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Professional development

Top 30 security auditor


interview questions and
answers for 2019
March 19, 2019 by Graeme Messina Share:
Are you prepared
for your
Security auditors are an essential part of modern businesses. T hey help to interview?
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In t his Series
T his series of interview questions looks at some fundamental aspects of a
security auditor’s role and how an interviewer might question them. T he
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T he questions are not in order, and some questions might be more


advanced than the ones that you are expecting on the day of the
interview. For this reason, it’s a good idea for you to familiarize yourself
with all 30 of these questions, just to prepare yourself. T ry to dedicate
some thought to your answers ahead of time, so that you have a basic
framework to build on when you are actually sitting in front of your
interviewers on the big day.

Junior security auditor Join the quest for


questions new sk ills!
T hese questions are fairly straightforward and are what you could
Get hands-on
possibly expect in an entry-level or learnership level of interview. If you
experience
are at this level then you might have some practical experience in the
field, or in a similar field of IT . You should be familiar with basic security Win over $1,000 in
auditing principles and be comfortable with basic IT technologies and prizes
methodologies. New challenges every
month

1. Why do companies need security audits? JOIN MONT HLY


CHALLENGE
All companies need to understand what their current security posture is.
Everything from password standards to file-sharing and security
hierarchies need to be assessed and reviewed from time to time,
regardless of the business size or type. Security audits help business
owners by identifying weak points and attack vectors. When acted upon,
the results and recommendations that come out of a security audit will
strengthen and help to make the business stronger and more efficient.

T his question is a warm-up to the rest of the interview, which will help
you to show the interviewers that you know what the benefits and
positive effects of security audits are.

2. How do you measure a client system’s


vulnerabilities?
T here are many metrics that you can measure an IT system’s
vulnerabilities by and just as many avenues that can be exploited by
potential intruders and hackers. An initial assessment needs to be
completed before any work can be done. T his assessment will contain all
of the necessary applications, services, staff and network credentials that
are needed for an assessment to be conducted. From there, a full picture
of the network, its applications and its users can be built.

T his question seeks to find out how much you know about site
assessments, threat assessments and general site surveys. You can expect
to find similar questions to this in an interview, with special focus on
your understanding of the expectation of your job role.

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3. What tools can be used for assessing the


security posture of an organization?
If you ask ten different security auditors what their favorite tools are, you
will receive ten different answers. Identify the most relevant tools that
you use on a daily basis and why you find them to be useful.

4. What is ACL software?


ACL stands for Access Control List, and it gives security auditors a quick
overview of which users have access to which resources on the network
and within the systems of the organization. T his makes it especially
useful when a security auditor needs to quickly check the current
permissions of a system as they relate to user access.

T he interviewer is wanting to establish how familiar you are with ACL


systems and if you know what to look for when auditing user permissions
on a system or networked environment. ACL is a very important aspect of
security auditing, so you should be familiar with what they are and how
they work.

5. Do you know what virtualization is?


Have you used it before?
You need to know what virtualization is and how it works if you hope to
work as a security auditor. T here are many reasons why you would want to
use virtualization, but the main ones are for security and convenience.
You can virtualize an existing physical computer and have it start up in a
virtual environment, which is especially useful when you need to analyze a
system but can’t directly affect operations by taking it offline. You can
create virtual machines and run them in secure networks that are locked
down so that there is no way they can connect to the Internet or
distribute any malware and viruses during your analysis.

T his question will test your knowledge of VMs and whether you have ever
used them before. You might find that the questions are more vendor-
specific, so if you only have experience with VMWare then you should look
at alternatives such as Hyper-V and Xen and familiarize yourself with
them.

6. Why is virtualization useful in your role?

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By asking this question, your interviewers are looking to gauge your


understanding of how virtual environments work and why you would want
to use them while conducting security audits. T here are many scenarios
where a virtual machine makes more sense to use than a physical one. If
you need to work in a completely isolated environment, then using a VM
with no connectivity to the rest of the network is a really secure option.
Converting a physical machine to a virtual one means that you can
perform destructive scans and tasks on the target computer without
risking data loss or damage to the original.

