How to prepare for a Mac device security audit

Like it or not, audits are an important part of your company's cybersecurity strategy. Without them, how do you know your environment is adequately protected and prepared for a cyber attack? After all, attackers evolve their tactics constantly — regular audits are a crucial way to keep up. They help your organization:

• Discover vulnerabilities and assess risk
• Update response tactics and processes
• Maintain compliance with internal and external standards and regulations

Regardless of what devices you use and what operating system they run, audits are beneficial. Mac devices are no exception. In this blog, we'll focus on them, discussing:

• Why audits are important for Mac in the enterprise
• Preparing for security audits
• Software tools and workflows that simplify audits

Why are security audits important?

Data breaches are costly. According to IBM, the global average cost of a data breach reached 4.88 M USD in 2024. This is money required to recover and respond. Factor in hits to reputation and any downtime, and the costs go even higher. The average time it takes to discover a data breach? 258 days.

That's a long time to be caught with your pants down. And that's a key reason audits are vital. Alongside forensic activities and crisis management, audits help your organization discover data breaches or holes where attackers might enter in the future. With the information gleaned during your audit, your organization can continually improve your security measures and mitigate potential risks.

Beyond the risk of a data breach, many organizations undergo compliance audits to ensure their adherence with industry regulations or other frameworks. This prevents potential penalties and can raise your organization's credibility.

Getting ready for audits

So, you've got a Mac device security audit coming up. How do know if you're ready for it? The key is to approach preparation systematically, starting with establishing your baseline security requirements and understanding your current security posture. Consider:

• What are your baseline requirements?
• What compliance frameworks and industry standards are you subject to (e.g. PCI-DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001)?
• What are your current security, access and usage policies? How are they documented?

Understand the scope

Depending on the type of audit you're having, you'll need to define the boundaries. For instance, a compliance audit might look for specific controls based on your industry standards. Or an internal policy audit might look at your policies and procedures.

Instead of wasting precious time and resources collecting as many data points as possible, focus on the relevant information. This helps define expectations for the audit and prioritize data collection for what's actually necessary for a successful audit.

Before starting data collection, ask these key questions:

• What's the primary purpose of this audit?
• Which systems and data are critical to this specific audit?
• What compliance frameworks or standards apply?
• Who are the key stakeholders and what are their expectations?

Depending on your answers, you can decide whether or not to collect certain data. Some examples are:

• Device inventory: Mac hardware types and models, operating system versions and management status
• User accounts and permissions: access levels and standard user configurations
• Network configurations: Firewall settings, ZTNA or VPN configurations and remote access controls
• Security controls: FileVault encryption status, Gatekeeper settings, and built-in Mac security features or other security settings
• Applications and services: installed apps, required services and update compliance

Preparing your environment

Technical controls

After you've defined your scope, you can start the data collection process. Maybe this is an export from your Mobile Device Management (MDM) or your Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions. Or maybe it requires you to set up additional monitoring tools.

Armed with this information, you can compare your current systems to your security baselines and adjust accordingly.

Documentation

Telemetry data isn't the only important information. Your operating procedures are too. Document your security policies and procedures, management records, change logs, previous audit findings and any other relevant info. Consider outlining certain policies and activities—if relevant—like your acceptable use policy, incident response plan and access control policies.

Simplify your audit preparation

There are a number of software tools that aid with your audit preparation:

Mobile device management inventories your devices and offers a host of data points about your devices' configurations, installed apps, user accounts and more.

SIEM and endpoint protection software collect event logs, helping identify any anomalies or potential breaches.

Audit reporting and compliance platforms can make auditing simpler. For example, the macOS Security Compliance Project outputs "customized documentation, scripts (logging and remediation), configuration profiles, and an audit checklist." This makes it much easier to both enforce baselines and understand where your fleet stands.

Beyond software, audits go more smoothly when stakeholders know their roles. Assigning clear responsibilities ahead of time will help. Establish who will:

• Lead the audit and/or liaise with auditors
• Handle technical controls and collect data
• Gather or create documentation

Like with any other project, have regular check-ins to make sure everyone is on the same page. After the audit, reassemble your team to respond to any audit findings and take lessons learned into the next audit.

Key takeaways

• Audits help your organization identify vulnerabilities and potential data breaches.
• Regular audits are a critical part of your enterprise Mac security.
• Preparing for audits requires gathering technical data and creating documentation.
• Tools like MDM can simplify your audit preparation.