M/s ST & Co., Chartered Accountants, are appointed as auditors of Hitech Ltd., an IT company, engaged in providing diverse range of services…

Considerations for Remote Audit: Confidentiality, Security and Data Protection: M/s ST & Co. have been developing tailored strategies to ensure that the remote audit meets the requirements and deliver results equivalent to traditional onsite audits. To ensure data security and confidentiality, access to document sharing platform should be sufficiently restricted and secured by encrypting the data that is sent across the network. The information, once reviewed and documented by auditor, is removed from the platform, and stored according to applicable archiving standards and data protection requirements. Auditors should take into consideration legislation and regulations, which may require additional agreements from both sides (e.g., there will be no recording of sound and images, or authorizations to using people's images). Auditors should not take screenshots of auditees as audit evidence. Any screenshots of documents or records or other kind of evidence should be previously authorized by the audited organization. In case of accessing the auditee's IT system auditor should use VPN (Virtual private network). VPN is a service which creates safe and encrypted online connections. It prevents unauthorized users to enter into network and allows the users to perform work remotely.