10 IT Security Audit Tools in 2025

Explore what IT security audits are, why they’re essential, and discover 10 top IT security audit tools for 2025. Find out how to enhance compliance, automate threat detection, and secure ecosystems.

As the threat of cyber attacks grows increasingly more complex and persistent, relying solely on firewalls and manual monitoring is insufficient. A survey revealed that 53% of organizations have incorporated cybersecurity into strategic processes, underlining the importance of adequate risk assessments. In this context, IT security audit tools provide structured approaches for assessment, compliance checks, and the strengthening of an organization’s security across endpoints, code, and cloud. This guide explores the fundamentals of IT security audit and how specific solutions can protect businesses from modern threats.

To begin with, we define what an IT security audit is and why the use of software solutions is crucial for managing risks. We will then discuss the current and emerging threats, using real examples of infiltration patterns. Next, we describe ten advanced IT security audit tools and techniques that help to solve routine tasks like code analysis, cloud security assessments, and vulnerability identification. Last but not the least, we mention the criteria for choosing the best solution for your organization and present guidelines for a comprehensive enterprise security plan.

What is an IT Security Audit?

An IT security audit is a systematic examination of an organization’s IT resources, including endpoints, microservices, and cloud infrastructure, to identify risks, assess the effectiveness of controls, and ensure compliance with best practices. In its simplest terms, an audit determines the effectiveness of the systems, applications, and networks against intrusions, internal threats, or compliance requirements.

Contemporary audits employ modern scanning, real-time analytics, and policy consolidation across the transient usage of specific components like containers and the everyday operations. As the IT environment grows more complex with different clouds and DevSecOps pipelines, manual identification of vulnerabilities becomes unmanageable without proper IT security audit tools.

Need for IT Security Audit Tools

It is challenging for organizations to keep up with threat actors, especially as 85% of cybersecurity professionals attribute increasing attacks to generative AI use by cybercriminals. The manual scanning or ad hoc processes are inadequate when infiltration attempts can occur through any endpoint, container, or identity store. IT security audit tools integrate detection, correlation, and real-time response, thus lowering the dwell time significantly. In the following, we look at five reasons why such solutions are an essential part of a comprehensive IT security audit.

1. Enhanced Visibility in Complex Environments: Hybrid clouds, IoT and other expansions, and ephemeral containers are some of the types of IT security audit challenges that make it difficult to follow each device or code version. Using modern software, all logs and scanning results are collected in one console for security teams. This synergy reveals other overlooked endpoints, container images, or services that may contain angles of infiltration. Through the systematic identification of assets, these tools eliminate blind spots, connecting temporary usage with continuous supervision.
2. Automated Compliance & Policy Enforcement: The range of security audit standards, including ISO 27001, PCI DSS, GDPR, and HIPAA, can be daunting to even experienced CISOs. Some of the IT security audit tools are designed to contain the rule checks of such frameworks where it automatically scans for controls that are not compliant and maps them to these standard frameworks. This saves the staff’s time from doing repetitive manual work and turns an IT audit vs vulnerability assessment issue into an easy process. At the same time, compliance sign-offs increase, providing leadership with tangible outcomes.
3. Reduced Human Error & Faster Detection: It is quite understandable that even an analyst with sufficient training would be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of alerts that come across his desk every day and fail to notice possible attempts at infiltration. Automated IT audit tools use algorithms and correlation rules, and display in real-time any changes or suspicious activity. This synergy creates immediate response, which means that infiltration attempts hardly go unnoticed for weeks at a time. In today’s world of business where a single mistake can result in a multimillion-dollar loss, automation is a great asset.
4. Integration with DevSecOps & Cloud Pipelines: When dev teams implement CI/CD processes using ephemeral containers, or deploying serverless applications, new vectors multiply if code scanning or policy checks aren’t incremental. Prominent IT security audit tools and methods correlate scanning with pipeline phases, preventing builds or unverified dependencies from reaching production. With each expansion iteration, transient usage intertwines with sophisticated detection, integrating infiltration prevention with daily DevSecOps work. This synergy binds security with the velocity of today’s software delivery.
5. Scalable Insights & Executive Reporting: Global enterprises have thousands of hosts spread across various geographies and require efficient management. In general, the process of collating and analyzing logs can result in the inundation of security teams with information. Contemporary IT security audit tools produce reports in the form of graphs that display the vulnerabilities, risk rates, and compliance indicators in large quantities. In this way, leadership obtains the information necessary for making tactical decisions, which allows maintaining a minimum number of infiltration angles despite the changing environment.

