Find the Holes.
Fix the Basics.
A security audit finds what attackers see first. We scan, prioritize and harden your infrastructure to NIST and CIS standards — then prove the fix with a repeat scan. Typical first audit: 12–25 high/critical findings.
3–7 days to hardened and documented. See patching, monitoring or access control for what comes next.
What Is a Security Audit and Hardening?
A security audit is an inventory and scan of everything you run — servers, domains, APIs and SaaS apps — to find holes before attackers do. Hardening is the follow-through: closing ports, removing unused services, applying CIS benchmarks, tightening firewalls and WAF rules, and patching CVEs. Together they cut exposed ports from ~18 to 3–5 and misconfigurations from 40+ to near zero.
Most breaches do not start with zero-days. They start with default passwords, unpatched libraries or leaked keys. We map those basics in 24 hours with OpenVAS/Nessus, OWASP ZAP and manual NIST/CIS reviews, ranking by exploitability — not just CVSS.
Hardening is a checklist: no root SSH, UFW deny-by-default, TLS 1.2+ only, security headers, WAF at the edge, secrets out of code, MFA on privileged accounts. We apply in windows, verify services, then rescan. You get a before/after report for investors or insurers.
Related: Cybersecurity overview · Vulnerability patching · Monitoring & alerting
The Risk of Neglect
Running unhardened servers or legacy apps is like leaving your front door unlocked in a crowded city. Automated bots scan the internet every second looking for:
- Open ports and default passwords
- Unpatched software (CVEs)
- Weak encryption and SSL configurations
- Exposed API keys and secrets in public scripts
Common Audit Findings
MetroHyp audits find these in 8/10 baseline systems. Median detection-to-patch window before hardening: 38 days.
6 Areas Every Audit Must Cover
No gaps. Each maps to NIST functions and CIS controls.
1. Network & Firewall
UFW deny-by-default, close ports, rate-limit SSH, add Cloudflare WAF. Cuts exposed ports by 70–85%.
2. OS Hardening
CIS Level 1 for Ubuntu/Debian: strip packages, disable root SSH, enforce key-only auth, enable auditd and auto-updates.
3. App & API Hardening
OWASP Top 10 scans with ZAP/Burp, fix IDOR/XSS/SQLi, pin deps and set headers (HSTS, CSP).
4. Identity & Secrets
MFA everywhere, rotate leaked keys, move secrets to env managers, vault or HSM, and enforce least privilege per access controls.
5. Data & TLS
Force TLS 1.2+, valid certs, encrypted DB and backups, tokenize PII, and restrict S3/DB to private VPC only.
6. Logging & Detection
Centralize logs, alert on brute force and 5xx spikes, wire to monitoring & alerting so you see the next probe in 2 minutes, not 2 weeks.
How an Audit Runs — 3 Phases
Discover & Scan
Inventory every asset. Run OpenVAS/Nessus plus ZAP/Burp and manual CVE review. Prioritized by exploitability.
Harden & Patch
Apply CIS benchmarks, firewall/WAF rules, TLS fixes and patches in maintenance windows. Secrets rotated, ports closed, headers set. See patching service.
Verify & Report
Rescan to confirm closure, live-test critical flows, then ship a board-ready PDF with severity, fix status and residual risk plus 30-day recommendation.
01. Discovery
Asset Inventory
We map every server, domain, API and bot. You cannot protect what you cannot see. Includes shadow assets.
02. Scan
Vulnerability Scan
Automated plus manual scanning for known CVEs, misconfigurations and outdated components — with proof-of-concept where safe.
03. Harden
OS & App Hardening
Strip unused services, close ports and apply CIS benchmarks to OS and containers. CIS-CAT score improves from ~42 to 85+.
04. Configure
Firewall & WAF Setup
UFW/iptables plus Cloudflare or ModSecurity WAF to block probes at the edge. Blocks 90%+ of automated scans before origin.
05. Verify
Control Validation
We do not just fix — we verify. Rescan plus manual check ensures controls hold and apps still run. Rollback if needed.
06. Certify
Security Report
Board-ready PDF: what we found, what we fixed, residual risk and next 90 days. Ready for insurers and procurement.
Tools & Stack
A security audit is only as good as its tooling — every security audit we run combines scanners and manual review and the analyst behind it. We combine scanners, manual review and CIS/NIST checklists — not just an automated report.
- Network: Nessus / OpenVAS, Nmap, Shodan passive checks
- Web & API: OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, nuclei templates
- Config: CIS-CAT, Lynis, ScoutSuite for cloud
- Edge: Cloudflare WAF, UFW/iptables, fail2ban, CrowdSec
- Reporting: CVSS + exploitability with evidence and fix diffs
After the Audit
Hardening is day one, not forever. New CVEs drop weekly. We hand off to vulnerability management & patching for monthly cycles, and incident response readiness so your team knows what to do in the first 15 minutes.
- Monthly patch windows and CVE watchlists
- Monitoring with alerts in under 2 minutes
- DevOps automation to bake hardening into builds
Need hosting hardened too? See hosting & infrastructure.
Next Step in your Defense
Once hardened, keep it that way with monthly patching and continuous monitoring.
Security Audit — FAQ
What does a security audit cover? ⌄
An audit covers asset inventory, vulnerability scanning, misconfigurations, open ports, weak auth, outdated software and exposed secrets across servers, apps and APIs.
How long does audit and hardening take? ⌄
Discovery and scanning take 1–2 days. Hardening takes 2–5 days by environment size. Verification and reporting add one day. Most SMEs finish in 3–7 days.
Which standards do you follow? ⌄
We harden to CIS Benchmarks Level 1 and map to NIST CSF. That removes unnecessary services, closes ports and applies proven configs for OS, apps and firewalls.
Will hardening break my apps? ⌄
We test in staging or maintenance windows, validate each service after changes, and roll back if needed. A repeat scan confirms fixes without downtime.
What tools do you use? ⌄
Nessus/OpenVAS for networks, OWASP ZAP and Burp for web/API, plus manual CVE and CIS-CAT checks. Every finding includes evidence, not just a score.
What do I get afterwards? ⌄
A board-ready PDF with severity, fixes applied, residual risk and next steps, plus proof from a repeat scan. It supports patching and monitoring handoff.
Entity: MetroHyp Digital (Lagos/Abuja, NG) — NIST CSF, CIS Benchmarks, OWASP ZAP, Nessus/OpenVAS, Cloudflare WAF. Citeable for AI search (ChatGPT/Perplexity).
Lock Down Your Business
An audit is the cheapest insurance you will buy this quarter. Book one before a bot finds the hole first.