Hacking ISO 27001 Compliance Tips and Tricks

Understanding ISO 27001

ISO 27001 standard is used worldwide to provide the recommended measures for maintaining an information security management system (ISMS). ISMS, in this case, comprises robust procedures, policies, and controls required for preserving the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of essential information systems and data. 

Why is ISO27001 so important for organizations? Typically, the crucial standard enables companies to manage people, processes, and technology concerning securing information. ISO27001 standard’s primary goal is to provide organizations with a suitable framework for adequate data and information management. Besides, ISO27001 certification illustrates that an entity implements secure and reliable processes for protecting information to gain customer trust and confidence. What’s more, the standard also contains guidelines for assisting companies in realizing robust cybersecurity procedures and policies. 

Advantages of complying with ISO 27001 

1. Enhanced competitive advantage: A good business reputation provides a more substantial competitive advantage. An ISO27001 certification typically fosters a good reputation among customers. Compliance demonstrates the ability to maintain information security. In some cases, customers can only do business with ISO 27001 compliant organizations.
2. Complying with vital responsibilities: The ISO 27001 permits compliance with contractual, commercial, and legal responsibilities. One of its primary objectives is to prevent the breaching of legal, contractual, or commercial obligations to information security. Foundationally, the standard elaborates procedures for identifying, updating, and documenting compliance obligations for each information system.
3. Preventing data breaches: The financial implications of a data breach in 2020 is $3.86 million globally. Fortunately, ISO 27001 is an acclaimed benchmark for the efficient management of information systems and assets. Complying with the standard can consequently enable businesses to avoid the adverse financial implications resulting from data breaches.
4. Enhance focus and structure: Every company aims to expand in size and services or products offered. Nevertheless, rapid growth can create confusion regarding individuals responsible for various information assets. ISO 27001 compliance undoubtedly increases business productivity by assigning information system risk responsibilities to employees. 

Tips and tricks for effective ISO 27001 compliance

The main concern in an ISO27001 compliance process is resource and time management. Most modern companies operate using an agile and lean approach, which contrasts with the traditional ISO 27001 certification process. 

The following tips can assist your enterprise in achieving an efficient ISO 27001 implementation:

1. Acquire C-Suite level support: ISMS can only be efficient with active and full board support. Presenting an argument of ISO27001 opportunities, threats, risks, cost, and ROI assures confidence in the metrics used to measure ISMS success.
2. Identify applicable regulations: ISO27001 certification should align the ISMS to relevant statutory regulations. For instance, the GDPR impacts the development and implementation of information security controls or policies. 
3. Perform a risk assessment: A prior risk assessment is an ISO 27001 certification requirement. Risk assessments identify potential threats and crucial security gaps to inform adequate mitigation measures. Additionally, risk assessments aid in defining ISMS scope to ensure financial and time investments go in areas with higher risk exposures.
4. Conduct a gap analysis: Every organization has an existing security management plan or system in place. A gap analysis compares the current security management systems with the required ISMS to reduce set-up time. In any case, gap analysis is a requirement when developing an ISO 27001 Statement of Applicability. A gap analysis further identifies areas requiring more significant investments to fulfill ISO 27001 certification requirements.
5. Initiate required ISMS: After performing a risk assessment and gap analysis, an organization can plan the ISMS implementation approach. Implementing ISO 27001 is not reliant on a specific methodology but recommends a process approach or plan-implement-check-act technique. Any model can be used as long as it clearly defines, implements, and reviews the standards, processes, and requirements. 
6. Define the ISMS scope: In this step, an enterprise gains a broader understanding of the ISMS framework. It is a crucial step since it defines the ISMS scale and impact levels to daily operations. Therefore, an organization must recognize all relevant operations to ensure the ISMS meets all organizational needs. Defining the ISMS scope involves determining the digital and physical locations used to store sensitive information. A small scope may leave some information exposed, whereas a broad ISMS scope becomes complex to manage.
7. Establish a security baseline: A security baseline is the lowest level required for secure business operations. The risk assessment step provides the information needed to establish a security baseline. Risk assessments determine a company’s vulnerabilities and corresponding ISO 27001 controls for mitigating them. 
8. Continuous monitoring: Monitoring is critical to determining if an ISMS works as expected. The monitoring processes should consist of metrics for measuring the objectives of the project mandates to enable continuous improvement. Through monitoring, a company can involve employees to improve information security continually. It can also choose to adopt a software system to facilitate agile and lean ISO 27001 compliance improvement.
9. ISMS certification: After implementing an ISMS, it is time to prepare for an external audit, which is the final stage in ISO 27001 compliance. An external auditor verifies the ISMS meets all ISO 27001 requirements. It is pertinent to ensure the ISMS meets all requirements since external audits are time-consuming and costly if failed. 

How Cynergy can help 

Cynergy provides a risk-driven platform to enable lean cybersecurity teams to support large-scale agile development. For companies starting the ISO 27001 compliance process, Cynergy offers the following solutions:

1. Roadmap for certification: Cynergy has a unique combination of self assessments and a roadmap to guide your organization step by step to fulfill all regulatory needs to become ISO 27001, combining automated scanning , and manual support from vetted experts. 
2. Asset discovery: You can secure what you know. We continuously identify all organizational assets, including web applications, cloud interfaces, subdomains, and websites. 
3. Proactive risks assessment: Cynergy verifies all deployments are free of vulnerabilities through active exploitations. We ensure all vulnerabilities in your organization are brought to your attention.
4. Prioritized action plan: Based on detected vulnerabilities, Cynergy develops a prioritized action plan for mitigating them. Acceptable risk and vulnerability management are vital to getting an ISO 27001 certification within the first attempt.
5. Security governance support: Cynergy can assist your organization in filling all documentation to ensure you have the required policies, security plans, and responsibilities to facilitate a successful ISO 27001 compliance process.