T he interviewers are looking to find out how experienced you are with
VMs and if you know what their usefulness would be in your day-to-day
work, if any. While a security auditor might not use VMs every day, it is
definitely worth your while to have a working knowledge of VMs and how
to use them. You might find yourself conducting audits of these
environments, as they are very popular as an on-premise solution for
companies big and small.

7. How do you measure a client system’s


vulnerabilities?
T here are many different ways of conducting a site survey. T hese are
defined by many factors, but most will depend on the process that has
been set out for you by your company. T he basics of performing a
vulnerability assessment are set out before you even go to site to begin
work.

First you need to establish a project scope, which tells you what you are
looking for and where you will be looking. T he next item is your intended
goal: What are you hoping to achieve during this assessment? Next, you
need to specify your team. Who will you need to have working with you
and what are their special skills?

Once you are on-site, you can start documenting the systems that are in
place and look at their external-facing vulnerabilities via the Internet.
Find out what is visible through scans and look at any potential
vulnerabilities that an attacker might be able to use to gain access. From
there you can start looking at applying well-known tools that exploit
weaknesses on the local network, as well as general security checks such
as password strength and frequency of password changes.

After all of these avenues have been tested and documented, you can
start making recommendations and compiling a report. All of your
findings will go into the final report and will be looked at when you
discuss the findings with your client.

You don’t have to go into full details about what the process is, but you
will need to show the interviewers that you are familiar with the process.
Remember that not everyone holds the same standards or uses the same
methods, so be sure to explain in general terms where possible. If the
interviewers want more details, then you can get more specific.

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8. You’ve found a software glitch — how do


you proceed?
Discoveries like this are often noted and then added into the findings
document which gets given to the client at the end of the vulnerability
assessment. If the vulnerability is severe enough to warrant immediate
attention, then you can communicate this to the client and ask them how
they would like to proceed. It is not up to you to correct these flaws in
security; you need to make sure that the current state of the environment
is documented and preserved so that the client can take the necessary
actions when they see fit.

While it is tempting to fix every bug and update every outdated computer
that you come across, you are not on-site to do that kind of work. During
a threat assessment, your primary goal is to document and compile
information. T here are IT personnel that are responsible for all of these
elements, and if they are not maintaining the environment to a healthy
standard then the report needs to show this so that it can be corrected. If
you fix every glitch that you come across, then there would be no need for
remedial action. Worse still, you could fix an issue on the network and
then unintentionally break another system. It is best to leave the actual
repairs and remedial action to those that are appointed by yourself or
the client after the scope of the assessment has  been properly looked at.

9. How do you get users to follow security


guidelines?
T his is a difficult question in many ways. T he first reason for this is that
it is almost impossible to compel people to follow best practice
guidelines and security advice. All you can really do is make the
recommendations and hope that management follows through with
whatever corrective action they have in store for those that transgress the
security recommendations the final report sets out.

10. What challenges are you looking for in


this role?
As a relatively inexperienced security auditor, you are looking to get as
much real-world exposure to business systems and auditing experience as
possible. You are looking to work with teams of people that are
passionate about what they do, and you hope to learn from them. You are
looking to challenge yourself and put your skills to good use while
learning as much as you can about how to properly audit and conduct
yourself during projects.

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If you have any additional challenges that you are looking forward to
taking on, then be sure to mention those as well. You want to make this a
personal answer, as it shows how much this kind of work means to you as
well as what your perceptions are of the role. And you might have goals
that you wish to accomplish that the role simply doesn’t offer. T his is a
good time to find out all of these facts, as you want to push yourself and
grow in any new position that you take up professionally during the
course of your career.

