The ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized management standard that provides a framework for the effective management of information security within an organization. Using a risk-based approach, ISO 27001 necessitates a security risk assessment for the identification of security requirements and controls that meet those requirements to bring the risk to an acceptable level.

This blog post talks about the ISO/IEC 27001 standard, how it works, the benefits of getting the certification, and how you can start the ISO 27001 certification process.

What Is The ISO/IEC 27001 Standard?

In short, the ISO 27001 standard lays down how you should manage information security risks; including systems, policies, and procedures, making it a popular standard among organizations for managing information security. The standard was published jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 2005. The ISO/IEC 27000 family has over a dozen standards but the ISO/IEC 27001 is the most widely known standard.

The ISO/IEC 27001 lays down the requirements for an Information Security Management System (ISMS), using which organizations manage the security of their critical assets such as intellectual property, financial data, employee information, etc. This international standard is widely considered an effective standard that helps organizations establish, implement, maintain, and improve their ISMS. Organizations can choose to be certified by an accredited certification body after successfully completing an audit.

How Does ISO 27001 Work?

Most organizations implement security controls to address specific security gaps or flaws in their IT infrastructure. The implementation of security controls to solve only a specific pain point or as a matter of best practice can result in overlaps in some areas while leaving gaps in others. Additionally, IT security controls often leave the physical security of assets as well as non-IT assets unaddressed.

Such security controls, which usually number in the tens if not hundreds, are often disjointed and disorganized. It is very likely that even closely related security controls are managed independently. This makes planning for future growth, integration of new technologies, as well as maintenance of existing security controls extremely challenging as responsibilities for various security controls are distributed and not aligned with the overall business needs.

ISO 27001 aims to put an end to such disjointed security controls by requiring:

• A thorough examination of security risks, taking into account the threats, vulnerabilities, and their impact.

• Implementation of a consistent and systematic suite of security controls that address the identified risks and mitigate them to an acceptable level.

• Adopt a comprehensive management process for ensuring that the security controls meet the organization’s security needs as well as business requirements.

What Are The Benefits Of Adopting ISO 27001?

ISO 27001 can benefit your organization in the following ways:

1. Improves Organizational Focus On Security

As organizations grow, the complexity of their information systems also grows. In the meantime, key people get reassigned or leave without adequate knowledge transfer. Add to this, stopgap solutions and technical debt that most organizations accrue. Ultimately it can lead to loss of sight of the security goals as well as the overall business needs.

The adoption of ISO 27001 helps create a system where all of the security controls are organized and you have the visibility and control to adequately secure assets while being flexible enough to ensure focus and engagement on information security tasks.

2. Reduces Information Security And Privacy Risks

Implementing ISO 27001 significantly improves your organization’s risk management. It ensures that your organization has the necessary security controls in place to strengthen the systems, technologies, and processes. The ISO 27001 standard can also help you create and document policies, procedures, and training for the staff so that they can actively participate in creating a security-conscious culture.

3. Boosts Reputation And Builds Trust

ISO 27001 brings transparency in the performance of risk assessment and management. Third-party audit and certification demonstrate that your organization is committed to information security. The better management of security controls and improved organizational focus on security means enhanced protection of your information technology assets and minimized data breaches.

This helps your key stakeholders and more importantly your customers to trust your business more easily, in turn helping your organization build good relationships and boost its reputation.

4. Helps Avoid Regulatory Fines

As an ISO 27001 certified organization, you will have conducted rigorous security risk assessments and implemented a comprehensive remediation plan. So your organization will always be in a good position to identify potential threats, risks of security breaches, and mitigate them in a timely manner.

Many of the requirements for ISO 27001 also fulfill the requirements of other regulatory compliances, such as GDPR, etc. It demonstrates to the regulatory agencies that your organization takes information security and risk management very seriously and has implemented controls to address known threats and vulnerabilities. This is likely to help you avoid financial penalties even if there is a data breach.

