cybersecurity and encryption
ISO 27001 Standard
ISO 27001 is an international standard that provides a framework and working atmosphere for information security management systems (ISMS). Its objective is to provide confidentiality, integrity and continued availability of information.
ISO Standards
To talk about these standards, we must first discuss what ISO standards are. The initials ISO stand for International Organization for Standardization. ISO is a set of standards aimed at ordering the management of a company in its different areas, as it helps companies to establish homogeneity levels in relation to management, service provision and product development in the industry.
The high level of competition in the current market and the growing demand for adaptation to the new technologies of the economy and the market have been shaping consumer opinions in which compliance with this standard, although voluntary, has been gaining wide recognition and international acceptance from the different organizations involved.
What is ISO 27001
In this context, ISO 27001 is an international standard that provides a framework and working atmosphere for the information security management systems (ISMS) of different organizations, in order to provide confidentiality, integrity and continued availability of information, as well as legal compliance.
ISO 27001 certification is essential to protect an organization’s most important assets, customer and employee information, corporate image and any kind of private information.
What is it for?
ISO 27001 is an essential standard to protect our information management system. In this way, organizations can provide confidence to their consumers and other entities with which they collaborate, in addition to providing confidentiality, integrity and continued availability of information.
In short, ISO 27001 serves to help organizations keep their information safe on the basis that it constitutes and is linked to one of their most important assets.
In other aspects, the implementation of ISO 27001 is the ideal response to legislative requirements as well as customer requirements, including GDPR and other potential threats, which will help us to keep up to date aspects related to our main assets, thus keeping them safe, thus achieving a reinforcement in the continuity of work and business flow of any organization, addressing the following aspects:
- Cybercrime.
- Cyberterrorism.
- Violation of personal data.
- Property damage and natural catastrophes.
- Theft and crime.
- Any type of cyber-attack.
Structure of the ISO 27001 Standard
The standard begins by providing guidance on the use, purpose, benefits and the way in which it can be applied.
These are the documents that he recommends as essential reference for the implementation of ISO27001.
Describes the terminology and provides an understanding of the vocabulary applicable to this standard.
This is the first requirement and one of the fundamental requirements of the standard, it gathers the indications to understand the context and knowledge of the organization, the understanding of the needs and expectations of the interested parties in order to determine the scope of the ISMS.
This section highlights the need to generate a culture within the organization in which everyone contributes to the establishment of the standard. The key to this is for top management to demonstrate leadership and commitment, assigning roles and drawing up a security policy known to all.
It highlights the objectives and the path to achieve them.
The proper functioning of the ISMS is urged, for which organizations must have the resources, communication, competencies, awareness, and information documented in each case.
The organization’s processes must be planned, implemented, monitored and controlled, and information security risks must be assessed and treated.
This point talks about the need and way to carry out monitoring, analysis, measurement and evaluation, internal audit and management review of the Information Security Management System, to ensure that it complies with the specified requirements.
This last section tells us about the aspects that do not work, how to solve them and the importance of having the adequacy and establishment of the ISMS up to date.
ISO 27001 Standard Update
The most representative changes of the current ISO 27001:2017 with respect to the 2005 version are as follows:
- Removal of reference to the PDCA (Plan – Plan, Do, Check, Act) continuous improvement process approach.
- General restructuring of chapters and subsections.
- Greater importance is given to knowledge of the organization’s context and understanding of stakeholder needs.
- References to the identification of assets, threats and vulnerabilities have been eliminated. It is only necessary to identify risks associated with the loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability.
- Regarding the selection of security controls for risk treatment, the selection of a framework of controls in case you do not wish to follow ISO 27002 will be a decision of the organization, and should be compared with the controls in Annex A to verify that none of them are left out.
- Management leadership becomes more important in the management system.
- The area of ISMS monitoring and measurement receives more importance in the new update.
- Although the body of the standard refers to different documentary requirements, the list of mandatory documents has been eliminated, as has the separation between documents and records, which are now referred to as documented information.
- With regard to the annexes, Annex A is increased from 11 to 14 chapters and the total number of controls is reduced to 114. They become a separate section of cryptography and supplier relations.
Importance of the ISO 27001 standard
ISO 27001 is a framework that defines best practices associated with the protection of an organization’s information. In this sense, the ISO 27001 standard becomes a necessary and fundamental tool that sets the objectives that a company needs to have its information well protected, since without it and if such information were to fall victim to any type of threat, it could result in an interruption of the normal flow of the organization, causing economic consequences, as well as possible problems in external relations with suppliers and customers.
In this context, having a robust and well-established information security management system following ISO 27001 and considering the main objective of this standard as the defense, protection and management of information as one of the most important and valuable assets of the company, ISO 27001 becomes one of the main objectives of any organization.
Benefits for companies of complying with ISO standards
Although ISO 27001 is a positive tool for any type of organization, today more and more companies need to take advantage of the benefits of this regulatory framework.
With this standard, companies are able to increase confidence in external relations with customers and suppliers, thus achieving a better positioning within the current and growing market competition. Having your personal data and information secured, translates into many benefits, such as:
Improve reputation
When an organization's information is compromised, its reputation and finances are severely affected. Having a certain level of information security as an asset of the organization will give the organization a strong prestige and reputation in the market and in the face of competition.
Comply with legal requirements
Failure to establish technical and organizational information security measures to comply with the legal provisions and regulations in force may result in the imposition of penalties that will entail a totally avoidable and unnecessary economic and reputational loss for the organization. In this sense, ISO 27001 certification is a medium-term investment for any type of organization.
Get new services
One of the main benefits of ISO 27001 certification is that it provides organizations with a way to demonstrate that they are complying with the most effective information protection systems, helping to improve business relationships and, consequently, the acquisition of new customers and/or services.
Comply with the ISO 27001 standard with our OSV solution.
From our OSV (Virtual Security Office), we can help any organization to achieve and comply with the requirements of the 27001 standard for its subsequent certification, thus being able to benefit from all the advantages described above.
In order to comply with the requirements established by this standard, it is important that the organization has some knowledge of the standard in the first instance. In addition, one of the first steps is to establish roles within the organization’s quality system to help segment the different tasks to be performed.
From our OSV we can help to establish all these measures in addition to making a first analysis of the situation and context of the company to begin to make an effective design of the quality management system, always involving, as the standard says, the entire team of the organization, making them part of all the actions to be implemented.
Subsequently, and once the first steps have been taken, our OSV can help the organization to carry out internal audits to assess the process and the level of preparation for the certification audit, accompanying the organization at all times to achieve its objective and reach its goals.
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ISO 27701?
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