Consider the Elements While Choosing Which ISO 27001 Policies and Procedures to Write

The most important worldwide standard for information security is ISO 27001. It was released by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Both are renowned international organizations that create international standard. The ISO framework is a collection of standards that businesses can employ. By implementing an Information Security Management System (ISMS), enterprises of any size and in any sector may protect their information methodically and affordably with the aid of ISO 27001. Several of the guidelines that follow will be useful to you:

• Risks: To determine whether a control of this kind is even necessary, you must first evaluate the risks. If there is no danger, then you won’t need a document for it; if there is risk, then you still don’t need to make a document, but at least you have settled the question of whether the control is necessary or not.
• Compliance: Occasionally, you might be required by law or a contract to develop a certain document. For instance, a rule might ask you to create the Classification Policy, or a client might want you to sign NDAs with your staff.
• Size of your company: Smaller businesses typically have fewer ISO 27001 documents, thus in this situation you should attempt to avoid developing a procedure for every minor task. For instance, if you have 20 employees, you don’t need 50 documents for your ISMS. Of course, this technique makes sense if you are a multinational corporation with 10,000 employees and are developing rules where each would have a couple of linked processes, and then a few useful instructions for each procedure.
• Importance: The more crucial a process or activity is, the more likely it is that you will want to establish a policy or procedure to define it. This is because you’ll want to ensure that everyone knows how to carry out such a process or activity to prevent failures in your operations. For that proper ISO 27001 ISMS awareness training is also beneficial.
• Number of people involved: It is more likely that you will want to document a process or activity as more people participate in it. For instance, if 100 people are involved, it will be very difficult to verbally instruct them all on how to perform a specific process; it is much simpler to write a procedure that would explicitly explain everything. The necessity for a formal method is not necessary, however, if there are five persons participating because it is likely possible to describe the entire process in a single meeting. However, there is one exception: if only one person is working on a process, you might wish to document it because no one else knows how to do it, ensuring that operations can continue even if this person isn’t present.
• Complexity: The likelihood that you will need a written record for a process increases with its complexity because it is hard to retain by memory. At the very least, you will need an ISO 27001 audit checklist for a complex process.
• Maturity: There is probably no need to document a process or action that has been in place for a long time, is well-tuned, and everyone understands exactly how to carry it out.
• Frequency: If you undertake some tasks infrequently, you can choose to write them down so you don’t forget how to accomplish them.

The more ISO 27001 ISMS documents you have and the more in-depth they are, the harder it will be to keep them updated and enforce compliance with them among your staff. On the other side, fewer documents that are likewise brief might not spell out your requirements precisely.

ISO 27001 ISMS Roles and Responsibilities: How to Document the Duties According to the Standard

ISO 27001, formally known as an International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) ISO/IEC 27001:2022 information security standard provides a structure and principles for designing, implementing, and monitoring an information security management system (ISMS).  Documentation, management responsibility, internal audits, ISO 27001 training online, continuous improvement, and corrective and preventative action are all included in the standard. The standard requires alliance from all levels of an organization. ISO 27001’s purpose is to assist organizations in protecting their vital information assets while also complying with any legal and regulatory obligations.

Assigning and explaining roles and responsibilities is critical because it informs all employees in the firm about what is expected of them, their effect on information security, and how they may participate. However, ISO 27001 enables you to do so in a way that is natural for the organization and does not incur additional costs. Clause 5.3 states that senior management should delegate high-level tasks and authority for two major aspects:

• The first responsibility is to ensure that the ISMS meets the ISO 27001 requirements
• The second set of responsibilities is to monitor the performance of the ISMS and report to higher management

The risk treatment plan should define the roles for control implementation. Furthermore, ISO 27001 mentions responsibilities in several places (e.g. controls and subsections A.6.1.1, A.7.1.2, A.7.3.1, A.9.3, A.12.1, A.16.1.1, A.18.2.2), but it does not specify how those responsibilities should be documented – this means organizations are free to define them however they see it appropriate.

Top-level responsibilities and authority can be delegated to one or several employees, based on what is most appropriate. For example, for small businesses with simple ISMSs, it is appropriate to designate one person to be accountable for implementing all ISO 27001 requirements and reporting ISMS performance to senior management. For larger organizations with higher-level ISMSs, it may be more feasible to have one person accountable for implementing the standards and another for reporting. Another alternative would be to have one person responsible for ensuring the implementation of the requirements and reporting for one section of the ISMS, such as HR security, and another for incident management, etc.

Where to document roles and responsibilities

Organizations might list the general tasks and responsibilities related to ISO 27001 information security in job descriptions, ISO 27001 ISMS policies, and as part of the organizational chart. Naturally, the company should go into further detail when describing specific security roles and duties in the different plans, policies, and other documents that you will create as part of the ISO 27001 implementation.

Therefore, in practice, security roles and responsibilities will be allocated as regular tasks at the lower organizational levels; for example, the backup policy will stipulate commencing backup at a specific time of day. People who are likely already performing these duties should be given them but with more formalized positions and responsibilities. The immediate superior of a given employee is normally in charge of monitoring them and reporting their results. Monitoring and reporting should also be done through established channels.

In other words, it is not necessary to centrally describe all of the specific security roles and duties in a single document. Each time a position or duty within a specific procedure changes, the primary document for the ISO 27001 standard must also be updated. Therefore, while defining roles and responsibilities, companies should write them in a form that is easy to comprehend and write them in a place that is logical to find. In other words, ISO 27001 documents should be the tool for enhancing overall security actions.