GUIDANCE FOR INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AUDITORS JUST UPDATED

Keeping sensitive company information and personal data safe and secure is not only essential for any business but a legal imperative. Many organizations do this with the help of an information security management system (ISMS). The international guidance standard for auditing an ISMS has just been updated. 

In an age of increasing data usage and the risk of information security breaches and cyber-attacks, the benefits of an ISMS are clear. Not only can it help to minimize the chance of such breaches occurring, it can reduce the costs associated with keeping information safe.

ISO/IEC 27001 is one of the world’s best-known International Standards for the requirements of an ISMS, part of a series of standards designed to help organizations manage the security of their information.

One of the standards in that series, ISO/IEC 27007, Information technology – Security techniques – Guidelines for information security management systems auditing, provides guidelines for effective audits of ISMS to ensure they are as robust and competent as they are intended to be. It has just been revised to ensure it remains fit for purpose and align it with updates to its complementary standard, ISO 19011, Guidelines for auditing management systems.

The standard provides extensive guidance on auditing the requirements stated in ISO/IEC 27001 as well as on the competence of ISMS auditors. It is also intended to be used in conjunction with the guidance contained in ISO 19011.

By Clare Naden