Intermediate security auditor


questions
T his level of interview questions normally involves a little more detail on
the technical front, as well as more details on the on-site auditing aspect
of the work. Candidates that sit in for this level of interview will generally
have a few years of experience coupled with a few certifications. T he goal
of these interview questions is to find out how proficient you are at
performing on-site security audits, and if you are able to work as part of
a team as well as on your own when necessary.

11. What steps do you follow leading up to


an audit?
If the interviewers are looking for details, then you can elaborate on your
own process as much as you want. T here are a few key points that an
interviewer is normally looking for, and these are based on the specifics
of the role that they are seeking to fill. Keep your answers as on-point and
relevant during the interview as you can in order to tick as many boxes as
possible. If more detail is required, then go into as much about your own
methods as they will allow.

Include your pre-assessment components in your audit lead-up events.


Also include things such as documentation, defining scope and outcome
objectives, as well as the timeline, estimated time required and the
resources that you need to take into consideration when getting an
investigation started.

12. What steps do you follow after an audit?


T he standard operating procedures that you follow will differ from
company to company, but the events that follow after an audit are
generally reviews and report compilations. All of the data that has been
collected in the security audit needs to be compiled into readable and
organized content.

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Sometimes you need to create more than one single report because the
contents of each one will be worded differently depending on who the
recipient is going to be. Executives will generally receive a report that is
in plain non-technical terms but explains the operational and financial
impact in terms that most management and executive figures are familiar
with. T he technical reports are generally prepared for the technical
executives and management, although some organizations have technical
capabilities in multiple departments. Each report is different, and each
company’s requirements will differ from site to site.

If you are able to show the interviewers that you understand how a
standard report is generated, then you demonstrate your ability to follow
a uniform methodology that yields consistent results. T his is generally
what they are looking for, but you should also reiterate that you
understand the dynamic nature of businesses and that each organization
has its own requirements and expectations from a security audit. Don’t be
afraid to show off your adaptability when dealing with audit reports and
assessment documentation.

13. What system types found within a


client network would you audit more
often?
T ypically any system or network that has financial or operational
significance will be audited more often than standard user equipment
like laptops or computers. A financial system will be subject to its own
audits and checks at set intervals, while actual security audits will be
carried out as often as necessary to ensure that there are no malicious
activities being carried out against the system and company. If you are
working in an environment that develops their own tools and software,
then those servers should be monitored closely and audited at set
intervals that are decided by the stakeholders and executives of the
organization.

T his question seeks to find out how you prioritize systems that need to
be audited. How you arrive at your explanation will largely be determined
by the kinds of work you have done in the past, especially relating to on-
site security audits. Make sure that you rationalize your explanation and
go into detail when you need to.

14. Why would you need to encrypt traffic


on a network?
Encryption helps to safeguard the transmission of sensitive data, as it
cannot be read by outside parties. Encryption makes sure that only the
intended recipients are given access to this information, which makes the
communication channel secure.

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T his is a basic technical question; you can expect many similar questions
that ask for fundamental security explanations. T his helps the interviewer
understand what level of knowledge you have.

15. What resources do you use to stay up to


date with information security trends?
T here are plenty of really good online resources that you can list; just be
sure that you actually visit these sites and that you are familiar with the
content. A very popular website for security related information and in-
depth analysis is OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project). Many
online exploits are discussed there, and it is very valuable as a resource.
T he T op T en Project is especially useful.

T he interviewers want to know what kind of knowledge you have and how
you keep yourself updated. T here are literally hundreds of other
examples of information security sources out there, so choose your
favorite and talk about some of the reasons why you enjoy their content.

16. What does your home network look


like?
Most people that are studying for specific IT certifications or looking to
practice specific techniques will have either physical or virtual
networking equipment and computers. Why would you want to have a
home setup that simulates a production network? Simulating an attack or
trying to patch a known vulnerability would be two reasons to have a
home lab/network active in your home, and it is a good way to practice.

