Category: ISO 27001

These days, the educational sector has to handle numerous amounts of data. Most educational institutes nowadays are based on confidential information about their faculty members, students, stakeholders, and employees, including academic records, sensitive research data, finances, and personal details. With cyberattacks and breaches becoming more frequent than ever, schools and colleges must adopt robust information security measures, such as ISO 27001 to protect the data. Numerous ISO 27001 certification benefits for the educational sector may help your school.

Let’s dive into the below blog post to discuss more about ISO 27001 certification for educational institutions.

What is the ISO 27001 standard?

The ISO 27001 standard is recognized internationally for ISMS (Information Security Management Systems).

Having ISO 27001 in place confirms that you take serious measures to protect your sensitive data from data breaches and cyberattacks.

Implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your process provides you with a set of comprehensive frameworks to manage and protect sensitive information of your educational institution.

How can obtaining an ISO 27001 certification benefit your school?

When it comes to obtaining an ISO 27001 certification, the first sector that comes to our mind is online business or eCommerce.

But did you know that ISO 27001 can also be an essential ISO standard for the educational sector?

Well, getting your school certified with ISO 27001 can come with a lot of benefits.

The following are some of the most common benefits of obtaining an ISO 27001 certification for schools:

Benefit – 1: For People

1.Establishing roles and responsibilities

Having ISO 27001 in place helps you define and communicate the roles and responsibilities for information security.

It further helps you highlight the critical roles that the employees should play to identify potential ISMS risks and maintain data security across organizational levels.

2.Offering regular security awareness training

Implementing ISO 27001 in your procedures helps you roll out continual improvement training programs.

It’ll help you educate your staff(s) and students on common security issues, such as malicious and inbound attacks, what is considered sensitive data, and how to securely share data.

3.Introducing non-intrusive tech

Obtaining the ISO 27001 certification helps your school provide people with user-friendly tools to give them a nudge in the right direction when sharing sensitive data securely to avoid small yet costly mistakes.

Integrating solutions such as CMS and existing email clients can also help you streamline workflow and provide an in-the-moment alert about potential ISMS errors, such as sharing sensitive data with the wrong recipient or failing to use BCC when sending an email.

Benefit – 2: For Technology

1.Using secure communication channels and tools

Getting your educational institute certified with ISO 27001 can help you limit the communication channels and platforms with features guarding against data breaches.

Dealing with limited communication platforms can further simplify security by limiting variables.

It further helps you to keep pace with changes easily, as you’ll only deal with tools and channels that fall under the safety net.

Having ISO 27001 in place can also help you ensure that the email client is appropriate with relevant tools and encryption protocols.

3.Implementing access controls

Achieving an ISO 27001 certification can help you implement technologies in your processes with proper controls to ensure that only authorized individuals can access any sensitive information.

4.Incorporating tools for auditing and reporting

Obtaining an ISO 27001 certification can ensure that your data is protected through authorized access to tools and data to identify, manage, and control during the event of a data loss event.

It further ensures that your educational organization’s data protection leaders take the required steps to meet your ISO 27001 compliance responsibilities, mitigating unnecessary repercussions, and controlling the event.

Benefit – 3: For Processes

1.Developing procedures and policies

Having ISO 27001 in place can help your educational institution create and maintain procedures and policies to plug security gaps (if any) and align with the latest information security standards.

You should review and update these documents regularly to adapt to new changes and threats.

2.Performing a risk assessment process

Implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your business process can help your school conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to map the current security system of your educational institute and pinpoint vulnerabilities (if any) to identify the threats that have the potential to impact your organizational data.

You must adhere to the latest regulatory, legal, and contractual obligations during the assessment.

Performing a risk assessment can further help your school to ISO 27001 standard compliance.

3.Creating a plan for incident response

Getting your educational institution certified with the ISO 27001 standard can also help you create an effective response plan to manage any data breaches swiftly and compliantly before they take place.

It further provides your school with a competitive advantage over other schools and helps you gain more students and dedicated faculty members when needed.

How to find the right third-party ISO 27001 specialists for your school?

In today’s world, everything depends on data, even in the education sector.

Organizations with an ISO 27001 certification can leverage numerous benefits compared to other schools without any ISO 27001 certification.

Hence, you may find lots of third-party ISO 27001 auditing firms across the world.

However, let us tell you that not all of them are the same, even though they offer similar services across the world.

Well, considering the following factors can help you find the right third-party ISO 27001 specialists for your educational organization:

 

1.Check the expertise and skills of the third-party ISO 27001 auditing team

2.Ask the team what they know about the latest ISO 27001 standard

3.Ensure that the team you’re hiring is aware of the latest ISO 27001 standard requirements and guidelines

4.Ask the team about the estimated budget and timeline for the latest ISO 27001 standard certification process

5.Check the customer testimonials and portfolio on ISO 27001 implementation

6.Look for the ISO certifications and qualifications of the third-party ISO 27001 auditors

 

Take away

Are you wondering about whether your school needs to get certified with ISO 27001 or not? Well, implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your school processes can bring lots of benefits. One of the key ISO 27001 certification benefits is enhanced digital security. However, it isn’t the only reason to get your school ISO 27001 certified. We hope this blog post with the above-pointed factors can help you understand that.