IT Security Audit Tools for 2025

The following solutions present a mixture of traditional market players and new entrants offering their approaches to the IT security audit process. Their features range from microservice monitoring to code vulnerability analysis and from short-term usage to exhaustive compliance. To identify the best fit for infiltration detection and policy enforcement, consider your environment’s complexity, compliance requirements, and DevSecOps readiness. Here are ten sophisticated IT security audit tools to look out for in the year ahead:

SentinelOne

SentinelOne’s Singularity™ XDR Platform is an AI-powered Extended Detection and Response system that offers endpoint-to-cloud-container protection at machine speed. It combines scanning and advanced threat intelligence with detection and automated responses as well as cross-layer visibility. This synergy links microservices and others with real-time correlation between infiltration detection and daily development tasks. As a result of this approach, SentinelOne provides the strongest and unyielding protection against the more complex intrusion attempts that may be made at a much faster rate.

Platform at a Glance:

Singularity™ gathers signals from endpoints, network, cloud, and identity to give a unified approach to infiltration detection and compliance. It can scale up to millions of devices and uses distributed intelligence to combine the scanning function with the remediation one. ActiveEDR integrates essential threat context into the platform, allowing staff to view the entire kill chain concerning any suspicious activities. This integration solidifies it among the considerable IT security audit tools, especially for large and rapidly changing environments.

Features:

1. Multi-Layer XDR: It aggregates endpoint, cloud, and identity logs to provide a single view of infiltration.
2. Real-Time Runtime Protection: Prevents the execution of malicious code or zero-day exploits in short-lived use cases.
3. Autonomous Response: Employing advanced heuristics, autonomously isolates infected processes, reducing the dwell time.
4. Advanced Endpoint Protection: Goes beyond scanning, allowing staff to outsource complex threat hunting or around-the-clock monitoring.
5. Ranger® Rogue Device Discovery: Pinpoints unmanaged network devices in your network, extending infiltration detection across concealed subnets.

Core Problems That SentinelOne Eliminates:

1. Slow Incident Response: Automated containment and patching slow down infiltration attempts after being detected.
2. Ephemeral Usage: This means that the scanning process should cover all the corners of the container or cloud so that any infiltration signal is not missed.
3. Integrated Visibility: Single console integrates endpoints, identity, and network intelligence, connecting transient usage with day-to-day development work.
4. Reactive Security Culture: Artificial intelligence-based detection promotes proactive hunting, transforming infiltration attempts into rapid triage incidents.
5. Burdened Compliance: Integrated solutions come with pre-built mappings of the scanning results to known standards for compliance audits.

Testimonials:

“Being a SOC analyst, I have been using SentinelOne with my team for more than the last six months. Compared to some of the other EDRs we have used in the past, SentinelOne has been a game changer. The ease of deploying S1 agents to all the devices that can now have the anti-virus is truly efficient. SentinelOne has so many features and easy to use components, that makes it a joy to use on a daily basis for me. We have so much more visibility into our network, endpoints, and servers with the introduction of this tool. I have been having an amazing experience using it so far.”

• DATA ANALYST  (Banking Sector)

Explore how companies integrate security into their workflows with SentinelOne, as detailed by customers on Gartner Peer Insights and Peerspot.  

Checkmarx

Checkmarx solution offers application security and SAST – Static Application Security Testing across various programming languages. Before deploying a container or a serverless app, scanning is incorporated in CI/CD pipelines to cover ephemeral usage. Some other features of the tool include connecting code-level verification with compliance requirements, which promotes prevention of infiltration, ensuring no vulnerability gets to production without being checked.

Features:

1. Multi-Language SAST: Identifies infiltration angles in Java, .NET, JavaScript, and other languages by analyzing code.
2. Integration with DevSecOps: Incorporates scanning into builds, combining infiltration detection and development cycles.
3. Customizable Rules: Allow the use of scanning heuristics to be tailored to the architecture or usage of the target system.
4. Vulnerability Information: Includes information on how to fix weaknesses, assisting developers in rapidly addressing infiltration paths.

Explore firsthand insights on how developers secure their code with Checkmarx, as shared by users on PeerSpot.

