Information security management systems
ISO/IEC 27001 – Information technology – Security techniques – Information security management systems – Requirements.
ISO 27001 provides a framework to help organizations, of any size or industry, protect their information systematically and cost-effectively through the adoption of an Information Security Management System (ISMS). With the help of this standard, organizations can ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information as well as legal compliance.
ISO 27001 certification is essential to protect your most critical assets, such as employee and customer information, brand image, and other private information.
ISO 27001 implementation is an ideal response to customer and legal requirements such as GDPR and potential security threats. These threats include cybercrime, personal data breaches, vandalism/terrorism, fire/damage, misuse, theft, and virus attacks.
ISO 27001 is one of the most popular information security standards out there.
Protect all forms of information, whether digital, hard copy or in the cloud.
Increase your organization’s resistance to cyberattacks.
Reduce information security costs.
Customer satisfaction
Improved risk management.
Creating competitive advantage.
Improving the organization’s culture
If you need evidence of protecting your most critical asset (against misuse, corruption, or loss), which is your information; If you need and are looking for a way to secure confidential information, comply with regulations, exchange information securely, and minimize risk in this area, ISO 27001 certification is a viable solution for you.
An Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a systematic approach to managing a company’s sensitive information so that it remains secure. It involves IT people, processes, and systems by applying a risk management process to help organizations of any size, in any industry, keep business information assets secure.
There are four main business benefits that a company can gain by implementing this information security standard:
Compliance with legal requirements: There are an increasing number of laws, regulations, and contractual requirements related to information security, and the good news is that many of them can be solved by implementing ISO 27001. This standard provides you with a complete methodology.
Gain a competitive advantage: If your company is certified and your competitors are not, you may have an advantage over customers who are sensitive to keeping their information safe.
Lower costs: The main philosophy of ISO 27001 is to prevent security incidents. Every small or big incident has a cost. Therefore, by preventing them, your company will save a lot of money. And the best thing is that investing in ISO 27001 is much less expensive than saving money.
Usually, fast-growing companies do not have time to stop and define their processes and procedures. As a result, most employees don’t know what to do, when, and by whom. The implementation of ISO 27001 helps to solve such situations, as it encourages companies to write down their core processes (even those not related to security), enabling them to make up for lost time with their employees.
ISO 27001 defines a set of audit controls that must be included in a compliant ISMS. This includes:
· Information Security Policies: This control describes how to document and review security policies as part of an ISMS.
· Information Security Organization: Roles and responsibilities play a vital role in ISMS. This control eliminates security responsibilities throughout the organization and ensures that there is a specific person responsible for each task.
· HR Security: This control addresses how employees are trained in cyber security when they start and end roles in the organization, including onboarding, off-boarding, and changing positions.
· Asset management: Data security is a central concern of ISO 27001. This control focuses on managing access and security of assets that affect data security, including hardware, software, and databases.
· Access Control: This control discusses how to manage data access to protect against unauthorized access to sensitive or valuable data.
· Encryption: Encryption is one of the most powerful tools for data protection. Companies should implement data encryption using strong cryptographic algorithms whenever possible.
· Physical and environmental security: Physical access to systems can undermine digital security controls. This control focuses on securing buildings and equipment within an organization.
· Operations Security: Operations security focuses on how the organization processes and manages data. The organization must control the flow of data in its IT environment.
· Communications security: Communications systems used by an organization (email, video conferencing, etc.) must encrypt data in transit and have strong access controls.
· System acquisition, development, and maintenance: This control focuses on ensuring that new systems introduced into an organization’s environment do not compromise the organization’s security and that existing systems are maintained in a secure state.
· Supplier relationships: Third-party relationships increase the potential for supply chain attacks. An ISMS should include controls to track relationships and manage third-party risk.
· Information security incident management: The company must have processes to identify and manage security incidents.
· Information Security Aspects of Business Continuity Management: In addition to security incidents, the company must be prepared to manage other events (such as fires, power outages, etc.) that can negatively impact security.
. Compliance: As part of compliance with ISO 27001, the organization must be able to demonstrate full compliance with other mandatory regulations to which the organization is subject.
Technical controls are primarily implemented in information systems using software, hardware, and hardware components added to the system. For example, backups, antivirus software, etc.
Organizational controls are implemented by defining the rules that must be followed and the expected behavior of users, equipment, software, and systems. For example, Access control policy, BYOD policy, etc.
Controls are implemented by ensuring that the rules and behaviors required by laws, regulations, contracts, and other similar legal instruments are followed and enforced by the organization. For example, NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), SLA (Service Level Agreement), etc.
Physical controls are mainly implemented using equipment or devices that physically interact with people and objects. For example, CCTV cameras, alarm systems, locks, etc.
Human resource controls are implemented by providing people with the knowledge, training, skills, or experience to perform their activities safely. For example, security awareness training, ISO 27001 internal auditor training, etc.
