An Overview of the ISO 27001 Certification

As the risk of cyberattacks and data breaches continue to increase, information security has become an essential issue for a lot of businesses. A practical approach to network security should help defend against both external attacks and common internal threats such as accidental breaches and human errors. ISO 27001 Certification is the international standard that provides the specification for an information security management system or ISMS. 

People, Process, and Technology

ISO 27001 Certification is a systematic approach consisting of People, Process, and Technology that helps you protect your organization’s data infrastructure through risk management. 

How can an ISMS help?

An Information Security Management System or ISMS, particularly one that conforms to ISO 27001 certification may help organizations comply with a host of laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network and Information Systems Regulation (NIS). 

Three Key Aspects of Information

ISO 27001 certification focuses on protecting the three critical aspects of information. 

• Confidentiality. ISO certification ensures that companies do not share information with unauthorized people, entities or processes. This also ensures that the information gathered from the users of a company will only be used by that company.

• Integrity. ISO also ensures that any collected information is complete, accurate and protected from corruption.

• Availability. The certification protects the availability of the data. This means that information is always accessible and usable as and when authorized users will require it.

Being one of the most popular information security standards in the world, the number of ISO 27001 Certifications grew to about 450 per cent in the past ten years. The standard has been designed to help business organizations manage their security practices consistently and cost-effectively. Its technology applies to all organizations irrespective of their size, type or nature. 

ISO 27001 is the mainstay of the ISO 27000 series, which is a family of mutually supporting data security standards which together provide a globally recognized framework for best-practiced information security management. These ISO 27001 standards help organizations keep their information assets secure by offering a set of specifications, codes of conduct, and best-practise guidelines to ensure strong information security management. 

It is important to note that an ISO 27001 only provides the specification of an effective ISMS. Another certification, the ISO 27002, provides for the code of conduct, the guidance and best practices on how to secure information within an organization properly. 

Benefits of ISO 27001

• Secure Information. ISO 27001 certification will help organizations secure their information in all its forms, whether digital, paper-based or within the cloud.

• Increase Attack Resilience. Implementing a penetration testing to an organization’s information management network is one of the requirements in receiving an ISO 27001 certification. Achieving and maintaining ISMS will ultimately increase an organization’s resilience against cyberattacks.

• Protect What Matters. Whether the scope of the ISO 27001 certification covers your whole organization or just the parts that deal with information, ISO 27001 protects against risks to the information network, staff that are poorly informed, and procedures that are both ineffective and inefficient.

• Respond to Evolving Threats. An ISMS continually adapts to changes both in the threat environment and inside the organization, ensuring that information security management risks are addressed over time.

• Reduce Costs. An ISMS looks to assess and treat risks cost-effectively to ensure that organizations can maximize their return of investment.

When a company becomes ISO 27001 certified, that company will increase in value because that company is within the international standards for protecting and managing information.