Information Security Management System and ISO27001#

It is critical that businesses evaluate the risks to their information assets and put appropriate security controls in place given the increasing sophistication of the technology used by most organizations as well as the information gathered to carry out various business operations. However, this is a difficult process that necessitates the implementation of a dedicated security program in order to optimize business processes while dealing with such risks. Here, the adoption of the ISMS (information security management system) proves to be very beneficial. This article discusses the fundamentals of an information security management system, its importance, implementation guidance, and the benefits that result from its implementation for an organization.

What is an Information Security Management System?#

An information security management system, also known as ISMS, is a set of security policies, rules, and procedures used by an organization to maintain the security of its information assets. It is a central framework that enables you to oversee, administer, evaluate, and continuously enhance your company’s information security practices. An ISMS is used to preventatively guard information assets against various attacks by reducing the risks encountered by those assets, and it also supports business growth by offering a favorable return on investment.

An ISMS implementation ensures that security risks are controlled not just through the use of technology but also attempts to foster a culture of security awareness among its staff as well as employs business processes that are secure and effective. When an ISMS is implemented, there are three primary security goals that the organization must achieve:

Confidentiality: Ensures that the information assets are only accessible to authorized individuals

Integrity: Ensures that the information or information assets are accurate, reliable, and consistent.

Availability: Ensures that information assets are available to legitimate users/entities when required

Why is it important to implement an ISMS:#

One of the primary motivations for implementing an ISMS is to ensure that an organization’s core business functions and supporting infrastructure remain operational. The threat landscape for organizations is constantly evolving as a result of the implementation of new technology to support business functions or changes in the business environment such as a merger or acquisition of another company. As a result, organizations find it incredibly difficult to deal with growing risks or seek new opportunities for company growth if there is no central framework for risk management. The adoption of an ISMS not only assists an organization in dealing with the various security risks that it encounters, but it also assists in continuously enhancing its security program by measuring the efficiency of the applied security controls.

Another reason for the implementation of an ISMS is the growing number of data breaches worldwide that costs organizations millions of dollars in the form of legal/regulatory fines, reputational damage, and other financial losses. In the absence of sufficient security controls protecting the information assets, a data breach can have serious repercussions and may even jeopardize the future of the organization.

ISMS implementation guidance:#

This section contains guiding principles for ISMS implementation in your organization based on ISO27001 security standard:

ISO27001 standard for creating an ISMS:#

ISO27001 is an international standard that can be adopted by organizations to ensure that their information assets are protected. Instead of outlining strict rules, this standard lays down guidelines that each organization can use in accordance with its unique business objectives. ISO27001 standard helps organizations implement an information security management system by laying down the requirements for its implementation. This standard helps organizations protect their most valuable information assets such as financial information, sensitive customer data, intellectual property, and much more by ensuring that the organization manages the risks to these assets efficiently.

If an organization achieves ISO27001 certification, it is a clear indication that the organization takes the security of its information assets very seriously and that it implements the best security practices for protecting them. This can prove to be very beneficial for an organization in different ways such as building and maintaining customer trust, creating new opportunities for business growth by attracting potential investors, and much more.

How to implement an ISMS compliant with the ISO27001 standard:#

Some of the important steps that can be performed to implement an ISMS that is compliant with the ISO27001 standard are as follows:

1. Obtain Management’s support:

Getting management’s endorsement is the crucial first step in putting the ISMS into practice. It is because if the top management acknowledges the importance of security for the organization, it ensures that security is ingrained in the organization’s culture and ensures the success of ISMS deployment. Additionally, it makes certain that the resources required for the development and operation of the ISMS are allocated properly.

2. Identify the security objectives:

This is a very important step toward ISMS implementation. Defining proper security requirements helps an organization devise an effective strategy to identify its information assets and protect them in a way that supports its ultimate objectives for the ISMS implementation. Some of the important factors to consider while defining the ISMS security objectives are as follows:

  • The context in which the organization operates and the relevant issues faced by the organization. For example,your company operates in the public health sector and collects patient health records. Thus it is a must for the company to be compliant with the rules and regulations of HIPAA(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

  • The perspective of the organization’s key stakeholders and their security requirements.

  • The dependence of the organization on third parties to perform important business functions.

3. Define the ISMS implementation scope:

The scope of the ISMS implementation might range from a single business unit to the entire organization, especially if the company is small. To ensure the success of the ISMS and the ongoing support of the top management, it is crucial to define its scope correctly. Your valuable information assets may be at risk if the scope is too limited, while management of an ISMS deployment may be too difficult if it is too broad. The organization may find it easier to define its scope by taking into account the security objectives defined earlier.

4. Establish Information Security Policy:

After clearly defining the scope, it is very important to formulate an organization-wide information security policy. The information security policy is the top-level policy document that is brief, concise and lays down an important set of security rules to be followed in the organization. The ultimate responsibility for creating and implementing this policy lies with the higher management of the organization. This policy should emphasize the importance of the information security for the organization, show commitment to ISMS implementation, and outlines the roles and responsibilities for ISMS implementation as well as deliver its performance report to the higher management.

5. Define and Implement the Risk Assessment Methodology:

In this step, the organization must establish the criteria for risk acceptance as well as the criteria for carrying out the risk assessment. The organization must also define how it will identify, analyze and evaluate the risk to its information assets.