T his question gets asked a lot, especially in cybersecurity-related roles.


T he basic idea behind the question is that if you have decent hardware
and setup capabilities for studying, learning and practicing, then you are
more likely to have an active interest or passion about the security
auditing work that you undertake. Studying further also shows that you
want to better your position in the industry, which will be in your favor as
well.

17. What is salting and what is it used for?


Salting is a cryptographic technique that makes a password more
difficult to crack. Random characters are added to a password and then
hashed together with the password, creating an encrypted password. T he
password is much more difficult to crack for potential hackers because of
the random nature of the salted data.

Although the main job requirement of a security auditor is to make


findings for reports, there is a lot of practical security knowledge that
they must have in order to be effective in their role. Understanding
security processes and the way that they are implemented is essential.

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18. A system crashes after your


recommendations are deployed — what do
you do?
Whenever a change recommendation is made by a security agency, there
are normally contingency plans put into place. If any virtual machines are
due to be patched or upgraded, then snapshots and backups must be
made ahead of time so that they can be restored quickly if there are any
resulting failures from the remediation activities. T he changes might
even be applied to a snapshot or clone of the system in question, so that
if any issues come up, they do not affect the production environment.

Interviewers who want to know how much practical experience you have
might ask you questions like this. T his is a great opportunity to let them
know what you would do when faced with such a scenario, or even better,
if you have actual examples of issues of the scenarios that they pose to
you.

19. What is an internal audit?


An internal audit is an audit that is conducted by an auditor who is part
of the organization. T hey answer to management and follow procedures
and audit guidelines that have been set out by the company. T hese audits
are important because they reveal irregularities and security issues at set
intervals.

In fact, most security issues are handled internally if a company has the
necessary resources. External auditors are normally only brought in to
confirm a suspicious finding or to perform tasks that the internal
auditors might not be equipped to deal with.

20. What is the most common cause of


security breaches in your experience?
Everyone will have their own experience out in the field, so if you have any
personal anecdotes that you wish to add to the interview, then by all
means do. Generally speaking, however, human error is normally the
primary cause of security incidents and lapses in information security.
Weak passwords, poor file permission management and even social
engineering all add up to cause lapses in security.

Senior/advanced security
auditor questions

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Senior security auditors are professionals that have been in the industry
for five to 10 years and possess a lot of practical and theoretical
knowledge on how systems work, how they are compromised and how
they are best protected. Some senior security auditors have been a part of
a larger team and have taken on management and leadership roles and
are probably looking to fill a position as either a technical lead or as a
manager or advisor to a department. Professionals that are at this level
of skill are valuable assets to a company, as their hands-on experience
and practical knowledge can save a lot of time and money during an audit
or investigation.

21. How do you decide on the scope of an


investigation prior to getting started?
T he main areas that need to be concentrated on are the items that the
client is concerned about. Perhaps they suspect a breach on a specific
system and the system logs need to be checked, or they might suspect
data leakage. T here are so many different scenarios that will require the
intervention and investigation of a security auditor that it is not easy to
specify where the scope of each one would begin. Each investigation is
different, even though they may share similarities in vulnerabilities and
scope.

T he main point that you need to get across is that the investigation and
the specified outcome requirements will determine the scope and areas
of interest to the investigator. T he scope will be defined before you start,
so any items that need to be added to the scope will be discussed before
the proceedings on-site will begin.

22. Do you have any examples where a


change or suggestion that you have made
directly affected your company/client in a
positive way?
T here will be times when simple problems cause big issues in an
organization. Methodical investigation helps to reveal things such as
poorly-configured storage devices, open networks and infected
computers. Making recommendations to fix only a few of these issues
would have the potential to make a big difference, let alone fixing all of
them.

Share your positive experiences that you have from working on-site at
your company or at your client’s business locations. Keep your
experiences relevant to the question being asked and go ino as much
detail as you can so that the benefits of your actions are clearly
articulated.

