Introduction: ISO 27001 Implementation Consulting

ISO/IEC 27001 is an international standard for information security management. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) jointly published the standard in 2005, and it was amended in 2013. It outlines the standards for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and enhancing an information security management system (ISMS), with the goal of assisting companies in making their information assets more secure. In 2017, a European update to the standard was released. Organizations that successfully complete an audit and meet the standard's requirements can choose to be certified by an accredited certification authority. A recent large-scale study looked into the efficiency of the ISO/IEC 27001 certification procedure and the overall standard. 

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Check List To Implement ISO 27001

• Step 1:- Assemble an implementation team
• Step 2:- Develop the Implementation plan
• Step 3:- Initiate the ISMS
• Step 4:- Define the ISMS Scope
• Step 5:- Identify your security baseline
• Step 6:- Establish a risk management process
• Step 7:- Implement a risk treatment plan
• Step 8:- Measure, Monitor, and review
• Step 9:- Certify your ISMS

 
Assemble an Implementation Team

The first step is to choose a project manager to oversee the ISMS deployment.

They should be well-versed in information security and have the authority to lead a team and issue orders to managers (whose departments they will need to review).

A group of people will be required to assist the project leader. Senior management can assemble the team personally or delegate the task to the team leader.

Once the team is assembled, should create a mandated project. This is an important set of questions to be answered:

• How much the cost will be?
• How long it will take?
• Does the project have management support?
• What are we hoping to catch?

Develop the Implementation Plan

After that, you must begin planning for the actual implementation.

Using their project mandate, the implementation team will construct a more specific summary of their information security objectives, plan, and risk register.

This includes establishing high-level ISMS policies that define: 

• Roles and duties
• There are some guidelines to follow in order to keep it improving.
• How can the project's visibility be increased through internal and external communication?

Initiate the Information Security Management Systems

It's time to choose which continuous improvement approach to apply now that the plan is in place.

ISO 27001 does not identify a method, but rather recommends a "process approach." This is essentially a method of Plan-Do-Check-Act.

Any model can be used as long as the needs and processes are clearly specified, correctly implemented, and continuously reviewed and improved. You must also develop an ISMS policy.

This doesn't have to be in great detail; it only needs to state what your implementation team intends to accomplish and how they intend to accomplish it. It should be approved by the board after it's finished.

You can now work on the rest of your document's structure. A four-tier method is recommended:

• Policies at the top, such as permissible use and password management, define the organization's viewpoint on certain topics.
• Procedures for putting the policies into action.
• Work instructions that detail how employees should adhere to the policies.
• Procedures and work instructions are tracked in records.

Define the ISMS Scope

The next stage is to get a better understanding of the ISMS framework as a whole. Clauses 4 and 5 of the ISO 27001 standard define the procedure for doing so.

This stage is critical in determining the scope of your ISMS and its impact on your day-to-day operations.

As a result, you must recognize everything related to your organization in order for the ISMS to suit your needs.

Defining the scope of your ISMS is the most crucial step in this approach. This entails locating information, whether it's in the form of physical or digital data, systems, or portable devices

The correct definition of your scope is critical to the success of your ISMS installation project.

If your scope is too narrow, you risk leaving information vulnerable and jeopardizing your company's security. If your scope is too broad, though, your ISMS will become too difficult to manage.

Identify Your Security Baseline

The security baseline of an organization is the minimum amount of activity required to conduct business securely.

With the information acquired in your ISO 27001 risk assessment, you can determine your security baseline.

This will assist you in identifying your company's most serious security vulnerabilities as well as the ISO 27001 control that will help you mitigate the risk (outlined in Annex A of the Standard)

Establish a Risk Management Process

An ISMS's core function is risk management.

Risk management is a key competency for any organization implementing ISO 27001. Almost every part of your security system is based on the threats you've identified and prioritized, making it a core competency for any organization using ISO 27001.

The Standard gives businesses the freedom to develop their own risk management procedures. Hazards to specific assets or risks presented in specific scenarios are the focus of most techniques.

Whatever method you use, you must base your judgments on a risk assessment. The following is a five-step procedure:

• Create a framework for assessing risk.
• Recognize risk.
• Examine the risk
• Assess the risk.
• Choose a risk management strategy.

Then you must decide on your risk acceptance criteria, which include the potential for threats to cause harm and the chance of them occurring.

Risks are frequently quantified by managers using a risk matrix; the higher the score, the greater the hazard.

They'll then decide on a criterion for when a risk must be addressed.

When it comes to dealing with danger, you have four options:

• Accept the risk.
• Controls are used to mitigate the risk.
• Eliminate the risk by completely avoiding it.
• Risk is transferred (with an insurance policy or via an agreement with other parties).

Finally, ISO 27001 requires organizations to complete a SoA (Statement of Applicability) stating which of the Standard's controls they've chosen to implement and why.

Implement a Risk Treatment Plan

The process of constructing the security measures that will secure your organization's information assets is known as risk treatment plan implementation.

To ensure that these controls are effective, make sure that employees are able to operate or interact with them and are aware of their information security responsibilities. You'll also need to devise a method for determining, reviewing, and maintaining the competencies required to meet your ISMS goals.

This entails completing a requirements assessment and determining the target degree of proficiency.

Measure, Monitor, And Review

If you don't review your ISMS, you won't know if it's working or not.

We recommend doing this at least once a year to stay on top of the changing risk landscape. Identifying criteria that represent the project mandate's objectives is part of the review process. Quantitative analysis, in which you assign a number to everything you're measuring, is a common metric.

This is useful when dealing with things that cost money or take time. A qualitative analysis, in which measures are based on judgment,  is an alternative. When the assessment is best suited to classification, such as 'high, medium, and low,' qualitative analysis is used.

In addition to this, you should undertake internal audits of your ISMS on a regular basis there is no one-size-fits-all approach to conducting an ISO 27001 audit, so you can focus on one area at a time.

This avoids major productivity losses and ensures that your team's efforts aren't stretched too widely across many jobs.

You should, nevertheless, try to finish the procedure as quickly as possible because you need to acquire the results, examine them, and plan for the audit the following year.

The findings of your internal audit will be used as inputs for the management review, which will feed into the process of continuous improvement.

Certify your ISMS

You may choose to seek ISO 27001 certification once the ISMS is in place, in which case you must prepare for an external audit.

There are two stages to certification audits.

• The initial audit assesses whether the ISMS was developed in accordance with ISO 27001's standards. If the auditor is satisfied, a more extensive inquiry will be conducted.
• Before beginning, you should be sure in your ability to certify because the process is time-consuming and you will still be paid if you fail right away. Another item to consider is the certification body to work with.
• There are numerous options, but you must ensure that they are accredited by a national certification authority that is a member of the IAF (International Accreditation Body). 
• Unlike uncertified bodies, which often offer to deliver certification regardless of the organization's compliance status, this assures that the evaluation is genuinely in conformity with ISO 27001.
• When determining which certification organization to choose, the cost of the certification audit will almost certainly be a major consideration, but it shouldn't be your only consideration.
• Consider whether the reviewer has previous experience in your field.
• After all, an ISMS is always unique to the organization that generates it, and the auditor must be familiar with your requirements.

Problems In ISO 27001 Implementation

• Even with the tips provided here, the ISO 27001 implementation project may seem difficult
• The "must-have" guide for anyone starting to implement ISO 27001 is Nine Steps to Success – An ISO 27001 Implementation Overview.
• It walks you through the major steps of an ISO 27001 project, from start to finish, and explains each step in straightforward, non-technical terms.