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Ben Burkett is a partner at Linford & Company, where he specializes in IT compliance and risk management audits. With more than twenty years of technology and audit experience that began at KPMG in 2002, Ben has led IT risk management initiatives, directed an IT Project Management Office and a Technology Business Management function, and served in finance and technology leadership roles. He holds certifications as a CPA, CISA, CISSP, CRISC, and as a Lead Auditor for ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 42001.
At Linford & Co., Ben guides clients through HIPAA, SOC 2, SOC 1, and ISO readiness and attestation engagements, with a focus on efficient, risk‑based audits that deliver actionable insights.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a “future state” technology; it’s here and is moving at a breakneck pace. Unless you’re a “frontier” organization, your company isn’t deploying fully autonomous AI systems. However, AI is reshaping your businesses; sometimes through official initiatives, other times through employees quietly adopting tools on their own. It’s driving financial […]
AI agents are no longer a futuristic concept—they are actively reshaping business operations and revolutionizing auditing processes. Companies are leveraging these autonomous AI systems to automate workflows, enhance decision-making, and optimize security practices. But with rapid adoption comes significant challenges: compliance risks, ethical considerations, and security vulnerabilities that auditors must address. From customer service chatbots […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a term; it plays a crucial role in driving innovation across many industries. However, effectively utilizing AI requires managing the risks associated with it. This is where ISO/IEC 42001:2023 steps in—a standard crafted to aid organizations in handling AI-related risks and guaranteeing the security, ethics, and reliability of their […]
In a post-COVID-shutdown world, hybrid and remote work has skyrocketed. Employee usage of personal devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for company work, is now commonplace and expected by employees. In many instances, employees can take advantage of the functionality of new smartphones to increase efficiency and productivity. Employees are happy because they get to […]
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology services, companies are entrusted with handling sensitive client data. To ensure the security, availability, and integrity of this data, many executives consider undergoing a System and Organization Controls (SOC) audit. However, misconceptions surrounding SOC audits often cloud the decision-making process. So, what exactly is a SOC audit? In […]
Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around since the late 1950s, it has been out of the public’s attention. It wasn’t until late 2022 when Open AI released ChatGPT for public use that AI captured the public’s attention and renewed interest in the technology. Bloomberg predicts the AI market to explode from a $40 billion […]
Obtaining a SOC 2 report requires an investment of both time and money for a service organization and, at some point, might seem like more work than it’s worth. However, the advantages to obtaining a SOC 2 report far outweigh the initial investment.
The cloud computing on-demand model of compute power, database, storage, applications, and other IT resources accomplishes a variety of tasks. It reduces barriers, creates flexibility, and increases speed to market. The benefits of the cloud mean that organizations must seriously consider the cloud to perform business. Whether your organization is new to the cloud or […]
Organizations are continuously challenged in preparing for and performing an audit. Audits are commonly performed in large blocks of effort and treated like a project. Significant time and resources are often allocated to audit projects. To make things more challenging, audits are often time-bound and must be completed by a specified date. Additionally, audits are […]
Simply put, yes, blockchain companies should be audited. Many organizations rely on blockchain companies to perform key services in support of the user organization’s operations. Those services may include, but are not limited to, processing financial transactions, including crypto and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), sharing medical data, supply chain, and logistics monitoring, and administration and execution […]