Veracode

Veracode provides a range of static, dynamic, and software composition analysis with a single cloud-based solution for comprehensive code scanning. By focusing on ephemeral usage scenarios (like containers) in addition to classical monoliths, it ensures that infiltration angles from unvetted dependencies don’t sneak in.

Features:

1. Comprehensive SCA: It helps in detecting outdated or risky open-source libraries present in the code.
2. Static & Dynamic Testing: Detects infiltration vectors before the code is compiled and during runtime, thus integrating momentary usage.
3. Policy-Driven Scans: Ensure the scanned results are consistent with policies such as PCI DSS, FedRAMP, etc.
4. DevSecOps Integration: Learn how to integrate scanning into Jenkins, GitLab, or Azure DevOps for continuous development.

See how organizations enhance application security with Veracode, based on real user experiences on PeerSpot.

Synopsys (Coverity)

Coverity, by Synopsis, is made for large code bases in industries such as automotive or aerospace that require static code analysis. It combines infiltration detection with advanced dataflow analysis to identify otherwise unnoticed logic flaws. The integration of ephemeral usage scanning with real-time feedback in the information technology security audit process helps developers.

Features:

1. Deep Data Flow Analysis: Discovers deeper infiltration patterns which are not easily visible on the surface.
2. Support for Complex, Legacy Code: This feature is relevant for older code still in use and which can be a bridge between infiltration detection and modern scanning.
3. DevSecOps Integration: Ability to connect with popular CI/CD platforms and automate scanning during the ephemeral usage merge.
4. Compliance Reporting: Report the results of the scanning process in terms of ISO 26262, DO-178C, or other specific standards.

Learn how enterprises strengthen code quality and security with Coverity through in-depth reviews on PeerSpot.

Micro Focus Fortify (OpenText Fortify)

Micro Focus Fortify offers application security testing capabilities, including SAST, DAST, and vulnerability correlation. The solution combines infiltration detection for temporary usage like container-based microservices and earlier on-prem applications. The tool also offers the ability to integrate code scanning, policy mapping, and developer triaging. This integration enables faster patching cycles, aligning infiltration detection with daily development sprints. OpenText acquired Micro Focus, which includes Fortify and all of its other security products.

Features:

1. Static & Dynamic Scanning: It can scan through the code as well as live running applications to see infiltration angles.
2. Open Source Analysis: It detects new, outdated or malicious libraries in the temporary usage frameworks.
3. IDE integration: Gives developer-friendly warnings, linking infiltration detection with local coding practices.
4. Risk Score: Presents a single numerical score based on aggregated data from the scanning process.

SonarQube

SonarQube is an open-source code quality platform that has security scanning modules to integrate with infiltration detection. The platform’s dashboards enable developers to solve infiltration problems such as SQL injections or XSS in both the ephemeral usage or monolithic apps. It combines infiltration signals with code checks, enhancing security and code maintainability.

Features:

1. Language Compatibility: Supports languages like Java, C#, JavaScript, Go, and others.
2. Quality Gates: Blocks merges if infiltration-critical vulnerabilities are found.
3. SAST-like Security Engine: The product detects low-level code intrusions, ties temporary usage to the developers’ workflows.
4. Scalable Plugins: Propose additional options for scanning for specialized frameworks or other infiltration patterns.

Find out how developers improve code security and maintainability with SonarQube, as reviewed by users on PeerSpot.

HCL AppScan

AppScan covers static, dynamic, and interactive scanning for enterprise applications. By coupling infiltration detection with temporary usage in microservices, it prevents vulnerabilities to go unnoticed. This solution also offers stringent policies, real-time development advice, and correlation, which assists in consolidating scanning, compliance, and infiltration response.

Features:

1. Unified SAST, DAST, IAST: Offers broad coverage across build-time and runtime infiltration angles.
2. DevOps Integration: Makes the ephemeral usage scan compatible with Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or other pipelines.
3. Policy Manager: Set up infiltration risk limits to prevent merges or deployments.
4. Specific Repair Instructions: Informs developers about the specific steps that should be taken to close the given infiltration paths.

Read real-world feedback on how businesses integrate AppScan for robust application security testing on PeerSpot.

GitLab Ultimate (SAST)

GitLab Ultimate comes with SAST, DAST, and dependency scanning built into the source control as well as into the CI/CD pipeline. Infiltration attempts are flagged before production by linking ephemeral usage detection with code merges. From this, devs can review the scanning results within the merge requests.. The platform also enables integration with other tools to facilitate DevSecOps.

