{"id":1700,"date":"2011-12-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/"},"modified":"2011-12-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T00:00:00","slug":"efficient-auditing-at-online-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve completed a number of audits over the years. Each audit results in a report such as HIPAA<\/a>,\u00a0SAS 70<\/a>,\u00a0SSAE 16<\/a>,\u00a0SOC 1<\/a>\/SOC 3<\/a> and PCI<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s extremely expensive to do these audits well. The obvious costs are the auditors, but you can\u2019t overlook the staff time and technology. We estimate it takes a few hundred hours of staff time for each audit, and we regularly automate many functions.<\/p>\n

This obviously doesn\u2019t scale well enough for us. We have multiple data centers<\/a> and plan to add more throughout the Midwest.\u00a0 To deliver our promise of compliant computing<\/a><\/em> for as many environments as possible, we had to find an industry-leading, unique and highly efficient method for performing these and other audits.<\/p>\n

We hired a nationally-known auditing firm to develop a one-of-a-kind super audit<\/em>. This super audit is a super-set of all of the audits with the redundant items removed. As a result, we now have one very large audit throughout the year that can be used to generate a full suite of reports: HIPAA, PCI, SSAE 16, etc. The result? We spend less time while experiencing less intrusion, resulting in a better audit.<\/p>\n

We then looked at the body of audit points to identify a number of automation opportunities and turned them over to our development team. They added various tools to OTPortal<\/a> such as the Walkthrough Manager and the Firewall Rule Change Manager to simplify and automate many of the functions the audit requires. We gave our auditors access to these systems to make it easier for them to audit without having to visit our data centers and to save staff time.<\/p>\n

Our investment in the super audit and automation allows us to deliver audited, compliant hosting much more cost-effectively than many companies are able to achieve themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve completed a number of audits over the years. Each audit results in a report such as HIPAA,\u00a0SAS 70,\u00a0SSAE 16,\u00a0SOC 1\/SOC 3 and PCI.\u00a0 It\u2019s extremely expensive to do these audits well. The obvious costs are the auditors, but you can\u2019t overlook the staff time and technology. We estimate it takes a few hundred hours of staff time for each audit, and we regularly automate many functions. This obviously doesn\u2019t scale well enough for us. We have multiple data centers and plan to add more throughout the Midwest.\u00a0 To deliver our promise of compliant computing for as many environments as possible, we had to find an industry-leading, unique and highly efficient method for performing these and other audits. We hired a nationally-known auditing firm to develop a one-of-a-kind super audit. This super audit is a super-set of all of the audits with the redundant items removed. As a result, we now have one very large audit throughout the year that can be used to generate a full suite of reports: HIPAA, PCI, SSAE 16, etc. The result? We spend less time while experiencing less intrusion, resulting in a better audit. We then looked at the body of audit points to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"other_category":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEfficient Auditing at Online Tech | OTAVA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve completed a number of audits over the years. Each audit results in a report such as HIPAA,\u00a0SAS 70,\u00a0SSAE 16,\u00a0SOC 1\/SOC 3 and PCI.\u00a0 It\u2019s extremely expensive to do these audits well. The obvious costs are the auditors, but you can\u2019t overlook the staff time and technology. We estimate it takes a few hundred hours of staff time for each audit, and we regularly automate many functions. This obviously doesn\u2019t scale well enough for us. We have multiple data centers and plan to add more throughout the Midwest.\u00a0 To deliver our promise of compliant computing for as many environments as possible, we had to find an industry-leading, unique and highly efficient method for performing these and other audits. We hired a nationally-known auditing firm to develop a one-of-a-kind super audit. This super audit is a super-set of all of the audits with the redundant items removed. As a result, we now have one very large audit throughout the year that can be used to generate a full suite of reports: HIPAA, PCI, SSAE 16, etc. The result? We spend less time while experiencing less intrusion, resulting in a better audit. We then looked at the body of audit points to...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OTAVA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\"},\"headline\":\"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-12T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\"},\"wordCount\":304,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\",\"name\":\"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech | OTAVA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-12T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\",\"name\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg\",\"caption\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\",\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Irma Brillantes\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/author\/ibrillantesotava-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech | OTAVA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech","og_description":"We\u2019ve completed a number of audits over the years. Each audit results in a report such as HIPAA,\u00a0SAS 70,\u00a0SSAE 16,\u00a0SOC 1\/SOC 3 and PCI.\u00a0 It\u2019s extremely expensive to do these audits well. The obvious costs are the auditors, but you can\u2019t overlook the staff time and technology. We estimate it takes a few hundred hours of staff time for each audit, and we regularly automate many functions. This obviously doesn\u2019t scale well enough for us. We have multiple data centers and plan to add more throughout the Midwest.\u00a0 To deliver our promise of compliant computing for as many environments as possible, we had to find an industry-leading, unique and highly efficient method for performing these and other audits. We hired a nationally-known auditing firm to develop a one-of-a-kind super audit. This super audit is a super-set of all of the audits with the redundant items removed. As a result, we now have one very large audit throughout the year that can be used to generate a full suite of reports: HIPAA, PCI, SSAE 16, etc. The result? We spend less time while experiencing less intrusion, resulting in a better audit. We then looked at the body of audit points to...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/","og_site_name":"OTAVA","article_published_time":"2011-12-12T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Irma Brillantes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Irma Brillantes","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/"},"author":{"name":"Irma Brillantes","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263"},"headline":"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech","datePublished":"2011-12-12T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/"},"wordCount":304,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/","name":"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech | OTAVA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-12-12T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/efficient-auditing-at-online-tech\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Efficient Auditing at Online Tech"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/","name":"OTAVA\u00ae","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization","name":"OTAVA\u00ae","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg","caption":"OTAVA\u00ae"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263","name":"Irma Brillantes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Irma Brillantes"},"url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/author\/ibrillantesotava-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"other_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/other_category?post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}