Every type of business has some kind of associated risk that can come from within the organization or from the external environment. For a company to have a sustainable future, it is important that it protects itself from possible threats that may appear and that it ensures that it remains competitive over time.
UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 27001:2017 "Information Technology - Security Techniques - Information Security Management Systems" is part of the ISO 27000 family of standards that helps organizations keep their information safe in electronic format and manage it in a controlled manner. In particular, ISO 27001 provides the requirements for an information security management system, i.e. for a systematic approach to information management that keeps it secure in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability.
The standard helps the organization that decides to adopt it to:
- Protect the information of customers and collaborators;
- Effectively manage risks related to cyber security;
- Safeguard sensitive information and confidential data;
- Identify all issues related to information security and to minimize possible exposure to risks.
For all these reasons, when the standard was issued it was adopted above all by organizations belonging to the banking, IT, financial, health, etc. sectors, but today that companies in any sector are increasingly dependent on IT for the management of their information, the application of this standard is important in any business area also to avoid the risks deriving from cybercrime.
In a system managed according to the ISO 27001 standard, people, processes and IT systems enter and its design and implementation is influenced by the objectives of the company that starts it (business and security objectives), by risk management, by the size and type of structure of the organization. Starting the management of such a project is complex and involves several activities and many people and it is therefore good to follow an approach based on project management to clearly define what needs to be done, by whom and by when. Designing, implementing and maintaining an efficient system of this kind requires a continuous adaptation to the risks that change frequently and to the natural evolution of the technological world.
It can be done easily by applying the Deming cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act:
- Planning (Plan) – in this phase the scope of the system and its boundaries are defined, the policy for the management of information security is formulated, the objectives are established, the resources are allocated, vulnerabilities and threats are hypothesized, acceptable risk levels are established, a plan is created to address any risks by identifying appropriate actions for their management, processes and procedures are designed for risk management and for the continuous improvement of information security, responsibilities and priorities are established;
- Doing (Do) – the second phase involves the implementation of the system that has been designed and its commissioning;
- Checking (Check) – the control phase provides that, where applicable, the performance of the process is measured against the policy formulated previously and the objectives and that conclusions are drawn to be presented to the Management for a review of the system;
- Modifying (Act) – in the fourth and last phase of the Deming model, what has not worked is corrected and we try to prevent something that might not work in the future, in the light of the data collected during the audits and the trends identified.
Given the need for every company to protect itself so that it can grow undisturbed over time, our advice is to ensure the highest possible protection of information by adopting the ISO 27001 standard.
ACSQ auditors are industry experts and qualified to carry out audits in the field of ISO 27001 and our services are offered at absolutely competitive prices. Request a quote from us today to secure your company with ISO 27001 certification.