ISO 27001 Audit Checklist: 5 Steps to Certification

Preparing for an ISO 27001 audit can feel chaotic. You’re left rushing through control tests, patching gaps, and frantically ensuring that each control effectively maps to ISO/IEC 27001 requirements and business context. Navigating this chaos without an ISO 27001 audit checklist that outlines the right steps, is like playing the game of whack-a-mole, where you solve one problem and another pops up. 

An ISO 27001 audit checklist curbs this chaos by outlining the audit process and the steps to prepare for it. Whether you’re gearing up for an internal or an external audit, a checklist will help you streamline your preparations, ensuring audit success.

 In this article, we provide an overview of the ISO audit and an ISO 27001 audit checklist with specific to-dos to complete before you appear for a certification audit.

ISO 27001 audit checklist overview

ISO 27001 audit checklist helps organizations prepare for an inspection to get certified as per the international standard for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS).

It helps you, as an organization, in identifying gaps or places where their ISMS may not be fully compliant. Moreover, the checklist provides a set of questions and criteria that cover the standard’s requirements. Although an ISO 27001 audit checklist is a valuable tool to ensure that the organization’s ISMS complies with the standard’s requirements, it cannot replace a thorough audit.

There are two types of ISO 27001 audits:

• Internal Audit
• External Audit

The external audits comprise the annual periodic surveillance audits and the recertification audit that’s carried out at the end of three years (from certification).

The ISO 27001 standard mandates organizations to conduct an internal audit before they present themselves to an accredited external auditor for certification.

Must check: ISO 27001 Certification: A Complete Guide to Process, Costs, and Benefits

Is an ISO 27001 audit required?

Yes, the ISO 27001 standard mandates you conduct regular internal audits (typically once a year) and periodic surveillance audits in the interim period. Unlike other frameworks, such as SOC 2, the certification audits for ISO 27001 aren’t an annual affair. Once certified, your next certification audit would happen only at the end of the third year. But don’t let out that sigh of relief just yet. 

While these aren’t as extensive as your certification audit, they require you to be on top of your compliance game. Here’s why audits are needed.

Significance of ISO 27001 audit

Maintain and monitor ISMS

Maintaining and monitoring an Information Security Management System (ISMS) is an ongoing process of ensuring that an organization’s security measures are effective, up-to-date, and aligned with the organization’s risk environment and compliance requirements. Here’s what it entails:

• Updating Policies and Procedures
• Conducting Risk Assessments
• Employee Training
• Continuous control monitoring
• Evidence collection of control performance.

Provide insights on your ISMS

A lot can change in a business environment. Audits help identify whether such changes have a bearing on your security posture, and help you stay on your compliance course throughout.

Assess for information security risks

In the course of business, new information assets get created. Audits ensure your asset inventory is updated, and all new information assets are assessed for security risks, and eventually protected using relevant risk treatment plans.

Find out more about asset management under ISO

Ensure staff awareness

Audits and preparation for audits help educate and empower your staff to understand and imbibe an organization-wide security culture and follow processes.

Learn how Officebeacon achieved compliance maturity and breezed through the ISO 27001 audit using Sprinto

10 steps ISO 27001 audit checklist

The ISO audit checklist ensures adherence to information security standards. It streamlines the audit process and enables organizations to assess their ISMS for continuous compliance. Whether you’re conducting an internal or external certification audit, this 5-step ISO 27001 audit checklist will help you streamline your preparations

1. Set up an internal team

Start by forming a dedicated internal team to drive the ISO 27001 compliance process. This group will oversee planning, implementation, and act as the liaison during audits. Make sure each member has a clear role and the authority to make decisions.

• Include function heads, Security Officer, IT leads, People Ops, etc.
• Assign roles and responsibilities upfront
• Ensure the team is empowered to lead and communicate across functions

2. Define and Align on ISMS Scope

Before implementation, define what parts of your organization the ISMS will cover. This step ensures that your efforts are focused and aligned with business priorities.

• Identify systems, services, teams, and locations to include
• Collaborate with function heads to finalize inclusions
• Get leadership approval and alignment
• Validate scope against business objectives

3. Document Key ISMS Policies

Your ISMS is only as strong as its policies. Draft essential security policies and make them accessible to everyone in the organization.

• Cover critical areas like information security, access control, classification and handling, remote work, business continuity, supplier and network security, physical and environmental security
• Review and approve policies with leadership
• Publish and share with relevant teams

4. Identify and Evaluate Risks

Understanding your risks is the foundation of a secure environment. Use structured methods to identify and prioritize potential threats.