5. Reduces The Need For Frequent Audits

Due to an increased focus on information and data security, many organizations require vendors and service providers to furnish proof of security audits, which are not only expensive but also time-consuming. However, in lieu of audits, organizations readily accept ISO 27001 certification as it is globally accepted as a demonstration of effective security and risk management practices.

Is ISO 27001 Mandatory?

Although ISO 27001 is not mandatory, organizations choose to implement it to benefit from the best practice it contains. Getting certified can also help organizations reassure their customers and clients as it demonstrates that the organization’s information security systems meet international standards.

How Do You Comply With ISO 27001?

To achieve ISO 27001 certification, you need to meet all of the core requirements of ISO 27001. The following steps will help you with your ISO 27001 certification:

1. Define The Scope And Objectives

Like in any other project, the first thing you need to do is to establish the objectives and define the scope of the project. While defining the scope you need to consider the business requirements, stakeholder expectations, organizational culture, existing systems, processes, and risk appetite.

This is an important step as it enables you to estimate the project costs and timeframe, which are critical when getting the buy-in from key stakeholders. A detailed scope also helps in creating a schedule of tasks and in asserting accountability.

2. Perform Risk Assessment

ISO 27001 requires organizations to perform formal risk assessments. But before you begin with the risk assessment, you need to establish a baseline for your security considering the business needs and regulatory requirements.

3. Implement Risk Mitigation Measures

In this step, you will have to implement security controls to mitigate the security risks identified in the previous step. The identified risks do not always have to be terminated. Based on your organization’s risk appetite and business needs, the identified risk can be tolerated or transferred. In any case, every response to identified risks needs to be accurately documented so that it can be reviewed during audits.

4. Conduct Training

ISO 27001 standard addresses one of the critical areas of IT security that is often neglected. It mandates policies driving good security habits and requires organizations to raise awareness among staff by conducting regular security awareness training.

5. Conduct Internal AuditS

Conducting regular internal audits is also a requirement of ISO 27001. Working knowledge of ISO 27001 and of the lead audit process is important for those responsible for conducting the internal audits. 

6. Prepare Documentation

Documentation of policies, procedures, and processes is a necessary part of any certification process. Without proper documentation, it would not be possible to demonstrate that your organization has implemented security controls and that they are effective. The following are a few examples of documentation required:

• Information Security Policy

• Scope of ISMS

• Results of security risk assessment

• Evidence of remedial measures and their results

• Evidence of internal audit and their results

7. Measure, Monitor, And Improve

Your business processes and business model as well as the technology and threat landscape are all constantly changing. To account for these changes, you need to constantly monitor and regularly analyze and review the effectiveness of your ISMS. To support the process of continuous improvement, ISO 27001 requires the monitoring and review of the performance of the ISMS to ensure effectiveness and compliance.

Monitoring and collecting evidence of your organization’s security controls can be tedious. However, platforms such as Drata can help you automate the monitoring process as well as streamline compliance workflows. For customers of Jones IT, Drata offers an attractive discount on their services.

ISO 27001 Certification Process

Once you complete the above steps your organization will be in a position to face the external audits for ISO 27001 certification. The external audit for certification is a two-stage process. In the first stage, your documentation is assessed whether they meet ISO 27001 requirements, and in the second stage, a thorough assessment of the controls is conducted.

Which controls are tested during the audit depends on the auditor and they may include any security control included in the scope of the ISMS. The testing can be carried out to the extent necessary to evaluate the implementation and operating effectiveness of the control in question.

Conclusion

In order to be ISO 27001 compliant, your organization must be able to demonstrate that adequate and effective security controls are implemented and that the controls continue to meet the organization’s security requirements.

Implementing ISO 27001 requires a mix of management and technical expertise ranging from scoping and obtaining stakeholder buy-in to conducting security risk assessments and implementing security controls. Getting help early on can help you achieve certification on your first try, saving you precious time and resources required for remediation.

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