Remarkably, under the standard, risk assessment and consequent risk mitigation plan may be unique for each organization: ISO does not dictate how to conduct risk assessment, neither sets a minimum bar for risk acceptance or tolerance.
This unique feature of ISO provides covered companies with a fairly broad flexibility, adjustable to their specific business context, needs and priorities. Of course, no ISO auditor in sound mind will agree with a risk treatment plan that contradicts common sense or is obviously at odds with the existing industry regulations or law. Organizations looking for sound risk assessment and treatment methodologies may consider ISO standard that provides detailed guidelines on risk management.
By the virtue of Clause 6. There are no specific security controls in the standard and the organizations are free to select their own security controls to mitigate the risks. This gap is compensated by the Annex A to the ISO standard, which contains a non-exhaustive list of recommended but non-obligatory security controls aimed to provide more specific technical guidance to the organizations.
Implementation of these security controls are elaborated by ISO The wide spectrum of security controls, spanning from physical safeguards and security training to supply chain risk management and meeting regulatory requirements, makes ISO one of the most comprehensive data protection standards. For instance, the control A. The next control A. Privacy legislation is covered by the control A. It is important to note that the foregoing controls from the Annex A may be excluded if irrelevant for the ISMS scope or non-applicable for the organizational context.
For instance, the A. Nonetheless, it is a good practice to consider all of the controls, avoid exclusions and properly document risk mitigation controls in case a currently non-applicable control becomes necessary one day. One should also bear in mind that the controls from the Annex A is not a ceiling but rather a bottom line. When risk assessment requires supplementary security controls in order to adequately mitigate the identified risks to the acceptable level, additional controls must be implemented even if they are not expressly mentioned in the Annex.
Cybersecurity professionals commonly follow divergent checklist approaches to tactical implementation of the ISO standard that may vary by country, industry or size of the certified business.
The underlying strategy is, however, pretty similar and consistent. First, the organization wishing to be ISO certified, shall analyze and agree on the underlying needs and the desired outcomes of the ISMS within the context of its business Clause 4. When doing so, the organization shall likewise consider legitimate needs and concerns of the so-called interested parties Clause 4.
The interested parties may include clients, partners, employees or regulators who may be positively or negatively affected by the ISMS implementation. For instance, customers will certainly appreciate more assurance that their data is adequately protected, while suppliers may give a cold welcome to additional due diligence requirements. Commonly, small and medium-sized organizations select their entire infrastructure to be in the ISMS scope, while large international businesses may exclude some offices or locations where no sensitive data is processed or stored to reduce costs.
Any unjustified or overbroad exclusions e. The next step is to obtain a long-term commitment from the organizational leadership Clause 5. The Clause 5. Eventually, organization shall unambiguously assign roles and responsibilities, and grant necessary authority to employees to fulfill their ISMS-related duties pursuant to the Clause 5.
In a nutshell, the subclauses 6. During this phase, the Statement of Applicability SoA comes into the game. This foundational ISMS document shall contain the list of necessary controls, justifications for their inclusion and implementation status, as well as justifications for exclusions if any.
Akin to some privacy laws that impose specific qualifications or experience requirements for Data Protection Officers DPO , the Clause 7. There are no specific requirements under the standard, but the skills are to be sufficient to execute ISMS-related tasks in a competent and qualified manner.
The subsequent 7. Finally, Clause 7. Ideally, all people within the organization should be familiar with the relevant policies and procedures and share their feedback with the ISMS management team for continuous improvement purposes. Practical implementation of the security controls, interrelated processes and procedures is described by the Clauses 8.
Success of the ISMS implementation and achievement of its goals shall be measured in an ongoing manner as stipulated by the Clauses 9. Finally, Clauses There are no formal requirements for the number or format of the ISMS documents, however, the following information must be documented somewhere in writing:.
By using the SCF, your IT, cybersecurity, legal and project teams can speak the same language about controls and requirement expectations! The SCF is an open source project that provides free cybersecurity and privacy controls for business. The SCF focuses on internal controls, which are the cybersecurity and privacy-related policies, standards, procedures and other processes that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that business objectives will be achieved and undesired events will be prevented, detected and corrected.
Being a hybrid, it allows you to address multiple cybersecurity and privacy frameworks simultaneously. The SCF is a free resource for businesses to use.
However, due to the significant outsourcing to private companies, as well as extensive regulation for businesses, NIST best practices have become the de facto standard for private businesses that do business with the US federal government. The following diagram provide a good representation of the additional compliance requirements that can be addressed with NIST over ISO.
That further helps strengthen NIST as a best practice within the US, especially for any government contractors.
NIST is commonly found in the financial, medical and government contracting industries. Adding a little more confusion to the mix, it is important to note that companies cannot certify against ISO , just ISO You will find ISO extensively used by multinational corporations and for companies that do not have to specifically comply with US federal regulations.
ISO is an internationally-recognized cybersecurity framework that provides coverage for many common requirements e. The CSF comprises a risk-based compilation of guidelines that can help organizations identify, implement, and improve cybersecurity practices, and creates a common language for internal and external communication of cybersecurity issues. It works great for smaller or unregulated businesses.
While those are foundational to building a cybersecurity program aligned with that framework, there is a need for program-specific guidance that helps operationalize those policies and standards e. When you start looking at "What should I buy to comply or align with X framework?
When you look at these frameworks from the perspective of a spectrum that spans from weaker to more robust controls coverage, the basic expectation is that there are more requirements as you advance along this spectrum. As depicted in the spectrum graphic at the top of this page, there are less requirements to comply with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, while ISO has more requirements.
The product names you see in the various packages below map into the matrix shown above to show you how that maps into ISO When you look at it from a sliding scale of good, better, great or awesome, we have a few options for you to meet your needs and budget to align your company with NIST The product names you see in the various packages below map into the matrix shown above to show you how that maps into NIST If you have any questions, please contact us and we'd be happy to explain the difference between the products and packages.
Under the Department of Homeland Se What is the single greatest threat that your organization faces? SolarWinds-style attacks? Need procedures for CMMC? Picking A Cybersecurity Framework: Coke vs Pepsi Analogy A key consideration for picking a cybersecurity framework involved understanding the level of content each framework offers, since this directly impacts the available security and privacy controls that exist "out of the box" without having to bolt-on content to make it work for your specific needs.
If you are not sure where to start, here are some recommendations : Have a discussion with your legal and procurement departments to find out what laws, regulations and contractual obligations your organization needs to comply with. If they don't know, then you need to perform that discovery with their involvement to ensure you have the facts. Do not try to work off assumptions!
Talk with peers in your industry to identify what framework s their organization chose to align with and what those decisions were that led them to adopting one framework over another. You still have to do your own analysis to determine what is right, but talking with peers can help avoid "re-inventing the wheel" on certain aspects of the analysis process. Determine what resources you have available to adopt and implement a framework. If it is a flip of the coin decision between two frameworks where you feel both meet your needs, you need to be sure to take into account which framework will be the most efficient to implement and maintain.
To learn how to comply with ISO , while also implementing privacy and cybersecurity controls, sign up for a day free trial of Conformio, the leading ISO compliance software. Try it for free.
You may unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please see our privacy notice. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. ISO vs. Neha Yadav May 6, Certification An individual can get certified for ISO by attending the course and passing an exam, for example, as a Lead Implementer or Lead Auditor.
She holds an engineering degree in Computer Science. She has experience in consultancy, training, implementation, and auditing of various national and international standards. Upcoming free webinar.
Presenter Angella Carlisle. Thursday — January 20,
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