Audit Glossary

Browse 10 audit terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

10 Audit Terms

Compliance
Adherence to laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies governing data handling, security, and operations. Common frameworks include SOC 2, GDPR,...
Configuration Audit
A review of system, cloud, or application settings to verify they match approved security baselines and do not expose risky misconfigurations. Configuration...
Database Activity Monitoring
The logging and analysis of database queries, sessions, privilege use, and anomalous behavior to detect misuse or support audits. Database activity monitoring...
Internal Audit
An audit conducted by an organization's own internal audit function to evaluate whether controls, processes, and risk management practices are designed and...
IT Audit
A review of information technology processes, systems, and controls to evaluate whether they are secure, reliable, and aligned with policy or regulatory...
Permission Audit
A review of users, groups, roles, and application rights to determine whether access is appropriate, excessive, stale, or improperly assigned. Permission...
Privilege Audit
A review focused specifically on high-impact permissions, roles, and elevated accounts to verify that privileged access is appropriate, justified, and...
Regulatory Compliance
Adherence to laws, regulations, and mandatory standards that govern how an organization handles security, privacy, reporting, and operations. Regulatory...
SOC 2
A compliance framework developed by AICPA that evaluates an organization's controls for Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and...
SOX Compliance
Conformance with Sarbanes-Oxley control and reporting requirements for public companies and their financial systems. It shows up in application security,...

Related Topics