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In CloudAudit A6, the letters stand for Automated Audit, Assertion, Assessment, and Assurance. The term comes from a 2010 Internet-Draft proposing a common way for cloud providers to share audit-related information with authorized clients. It is not the name of a current IETF standard, and it is narrower than the broader use of automated audit for software that helps auditors inspect or analyze records.

What does A6 mean in CloudAudit?

CloudAudit’s “A6” is an abbreviation for Automated Audit, Assertion, Assessment, and Assurance. The CloudAudit authors described it as an open, extensible, secure interface through which cloud computing providers could expose A6 information about infrastructure (IaaS), platform (PaaS), and application (SaaS) services to authorized clients. The proposal is documented in the CloudAudit 1.0 Internet-Draft, published July 5, 2010.

The draft envisioned a common interface, naming convention, and processes using HTTP to automate the collection and assertion of operational, security, audit, assessment, and assurance information. In practical terms, the idea was to make relevant cloud-service information easier for an authorized client to obtain in a consistent way, rather than relying on an entirely different exchange process for each provider.

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What do “audit” and “assertion” mean?

Audit

ISACA defines an audit as “A formal inspection and verification to check whether a standard or set of guidelines is being followed, records are accurate or efficiency and effectiveness targets are being met.” In this context, an audit is the act of checking evidence against criteria; it is not simply the publication of information about a service.

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Assertion

ISACA defines an assertion as “Any formal declaration, or set of declarations, about a subject matter made by management.” Assertions are generally written and commonly identify attributes of the subject matter or a related process. For example, management might formally state that a particular control is in place. Such a statement is an assertion; whether it is accurate or satisfies a requirement is a separate question that may need verification.

CloudAudit’s use of “assertion” belongs to this information-and-evidence context: the draft proposed ways to expose audit-related statements and information to authorized clients. The word does not mean that every statement made available through an interface has been independently audited.

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How is CloudAudit different from general audit automation?

“Automated audit” is also used more broadly for technology that supports audit work. The IIA glossary includes generalized audit software, test data generators, computerized audit programs, specialized audit utilities, and computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs) under technology-based audit techniques. Those tools help auditors conduct tests or analyze information; they are not the same thing as CloudAudit’s proposed cloud information interface.

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Aspect CloudAudit A6 proposal General technology-based audit techniques
Purpose Provide a common means for cloud providers to expose audit-related information. Help auditors perform tests, analysis, or other audit work.
Typical participants Cloud providers and authorized clients. Auditors and audit teams using technology to examine information.
Typical output Published or exposed audit-related information. Test results, analysis, or audit workpapers.

This distinction follows the descriptions in the CloudAudit draft and the IIA Standards Glossary. A tool that automates audit testing may be an example of audit automation in the broad sense without implementing CloudAudit A6.

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Is CloudAudit an IETF standard?

No. The Datatracker identifies draft-hoff-cloudaudit-00 as an expired, archived individual Internet-Draft and states that it has no formal standing in the IETF standards process. It is accurate to call CloudAudit a historical proposal or Internet-Draft, not a current IETF standard. The document describes the intended interface, but its publication does not establish that providers adopted it or that it became a standardized, widely deployed mechanism.

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What to remember

  • A6 means Automated Audit, Assertion, Assessment, and Assurance in the CloudAudit draft.
  • CloudAudit proposed a common HTTP-based interface for cloud providers to expose audit-related information to authorized clients.
  • Assertion means a formal declaration made by management; a declaration is not, by itself, proof that the claim has been verified.
  • Automated audit can also refer more generally to audit tools and techniques, such as audit software and test-data generators.
  • The 2010 CloudAudit document is an expired Internet-Draft, not an IETF standard.

Definitions of audit and assertion are in the ISACA Interactive Glossary; the broader category of technology-based audit techniques is described in the IIA Standards Glossary.

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