The ISO 27001 certification can help your organization add to its security posture and make it formidable and armed to fend off security breaches, security incidents and cyber-attacks. Having a ISO 27001 certification demonstrates your compliance with global best practices regarding information security and evinces trust in your customers’ ecosystem regarding your data security practices.
But there’s more to ISO 27001 than just operational security or meeting the requirements of the information security standard. There are a host of direct and indirect benefits to it. In this article, we will line them all up for you. Happy Reading!
What is ISO 27001?
ISO 27001 is a leading international standard focused on implementing organization-wide information security. The information security standard helps protect an organization’s information assets in a systematic and cost-effective way by adopting an Information Security Management System (ISMS).
An ISMS provides a structured approach to maintaining an organization’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It identifies the potential threats to an organization’s information through a comprehensive risk assessment and placates them by deploying security controls.
In essence, ISO 27001 is a global security standard that draws a bulk of its security objectives from an active risk management process. Based on the risk management process, information security controls are then deployed to meet the risk treatment plan. Gap analysis, internal audit, information security policies, and Statement of Applicability (SOA), are some of the other important steps in your compliance journey. The entire process of getting ISO 27001 certification can be arduous and time consuming.
ISO 27001 defines the requirements and the controls by way of policies and procedures for the systematic protection of an organization’s information assets. ISO 27001 controls comprise ten clauses and 114 security controls that are grouped into 14 sections (Annex A).
What is ISO 27001 Certification, and to whom does it apply?
ISO 27001 is designed to help organizations of any size and industry protect their information. Certification to ISO 27001 standard demonstrates to your customers, prospects, stakeholders and others that your organization is trustworthy and follows the global best practices in terms of data security and protection. It adds the much-needed layers of security in terms of people, process, systems and controls.
Any organization, be it a large enterprise or a small business that deals with sensitive data, can consider getting ISO 27001 certified.
Five Benefits of ISO 27001 Certification
So, what’s the big deal about ISO 27001? Well, five too many! Here’s a look at the five key benefits of getting ISO 27001 certified.
It will increase your organization’s credibility and add to your cyber resilience
When you are ISO 27001 certified, your customers and prospects will understand that you take data security seriously. Your global security practices will help establish trust, retain existing customers, and win new business. Implementation of the ISO 27001 standard also ensures that you have a globally accepted level of security effectiveness in terms of the processes, policies, and controls to protect your organization against data threats and that you have a business continuity management plan in place.
It will protect your organization’s reputation and help you avoid regulatory fines
Data breaches can cripple a company. Organizations can be better prepared against cyber threats and prevent costly penalties by getting ISO 27001 certified. Moreover, it protects your organization’s reputation in case of a breach. ISO 27001 also promotes continual improvement and keeps pace with the latest technological changes. Compliance with the standard ensures you are up to speed too.
It will improve your information security structure and focus
ISO 27001 certification will help you maintain sight of your organization’s security posture even as you grow. From improved documentation toolkit, well-defined processes and policies, and response management to imminent threats, ISO 27001 is designed to accommodate organizations of all sizes.
It will add to your global appeal and make it easier to add more frameworks in future
ISO 27001 is an accepted-internationally approach to information security. The framework overlaps with other frameworks such as SOC 2 and GDPR, making it easier for you to add them to your compliance kitty in the future.
It improves your compliance with commercial, contractual and legal requirements and reduces the need for frequent audits
ISO 27001 certification reduces the need for repeat customer audits. It also ensures your organization identifies and abides by the applicable laws and regulations such as IPR, protection of PII, and privacy (last domain in the ISO 27001 controls Annex A).
Other Benefits to Becoming ISO Certification 27001
It helps you build a Sustainable Security Culture.
ISO 27001 mainstreams your organization’s security culture. Security awareness training educates and empowers your workforce and third-party contractors to be the frontline defence in a cyber attack, breach, or hack. It also lays out the todos of incident reporting.
It helps you continuously monitor and prevent security risks
A robust ISO-compliant ISMS will help you identify information risks and develop a policy or process for each identified risk. With ISO 27001 audits and periodical surveillance audits post certification, you stay on top of your security game. ISO 27001 helps set up a systematic approach to continuously monitor and detect lapses or gaps and plug them.
Getting your ISO 27001 Certification Process the Sprinto Way
Using spreadsheets to maintain compliance is a thing of the past. Sprinto’s compliance automation software makes for a perfect fit for cloud-hosted businesses. With Sprinto’s tech-enabled solution – automated evidence collection, structured implementation, and continuous monitoring – you can get you audit-ready in days (not months).
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