ISO 27001 Implementation – A Step by Step Guide
You simply can’t be too careful when it comes to information and data security. Protecting personal records and commercially sensitive information is critical.
Demonstrate your businesses commitment to data security, convincing customers and prospects that your company takes seriously the protection of sensitive information.
Included is an independent evaluation of your security procedures and processes, which is why so many companies are choosing to become ISO 27001 certified. Find more details below in our ISO 27001 guide regarding implementing ISO 27001.
What Is the ISO 27001 Standard?
The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) developed the 27001 standards for information management to assist organizations with securing data assets. The ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards helps organizations keep information assets secure.
It provides a comprehensive set of requirements that are meant to protect all assets. Information assets such as customer information, employee data, intellectual property, business financial information and third-party information entrusted to the company.
The ISO 27001 is an international standard focuses on data that a business collects, stores, sends or processes. While not mandated, the standard provides auditable requirements and establishes security policies standards and systems management standards.
How Does ISO 27001 Certification Work?
The ISO27001 requirements include extensive documentation that spells out in detail multiple security components. Here’s a small sample of the requirements:
- An information security policy
- Information risk assessment and risk treatment processes
- Evidence of the competence of those working on information security
- Proof of monitoring and measurement of information security and information security risks
What Are the Benefits of ISO 27001 Certification?
Implementing ISO27001 has considerable benefits for your organization, including:
- Universality. ISO standards are recognized internationally and used across industries.
- Framework. With ISO 27001 certification, your business has a security framework and controls that can guide your security decisions.
- Customer Confidence. Having ISO 27001 certification shows your customers that you are committed to a rigorous approach to data security.
- Compliance. Some companies need to demonstrate security requirements in order to work as government contractors or remain compliant with agency or industry mandates.
- Financial Losses. Data breaches can mean catastrophic losses for your company, with costs for data recovery, communication, investigation and remediation likely.
- Reputation Management. Those data losses can hamper your credibility quickly, with dramatic losses of customers and reputation damage that can be hard to repair.
What Steps Are Necessary for ISO 27001 Compliance?
Here is a look at the key steps to an effective and organized approach to achieving ISO 27001 compliance.
- Preparation. The initial phase should include gaining a thorough understanding of what the standard is and what it entails. This phase may involve appointing an ISO 27001 champion among senior leaders. In addition, it’s critical that senior leadership is on board and fully aware of the commitment and importance.
- Gap Analysis. Conduct a thorough review of all existing information security policies, protocols, tools and needs. This will help inform your responses to ISO questions and form the basis of the core element of your solution — the information security management system (ISMS).
- Assemble the Team. It’s smart to create a project team and leader that are well informed about your technology and information security.
- Scope, Context and Objectives. Have the team create documents that define the scope of the project, any organizational context (such as historical approaches, customer needs or regulatory mandates) and stakeholders.
- Risk Assessment. A risk assessment plan is a component of the ISO certification. The process needs to be outlined and data, results and analysis must be recorded.
- Control Risk. Once risks have been identified, the organization needs to plan for each one — treat, tolerate, terminate or transfer the risks. These decisions need to be documented and reviewed with your ISO auditor.
- Train. Your employees need to understand the importance of the certification work and be trained on information security and its importance.
- Review and Update. Check your documentation to ensure that your policies, processes and procedures for your ISMS are formatted correctly and meet the ISO 27001 requirements.
- Internal Audit and Metrics. Certification requires internal audits at planned intervals. It’s also necessary to establish measurements, monitor systems and review results.
- External Audits. There are two stages to the ISO 27001 audit. Stage 1 is to determine if your ISMS has been developed in accordance with the ISO requirements. Stage 2 is the certification audit, where the auditor will do a thorough evaluation to determine if you are complying with the standard.
How Hybrid TP can help
We consulted with Azpiral to gain certification for 27001. Azpiral deal with client loyalty programmes and it’s imperative to prove they follow data security to the max.
At Hybrid TP, we help companies solve complex IT challenges, including ISO 27001 certification. To learn more about how we can lead your certification project and improve your data security, contact us today
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