Features:

1. Integrated SAST: Scans the code running in the GitLab pipeline for infiltration vulnerabilities.
2. DAST & Dependency Checks: Observes ephemeral usage in container images or third-party libraries.
3. Merge Request Integration: Shows the results of the infiltration alongside the merge requests so that developers can take action immediately.
4. Automated Remediation: Provides fix recommendations or patches, aligning infiltration detection with development tasks.

See how DevSecOps teams use GitLab Ultimate’s SAST capabilities to secure applications efficiently, as shared on PeerSpot.

WhiteHat Security (NTT Application Security)

WhiteHat Security (now a division of NTT) focuses on continuous application scanning, integrating infiltration detection throughout transient activity in web apps or APIs. As such, by solely performing dynamic analysis, it offers several infiltration angles. WhiteHat can be used by e-commerce or SaaS providers for continuous testing as new features are released into production.

Features:

1. Cloud-Based DAST: The testing is done from an external perspective and can identify angles of infiltration that resemble an actual attack.
2. Continuous Scanning: Re-checks apps frequently, which helps maintain the connection between brief usage in DevOps and the current state of infiltration.
3. Developer Remediation Guidance: Integrates infiltration results with code-level recommendations and increases the pace of patching.
4. Risk Prioritization: This helps assign priorities to the vulnerabilities to ensure that the staff tackles the most severe infiltration paths first.

Gain insights into how WhiteHat Security helps organizations stay ahead of threats, based on user reviews on PeerSpot.

Contrast Security

Contrast Security injects ‘contrast agents’ into apps at runtime to identify attempts at infiltration. By correlating short-term usage with real-time monitoring, it can indicate code injection or suspicious memory calls when apps are running in the staging or production environment. This integrates infiltration detection with dynamic analysis, allowing to identify the lines of code that a criminal might use.

Features:

1. Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST): Observes infiltration angles from inside the running app.
2. Automated Scanning: Leverages ephemeral usage scanning with pipeline-based checks for deeper infiltration of the application.
3. Granular Code Insights: Ties vulnerabilities to exact code segments or frameworks for straightforward fixes.
4. Flexible to Serverless or Microservices: Infiltration detection remains stable even with low overhead in scalable structures such as serverless and microservices.

Learn how security teams use Contrast Security for real-time vulnerability detection in user reviews on PeerSpot.

Essential Criteria for Choosing an IT Security Audit Tool

Choosing from these IT security audit tools depends on your environment, compliance goals, and maturity of your DevSecOps program. One tool could be highly effective in SAST but may not perform well in real-time threat detection, and vice versa. In the following sections, we outline six key areas that relate ephemeral usage scanning to infiltration detection and compliance alignment so that it fits your requirements perfectly.

1. Scope of Coverage: Determine whether you require code-level scanning, dynamic testing, or more complex container posture checks. There are tools such as SentinelOne that combine endpoint and cloud infiltration detection, while others mainly cover application code. Consider various usage scenarios based on the idea of ephemeral systems, ranging from serverless applications to ephemeral containers, to ensure that the chosen solution includes the necessary modules. An imbalance could result in the absence of monitoring of the infiltration angles.
2. Integration with CI/CD & Existing Tools: Modern DevSecOps requires scanning at the commit level or at build time, connecting the temporary use with daily development work. Tools that do not have elaborate plugins or APIs pose a challenge in infiltration detection because staff have to upload code or logs manually. Determine whether your potential platform integrates well with Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps, or SIEM. This creates the right environment that minimizes dwell times and makes infiltration detection a seamless process.
3. Real-Time Alerting & Automation: The time between infiltration identification and staff action determines the difference between a minor event and a significant breach. Popular IT security audit solutions initiate immediate quarantining, patching tasks, or compliance notifications. Determine if your solution can support ephemeral usage triggers like container spin-ups as well as scanning or remediation steps. This synergy combines infiltration identification with near-immediate containment.
4. Depth of Analytics & Reporting: Some solutions only outline infiltration indicators without addressing the reason or the effective remedy strategies. At the same time, others align infiltration data to different pre-established frameworks such as NIST or ISO for sign-offs. Effective tools that provide significant dashboards allow the staff to rapidly filter infiltration signals and submit briefings to the top management. Ensure that the platform supports multi-level reporting to ensure that development tasks, compliance activities, and leadership responsibilities are aligned.
5. Extensibility & Custom Rule Sets: Every environment has its own angles of compromise, ranging from injected code modules to bespoke firmware for IoT devices. Tools that allow custom scanning rules or script-based expansions are more suitable for ephemeral usage expansions. Eventually, temporary usage integrates the infiltration detection with higher-level correlation or domain-specific checks. This synergy promotes targeted coverage rather than broad scanning that may overlook certain domain threats.
6. Vendor Support & Scalability: With the growth of your environment, the need for upgraded scanning modules, connectors, or integration assistance arises. Look at the customer feedback on how the vendor has addressed the bugs or has implemented updates to the product. Tools that are designed to work with ephemeral usage in small development labs may not be suitable when you work with thousands of containers daily. Assess licensing schemes, additional overhead, and prior experience in large-scale DevOps, ensuring integration of infiltration prevention across expansions.

