Checklist: Preparing Your Visa Platform for a Security Audit in 2026

Checklist: Preparing Your Visa Platform for a Security Audit in 2026

Hook: With auditors asking tougher questions about long-term cryptography and AI governance in 2026, platforms must show demonstrable controls. Use this checklist as your pre-audit runbook.

Pre-audit essentials

• Inventory of data by sensitivity and retention period.
• Key management diagram with KMS provider and rotation cadence.
• List of all automated decisioning models and exportable explainability reports (see EU guidance: european.live).

Technical controls

1. Confirm TLS configuration and cipher suites; test for PQC transition compatibility.
2. Run secrets scanning across repos and eliminate hard-coded credentials; follow localhost hardening advice for dev teams: localhost guidance.
3. Verify managed database backups are encrypted and the provider has a PQC roadmap; consult independent reviews: managed databases review.

Privacy & evidence

Audit consent flows for any community-sourced media. Align retention policies with privacy best practices and community CCTV guidance: connects.life.

Performance & resilience

Load test renewal bursts and long-running batch jobs. Optimize front-end components and SSR where appropriate to ensure applicant-facing performance — see front-end performance evolution research for modern patterns: newsweeks.live.

Red team & tabletop

• Run a tabletop exercise for key compromise with legal and communication teams involved.
• Simulate data-exfiltration scenarios and test notification scripts.

Documentation to prepare

• Data flow diagrams and data retention schedules.
• Model governance docs and explainability outputs (when AI is used).
• Secrets inventory showing rotation schedules and ephemeral credentials.
• Vendor SOC reports and PQC roadmaps.

Wrap-up

Bring your audit team to the table early, and use this checklist as a pre-flight. For background on managed databases and PQC readiness, read vendor reviews and PQC primers referenced above. For developer hygiene, secure localhost practices are non-negotiable.

Suggested reading: managed DB review, securing localhost, EU AI rules, community CCTV privacy, front-end performance evolution.