23. Have you ever managed a team before?


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T his is an important question if you are applying  for a position that has
team lead prospects. If you don’t have any experience with leading a team,
then you should at least have managerial experience in a related field or a
lot of experience as a security auditor that you can apply to the role that
you are applying for. You need to have a solid understanding of how the
entire auditing process unfolds from beginning to end, and how to
compile reports and findings as you come across them during the course
of your investigations.

24. How are Windows auditing and Linux


auditing different?
T here are some similarities between the two operating systems in the
way that they retain records and hold clues about what has been
happening, both locally and on the network.

Windows machines hold their records primarily in the event manager, so


finding failed processes and events that shed light on suspicious
behavior are very easy to find. Certain applications will also leave log
records, either in the event manager or as standalone log files that need
to be located and analyzed independently by the auditor.

Linux systems use log files as a primary source of data record-keeping.


Because of this, investigators will find themselves scouring through many
thousands of different log files as they try to get to the bottom of an
investigation. T ext manipulation commands such as grep will come in
handy, especially when there are lots of text variables that need to be
sorted through.

T here are many other differences that you can bring up in the interview if
you are asked. However, the basics should be enough to illustrate your
practical knowledge of the difference between the two operating
systems. How your auditing process is affected by each of these operating
systems will depend on the findings that you are pursuing, so be sure to
ask follow-up questions so that you know that you are answering the
specifics of their questions.

25. What is the difference between


hashing, encoding and encryption?
T he easiest way to explain  the difference between the three is to think of
them in their most basic form.

Encryption uses a series of keys which are used when encrypting and
decrypting data. T he keys perform changes to unencrypted data by
applying cyphers. You can think of encryption as being used to secure
sensitive information.

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Encoding uses an algorithm that scrambles the data so that it cannot be


read except by other clients that have the same cipher. Encoding is used
in cases where you need to protect data and to verify its fidelity so that
there is no corruption or loss in data.

Hashing is achieved by generating a randomized number from a string of


text. Hashing is useful for verifying data, such as big downloads.

26. What are weaknesses in remote cloud


solutions?
Cloud vendors generally provide a very good service because they are
incentivized to make sure that their environment is always up to date and
patched. Where things get difficult from an auditing perspective is that
sometimes a virtual machine in the cloud might be located on the same
host; that means there is a risk that if the client has stringent auditing
requirements, then this could be flagged as a possible issue.

T he other problem with using a cloud provider is that you do not actually
know what the hosting facility is like or how secure it is unless you have
actually met with a company representative in person and gone to the
hosting site. T his is why only reputable vendors should be used, where
the location and security of the site can be verified and visited if
necessary.

Auditing hosted machines can be a challenge if they are not deployed


correctly or adequately in line with the standards set out by the company
that is responsible for maintaining these machines. You need to make
sure that the interviewer understands that you are aware of these
challenges and know how to make the proper recommendations if the
cloud setup is found to be insufficient.

27. What mistakes have you made as a


security auditor and how have you learned
from them?
T hese kinds of questions are always tricky. It is generally advised that the
faults that you bring up are minor enough to have caused no major
problems, while having them significant enough to warrant reflection,
making them a useful learning experience that you have benefited from.

T hink about some of the challenges that you have faced when mistakes
were made. Remember how you dealt with them and specify the
corrective steps that you took to resolve the issue. T he fact that you were
able to correct the issue and learn from it normally goes a long way in an
interview, so try to keep things as detailed or as compressed as the
interviewer encourages you to.

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28. How do you get information from


unwilling clients?
Everyone has their own management styles and coping mechanisms, so
nobody is expecting you to have a one-size-fits-all answer to such a
question. Instead, think about the process that you normally follow when
you find that things are not proceeding as well as you would like while
you are conducting an audit. T here is generally a chain of command at
each of the sites or departments that you visit, so if a user is unable or
unwilling to assist you with the information that you require, then the
person that is further up the management chain needs to be informed.