• Build a risk register to catalog potential issues
• Evaluate each risk for likelihood and impact
• Rank risks to guide mitigation priorities
• Use findings to inform your Risk Treatment Plan

5. Select and Apply Security Controls

Tailor your security controls to your environment and risk profile. Use Annex A of ISO 27001 as a reference point.

• Choose relevant controls based on risk assessment
• Justify selections in the Statement of Applicability (SoA)
• Begin implementation across systems and teams

6. Train Everyone Involved

Security is everyone’s responsibility. Training ensures people understand their role in keeping systems secure.

• Run security awareness programs for all employees
• Provide role-specific training (e.g., developers, admins)
• Include sessions in onboarding
• Schedule annual refresher training
• Track completion and participation

7. Monitor and Collect Evidence

What gets implemented must be provable. Build a system for logging and organizing evidence of control performance.

• Maintain audit logs and system records
• Create structured evidence folders
• Ensure easy access for auditors during reviews

8. Conduct an Internal Audit

An internal audit helps identify gaps before the official certification process begins. Choose someone independent to conduct this.

• Select an auditor not involved in daily ISMS operations
• Perform a thorough audit across controls and documentation
• Document findings and remediation actions
• Close any identified gaps ahead of external audit

9. Pass Stage 1 & Stage 2 Audits

ISO 27001 certification occurs in two parts. Stage 1 checks documentation; Stage 2 verifies implementation.

• Prepare and pass Stage 1 (documentation review)
• Complete Stage 2 (implementation assessment)
• Plan and prepare for surveillance audits post-certification

10. Keep Improving Your ISMS

Compliance is a continuous process. Evolve your ISMS with your business and threat landscape.

• Conduct regular risk assessments
• Track and resolve non-conformities
• Document and review continuous improvement actions

Remember, it is not enough that you have these processes and policies in place. What your auditor needs are demonstrable proof of compliance.

Also check out: How ISO 27001 can be automated

Cost of ISO 27001 implementation

ISO 27001 implementation costs can range anywhere from $5,000 to $35,000+ based on several factors.The implementation costs will include employee training, security tools/consultant costs, VAPT assessments and continuous monitoring costs.

As for an ISO 27001 audit, the costs can range from $10,000 to $50,000, depending on the number of employees and your choice of auditor.

What to do during the audit? 

Once the audit has begun, you cannot alter the course of your compliance decisively. You can, however, ensure the auditor has all the documentation, evidence, and other details in the format they seek. Have a list of staff they can talk to (if need be) and ensure their availability.

Your work, however, doesn’t stop with the final audit.

You must ensure you incorporate all the suggestions/feedback from the Audit Report as per the ISO 27001 audit checklist. You must rectify all major nonconformities (if any) and share evidence of correction with the external auditor.

Get audit-ready the smart way

As you would have realized by now, ISO 27001 isn’t an easy compliance to get certified for. It requires a whole lot of work! The framework is exhaustive and heavy on documentation. This makes it progressively challenging to shake off the fear of something critical slipping through the crack. 

Make the switch to Sprinto, an intelligently-built compliance automation platform to breeze through your ISO 27001 certification audits. With inbuilt checklists, editable policy templates, management reviews, evidence collection, and risk assessments, Sprinto makes it effortless to keep tabs on your audit preparedness. The dashboard shows complete and pending tasks, and helps you stay on top of your to-dos. 

ISO 27001 certification process isn’t a ‘one-and-done’ exercise. It requires continuous monitoring and continual improvement, and a slew of audits every year. See how to do it. Speak to our experts today.

Choose the smart way to ISO 27001. Talk to us today!

FAQs

What is ISO 27001 audit checklist?

An ISO 27001 audit checklist outlines the steps and processes you need to ensure you’re adhering to ISO 27001 requirements. Generally, an ISO 27001 audit checklist will include steps related to conducting risk assessments, testing controls, checking logs for their historical performance, ensuring controls map to the ISO 27001 guidelines, and documenting evidence for the audit.

Who needs to comply with ISO 27001?

Any business or service provider who handles, manages, or transmits client data should comply with ISO 27001. While it is not a compulsion, operating without a robust security framework is increasingly getting harder.

What are the five audit checklists of ISO 27001?

The five steps to conduct internal audits for ISO 27001 are:

1. Set up an internal team
2. Ensure ISMS scope and plan are in sync
3. Review documentation
4. Collect evidence
5. Incorporate internal audit findings