Interception—Good physical access controls at data centers
and offices, and physical security over telecommunication
equipment can act as deterrents to interception through
sniffing. As a first step, the auditor could evaluate physical
security, including all the points where the communication
links terminate and where the network wiring and
distributions points are located. However, there are limitations
to the effectiveness of such controls, especially with
increasing wireless communication. The most effective
control to interception is encryption. When data are
encrypted, even if they are intercepted, disclosure or
modification cannot occur unless the scrambled data can be
decrypted.