After defining the important aspects related to the risk assessment process, the next step is to perform the risk assessment in accordance with the aforementioned criteria. The organization will then determine the level of risks to its information assets under consideration.

6. Perform Risk Treatment and devise a Risk Treatment Plan:

After assessing the levels of risk, the organization must decide how to minimize those risks to an acceptable level in this step. You have four options once you’ve identified the risks that pose the biggest problem for the organization: accept the risk, treat the risk, avoid the risk, or transfer the risk. Typically, risk treatment involves choosing a group of security controls from Annex A of the ISO27001 standard document. Following the choice of those security controls, the organization must:

  • Prepare a Statement of Applicability document that lists applicable and inapplicable security controls from Annex A of the document as well as the justification for inclusion or exclusion of these controls. It will also define how the included set of controls can reduce the identified risks.

  • Prepare a Risk Treatment plan document that describes how the selected set of controls will be implemented, their cost analysis, and much more

  • Document the details of risk assessment and risk treatment processes

  • Obtain the risk owners’ consent for the risk treatment plan and the residual risk.

7. Implement the Risk Treatment Plan:

It is time to put the risk treatment plan into action after it has been developed. The organization must now develop various policies and procedures to satisfy the security requirements, put in place the appropriate set of security controls as stated in the risk treatment plan, and specify who is responsible for what in order for them to be implemented correctly. The company must also define the criteria for determining the efficacy of the security controls that will be deployed.

8. Implement Security Awareness and Training Programs:

For the successful implementation of the risk treatment plan, it is necessary that the employees are aware of their security-related responsibilities and that they have the right amount of training to perform their jobs efficiently. Therefore the organization must establish and implement a security awareness and training programs. The purpose of the security awareness and training programs is to educate the employees about the importance of security in the organization, how to recognize and report the signs of malicious activity, and train them to perform their jobs in an effective manner.

9. Operate, Monitor, and measure the effectiveness of the ISMS:

This step requires the organization to document all the processes or changes that have taken place to implement the security objectives laid down by the organization’s policies. This documentation will eventually prove to be beneficial to monitor, measure and review the performance of the ISMS. The organization can develop different metrics to determine the efficacy of the ISMS. The efficiency of the ISMS can be determined based on the conformance of the results with the defined security objectives.

10. Internal Auditing:

The company should conduct internal auditing of the ISMS at regular intervals to determine the compliance with the organization’s security objectives as well as external security compliance requirements. Internal Auditing will help to determine any nonconformities and assist in the application of any corrective measures to address them.

11. Management Review:

It is critical for top-level management to review the overall progress of ISMS implementation. It is crucial to give the management a broad picture of the key factors, such as the effectiveness of the ISMS, the findings of an internal audit, the achievement of security goals, the outcomes of risk assessment and risk treatment, etc. This will give the management the ability to make critical decisions such as the budgetary allotment for ISMS improvement, the adoption of essential corrective measures for addressing non-conformities, and much more.

12. Implement the Corrective Measures:

Based on the results of the management review, the organization should now evaluate the root cause of the non-conformities, take appropriate corrective actions to eliminate them, and validate their efficacy in dealing with them.

Benefits of ISMS implementation:#

Following are a few advantages that an organization may experience as a result of implementing an ISMS:

Helps you protect your valuable information assets:#

The ISMS implementation that is compliant with ISO27001 ensures that the organization identifies and classifies its critical information assets. This process helps organizations attach appropriate security labels to their information assets in order to provide them with sufficient protection under any circumstances.

Resilience to security incidents:#

The organization’s security posture is also improved as a result of the adoption of the ISMS. The ISMS implementation ensures that the business can successfully cope with emerging threats by routinely identifying and evaluating the risks as well as reviewing the effectiveness of security controls in dealing with them. By considering various situations that could harm the assets, it also makes sure that businesses can respond to security incidents effectively. All of these elements guarantee the organizations’ resilience to such security incidents.

Promotes security culture in the organization:#

The adoption of the ISMS makes sure that personnel in the organization understand the value of security in their job responsibilities and abide by the organization’s security rules rather than just focusing on technology to address security issues. This guarantees that security risks to a company brought on by human mistakes or insider threats are kept to a minimum.

Improves the organization’s key business processes:#

Every organization’s procedures in the past were solely concerned with offering the highest level of functionality, with little to no thought given to the security of those processes. The emphasis has begun to move toward guaranteeing security in many business functions as a result of an increase in cyber threats. However, focusing solely on security without also considering commercial objectives may prove to be a functional impediment. By implementing an ISMS, security is made to work in tandem with overall business goals rather than the other way around. This strategy makes sure that the organization’s essential business processes can operate effectively. Thus, by strengthening its primary business operations, ISMS implementation offers a profitable return on investment.

Conclusion:#

The myriad advantages that an organization might experience via the adoption of an information security management system are barely touched upon in this article. By putting the ISMS into place, the company may respond to security threats in a proactive manner and adopt security measures while staying well within its security budget. By quickly recovering from these disasters, it will make sure that the losses brought on by security incidents are kept to a minimum and that the business continuity is maintained.

See also

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