomains must have WAFs") are actually enforced.

• Complementary to SIEM/SOAR: ThreatNG provides external threat intelligence (e.g., compromised credentials, typosquatting domains) that enriches SIEM alerts. This helps SOC teams distinguish between false positives and genuine threats during an audit of incident response capabilities.

• Complementary to TPRM Solutions: For vendor risk audits, ThreatNG’s Supply Chain & Third Party Exposure rating assesses the external posture of vendors. This allows organizations to independently validate vendor security claims without relying solely on questionnaires.

• Complementary to Vulnerability Scanners: While internal scanners find local flaws, ThreatNG identifies Known Vulnerabilities visible from the public internet. This helps auditors focus on the most exposed risks first.