The ISO 27001 Compliance Checklist

ISO 27001 is the golden standard across the globe for ensuring the security of sensitive information and associated assets. Whenever an organisation obtains ISO 27001 certification, it proves its security practises to potential customers and sceptical stakeholders. Our ISO 27001 compliance checklist will help your business successfully implement a robust Information Security Management System (ISMS) that will prepare you for your certification audit and the consequent ISO 27001 certification. Let us begin.

ISO 27001 Questionnaire; Preparing for Obtaining ISO 27001

A lot of people call the ISO 27001 compliance checklist as a questionnaire because this document is designed to assess your company’s readiness for the ISMS. Whenever you complete the ISO 27001 the questionnaire allows you to self-assess your organisation and identify where your current management system is lacking. Essentially, this questionnaire contains additional segments to supplement the technical requirements outlined in a compliance checklist. Examples of such segments include understanding the internal and external issues that are relevant to the ISMS,determining the interested parties that are relevant to the ISMS and understanding the boundaries of applicability of the ISMS. Additionally, the questionnaire will help you continually improve your ISMS.

Some examples of questions that are used in the ISO 27001 questionnaire are:

• Have corrective actions been taken to deal with the consequences of nonconformities identified in the internal audit?
• Is documented information retained as evidence of the nature of the nonconformities as well as the actions taken?
• Are privileged access rights restricted and controlled, and are secret authentication methods utilised?
• Are operating procedures documented, and are changes to the organisations controlled?
• Are resources control and projections made in accordance with the future capacity of the ISMS?

Some organisations may need to know more information about ISO 27001 certification cost.

ISO 27001 Requirements Checklist

Some people also call the ISO 27001 compliance checklist as the ISO 27001 requirements

checklist. You have to understand that the terms are interchangeable, but the aim of each

the checklist is similar to simplify the implementation process. Technically, the purpose of an ISO 27001 requirements checklist is to help organisations gain an adequate understanding of the level of resources needed for the establishment, implementation, maintenance and continual improvement of the ISMS. In contrast, an ISO 27001 compliance checklist is technically a checklist or a roadmap that business organisations can follow to quantify the steps of the compliance process, meaning that they will achieve certification in the first attempt as their processes, procedures, people, and systems will be fully compliant to the requirements of iso 27001 certification.

Some examples of questions that are used in the ISO 27001 requirements checklist include the following:

• Is there a process defined and documented for determining the competence of individuals assigned with ISMS roles?
• Is the ISMS appropriately resourced?
• Are those undertaking the ISMS roles adequately competent, and how is this competence documented?
• Is everyone within the organisation’s control aware of the importance of information security policy and fully aware of how their contributions affect the effectiveness of the ISMS?
• Are internal and external communication resources relevant to the ISMS?

ISO 27001 Compliance Checklist

ISO 27001 compliance checklist includes the following headings and subheadings:

1. Develop a Roadmap for Successfully Implementing ISMS and Achieving ISO 27001 Certification by:

• Implementing a proper Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle to recognise the potential obstacles for remediation.
• Consider that the certification cost is relevant to the size of the organisation and the number of employees.
• Define the scope of work and plan the time needed to acquire the certification.
• Choose an ISO 27001 auditor.

By defining these options, ISO 27001 certification process will get easier and faster.

2. Develop the Scope of Your Organisation’s ISMS:

• Decide upon which areas in your business will be covered by the ISMS and which areas will be left out of the scope.
• Consider additional controls that will be needed for the business processes to clear ISMS protected data across the trust boundary.
• Communicate the scope of the ISMS with the stakeholders.

It is necessary to know the ISO 27001 meaning, to implement these things.

3. Establish a Governing Body:

• Build a dedicated governance team to manage and oversee the ISMS.
• Incorporate key members from your top management for strategy building and resource allocation; such as executive managers and senior leaders.

4. Conduct an Inventory of Information Assets:

• Record all information assets, data and people, physical assets such as building locations, laptops and intangible assets such as intellectual property.

5. Execute a Risk Assessment:

• Establish and document risk management framework, identify scenarios, and determine the likelihood of frequency, evaluate the potential impact of each scenario and rank risk scenarios.

6. Develop a Risk Register:

• Record and manage the organisation’s risks, summarise each risk and indicate the impact of each risk.

7. Document a Risk Treatment Plan:

• Design a response to each risk, assign an accountable owner and assign risk mitigation activities.

8. Assemble the Required Documents and Records:

• Review ISO 27001 required documents regarding policy violations, corrective actions, management reviews, internal audits, communication, and customise policy templates with organisation-specific language. This will speed up the obtaining process and organisations can use benefits of ISO 27001 2013 to improve faster.

9. Perform an Internal Audit and Address any Non-conformities:

• Allocate internal resources or engage with independent third-party to verify conformance of requirements from Annex A.
• Ensure that all requirements of the standards are addressed, and the organisation is upholding contractual requirements.

10. Calendar ISO 27001 Audit Schedules:

• Contact a certification body and undergo an external audit.
• Conduct stage one audit consisting of extensive documentation review and obtain feedback.
• Conduct stage two audit consisting of on-site tests and obtain feedback.
• Address any non-conformities, obtain a certificate and plan for regular reviews.

These steps are essential in ISO 27001 process audit and help organisations to obtain ISO 27001 audit easier.

Provide ISO 27001 Checklist with Edara Systems

ISO 27001 compliance checklist contains quantifiable steps that can simplify achieving compliance and adhering to the requirements of ISO 27001. If you need professional help to get ISO, count on Edara Systems. To contact the expert consultants of Edara Systems, all you need to do is fill the pop-up form on this page.