Conclusion

Security auditing has become a necessity for organizations as they try to keep up with new threats, especially with the use of containers that are transient in nature and cloud environments that are multi-layered. Failure to scan the code, omitting checks for misconfigurations, or not monitoring the system in real-time leaves areas of vulnerability that criminals seize to gain access and cause downtimes or leaked information. Specialized IT security audit tools expand the scanning, threat intelligence, and compliance into a single security framework for the teams. These platforms require little overhead or skill to set up and ensure that infiltration signals can almost never go unnoticed, as well as automating the cycles of patching that can slow down subsequent attempts by hackers.

However, it is important to note that not all provided solutions meet the same needs. Some are only good at the code level, while others are good at the container scanning or network position. In this case, choosing wisely means matching the complexity of your environment, usage patterns and compliance requirements with the capabilities of the tool. For businesses, IT audit tools such as SentinelOne can become a single solution that brings together endpoint, cloud, and identity scanning. Furthermore, SentinelOne Singularity™ provides AI-powered protection, deep correlation, and immediate response to protect your environment across people, processes, and technology.

Secure your business today! Request a free demo for SentinelOne Singularity™ platform.

FAQs

What are IT security audit tools?

IT security audit tools are software solutions that scan your network for vulnerabilities and security gaps. They identify weaknesses in your systems, examine user permissions, and check if your security controls work properly. These tools will automate the audit process and give you reports about potential threats. You can use them to monitor your entire IT infrastructure, from cloud environments to on-premises systems, and verify your compliance with security standards.

Why are IT security audit tools essential for businesses?

IT security audit tools are essential because they help you identify vulnerabilities before hackers can exploit them. They will scan your network continuously and alert you when there’s a security issue. If you fail to implement these tools, you risk data breaches and financial losses. Your customers’ trust depends on your security posture. These tools also help you stay compliant with regulations like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR, avoiding costly penalties.

How do IT security audit tools help with vulnerability management?

IT security audit tools help with vulnerability management by automatically scanning your network and systems to find security weaknesses. They will identify misconfigurations, outdated software, and potential entry points for attackers. You can get real-time alerts when new vulnerabilities appear. The tools prioritize threats based on risk levels, so you know which ones to fix first. They track your remediation progress and verify that your patches work correctly.

What are the key features to look for in IT security audit software?

You should look for real-time vulnerability assessment capabilities in audit software. The tool must offer network discovery and scanning for all devices and IP addresses. It will need customizable templates for different audit types. A good audit tool provides endpoint security checks and permission management features. It should generate compliance reports for standards like NIST and GDPR. You also need automation features, a user-friendly interface, and integration with your existing security stack.

How do IT security audit tools integrate with DevSecOps frameworks?

IT security audit tools integrate with DevSecOps frameworks by embedding security checks into your development pipeline. They will scan code during development, not just after deployment. You can set up automated testing that runs whenever new code is pushed. These tools flag security issues early so developers fix them before release. They connect with CI/CD pipelines and give developers immediate feedback on security flaws in their code.

What industries benefit most from IT security audit solutions?

Financial services benefit hugely from audit solutions because they’re prime targets for attacks and face strict regulations. Healthcare organizations need them to protect patient data and meet HIPAA requirements. Government agencies use them to secure sensitive information and national security assets. E-commerce businesses protect customer payment details with them. Educational institutions use them to shield student records. If you work in critical infrastructure, you’ll need them to prevent devastating service disruptions.