You can generally do this until you get right to the top of the
management structure within a company. If things escalate that far, then
it means that there is usually some kind of systemic issue within the
organization, which should be raising concern. If an auditor is unable to
complete the work that has been agreed upon because of a lack of
cooperation, then the terms of the audit need to be renegotiated by the
management structures so that the audit can be handed over to another
company or carried out properly and with the full cooperation of the
company in question.

T hese are loose guidelines, because all companies have their own set of
escalation policies that they follow when trying to get uncooperative
people to assist with audits. Be sure to relay your own personal
experience to the interviewers, as they are likely to be curious about how
you have dealt with such a situation before and what steps you personally
took to resolve it.

29. What questions do you ask before


implementing a new tool or strategy?
Before implementing any changes or fixes, you need to make sure that
what you are doing will fix the issues that have been identified and
improve the situation of the system to a state that is better than the one
that you found it in. If you have doubts about the fix, then you need to
discuss the matter further with all stakeholders before you proceed any
further.

T he interviewer wants to know how you follow through with


recommendations from an audit. Showing critical thinking skills at this
stage of an audit could mean the difference between deploying a
potentially bad solution and recalculating the way forward, especially if
you have any doubts or second thoughts about what the remedial action
entails.

30. What are some current OWASP top 10


vulnerabilities?

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Injection, cross-site scripting and insecure deserialization are some of


the most critical OWASP vulnerabilities that they have identified for the
past few years.

If a code audit reveals that there is insecure deserialization within an


application, then there needs to be urgent updates to the code to ensure
that this security glitch is fixed ASAP, especially if the application is
currently deployed.

Injection occurs when an Internet-facing Web application accepts strings


of text that are executed as commands. Certain formats of commands
have been shown to give attackers administrative access to databases
and systems where this vulnerability has been successfully exploited.

Insecure deserialization is a vulnerability that can be exploited by an


analyst or an attacker. T his is managed by intercepting internal code
from an application and changing bits of data. T his can be done to
elevate their permissions, giving them control of a target machine or
application.

How deep your audits go will depend on the level of security auditing
that you do. T he interviewer will generally steer you towards the
direction of the role’s requirements, but you might find yourself talking
about more advanced threats such as these if the interviewer sees fit to
do so.

Conclusion
Becoming a security auditor requires attention to detail and a systematic
approach to record-keeping. You will need to look at the bigger picture
whenever you are conducting a security audit as you slowly build up the
reports and presentations that your clients need you to put together for
them.

Interviewing for such a demanding job is difficult, but certainly not


impossible. Simply focus on going through practice questions like these
and do your homework on the answers that you would most likely give
during the course of a real interview. T he questions that we have put
together are a good start.

Remember that the more questions you practice with, the more chance
you have of carrying yourself confidently in the interview. T here are many
more questions that you can practice with than these thirty examples! We
recommend that you take a look at Skillset.com, which has more than a
hundred thousand practice questions related to various certifications.
T he list of cert-related questions includes is vast, with PMP, CISSP, CEH,
CHFI, Network+ and Security+ being just a few examples of what you can
expect to find before your next big interview.

Stay focused, relax and good luck!

https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/topic/top-30-security-auditor-interview-questions-and-answers-for-2019/ 14/17
3/27/22, 2:36 PM Top 30 security auditor interview questions and answers for 2019 - Infosec Resources

Cybersecurity interview
guide
Ace your next interview with tips from our free
ebook, “How to stand out, get hired and
advance your career.”

DOWNLOAD NOW

Sources
1. OWASP
2. T op T en Project, OWASP

Posted: March 19, 2019 Share:

Author
VIEW PROFILE
Graeme Messina
Graeme is an IT professional with a special interest in computer forensics and computer
security. When not building networks and researching the latest developments in network
security, he can be found writing technical articles and blog posts at InfoSec Resources and
elsewhere.

 Website

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