Do you own an online business and are looking for ways to improve the operational procedures? Well, getting your brand certified with the ISO 27001 standard may help you with that. ISO 27001 is the internationally recognized standard for ISMS (Information Security Management Systems). Having ISO 27001 in place shows that you take serious measures to protect your sensitive client data from breaches and cyberattacks. However, you must understand the latest ISO 27001 data retention requirements and policies beforehand.

Let’s discuss more about obtaining the ISO 27001 certification for your online brand in the below blog post.

Why is data retention essential for ISO 27001 compliance?

ISO 27001 is an international information security standard.

It provides your organization with guidelines to manage potential ISMS risks and protect sensitive data within an ISMS.

Implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your business procedures addresses numerous aspects of information security, including data retention for data integrity, confidentiality, and availability.

Data retention is a procedure to store and maintain data for a specific length of time. Companies pursuing ISO 27001 compliance must define proper data management processes. The procedure includes storing and disposing of data as well as retention periods.

Data retention is essential for the following 4 reasons:

1.Promote data hygiene

Data retention helps organizations in defining procedures to create, maintain, and delete data to prevent duplicating records or recording outdated data.

High-quality data further improves your business processes, which can lead to better insights and decision-making.

2.Support efficient business operational processes

The data retention policy ensures that the critical data of your company is appropriately retained and maintained.

It further supports a variety of essential business operations that allow your organization to:

• Generate accurate financial records

• Develop effective marketing initiatives

• Track the performance of your organization

• Highlight market and customer trends

• Support the development of products and services

3.Inform and improve incident response

The data retention process includes maintaining a proper system, user access logs, and network traffic.

Reliable clogging can help the security team with the following:

• Understand entry points and attack vectors

• Determine the scope of any compromised data

• Flag suspicious activities and anomalies

• Assess the severity of a potential data breach incident

• Implement appropriate controls to prevent future security breach incidents

4.Protect against accidental data loss

Data retention promotes recovery and backup procedures that can further reduce the risk of data loss due to natural disasters, hardware failure, or malicious activity.

Testing the backup system and procedures regularly as a strategy for data retention ensures that the organizational data can be restored during accidental loss, which can also minimize downtime and support business continuity.

What are the basic requirements for the ISO 27001 data retention process?

The Annex A 5.33 of ISO 27001 covers the requirements for the “Protection of Records.”

To comply with the ISO 27001 standard, organizations should take serious measures to protect all records against unauthorized data access or release, data falsification, and data loss.

Under the latest version of the ISO 27001 standard (2022), organizations are required to do the following:

1.Establish procedures and guidelines for:

• Record disposal

• Record storage

• Prevention of record manipulation

• Establishing a chain of custody for handling records

2.Maintain a schedule for retaining all records:

It further defines how long your organization will be keeping different types of records according to the specific business use.

3.Define the storing and handling procedures of records that address:

Regulatory and legal requirements for keeping commercial records

Customer and societal expectations for how your brand should manage personal data and organizational records

4.Use appropriate and secure methods to destroy records when the retention period ends

5.Categorize the records based on the security risks of your organization, especially:

• Legal records

• Financial transactions

• Personnel records

• Accounting records

6.Store crucial records in a method that allows them to be retrieved if requested by a third party (either internal or external)

7.In the matter of electronic data, consider and mitigate the potential risks of any technological changes that can further limit data access and recovery

8.Follow any instructions from manufacturers when maintaining the electronic records

How to find the right third-party ISO 27001 specialists for your organization?

The ISO 27001 standard has become a crucial requirement for businesses operating online across the world.

Getting your company certified with the ISO 27001 standard can offer lots of benefits, including a competitive advantage and more international contracts compared to companies without ISO 27001.

Hence, you may find a lot of third-party ISO 27001 auditing firms across the country.

However, all of them are not the same even though they offer similar services.

Well, considering the following factors can help you find the right third-party ISO 27001 auditing firm for your business:

1.Check the experience and reputation of the third-party ISO 27001 auditing firm

2.Ask about the estimated timeline and budget for the ISO 27001 certification process

3.Check the testimonials and referrals from their present and former clientele on ISO 27001 implementation

4.Ask what the team knows about the latest ISO 27001 standard

5.Check the ISO certifications and qualifications of the third-party ISO 27001 auditors

6.Ask about the understanding of the team on the latest ISO 27001 requirements

7.Check the customer portfolio of the third-party ISO 27001 auditing firm

Bottom line

Are you wondering what would be the best way to improve the data security of your organization? Well, implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your business process can help you with it. Having ISO 27001 in place ensures that your organization takes serious measures to protect business data from breaches and cyberattacks. All you’ll have to do is fulfill the latest ISO 27001 data retention requirements. We hope this blog post with the above-written points can help you understand it.

In today’s world, information has become the biggest asset of all businesses regardless of the size and niche. Yet, protecting sensitive business information isn’t easy from unauthorized access, theft, or manipulation. Sometimes, it’s also not easy to determine where you should start. This is where the ISO 27001 standard comes to help you. Besides protecting your business data, there are many other ISO 27001 certification benefits.

Let’s dive into the following blog post to know more about that.

How can getting your organization ISO 27001 certified help you in the long run?

ISO 27001 is the internationally recognized standard for ISMS (Information Security Management Systems). Implementing this ISO standard in your business process helps you manage the security of your organization by addressing technology, procedures, and people.

One of the primary goals of the ISO 27001 standard is to ensure that organizations have a robust framework to manage their information security and comply with the information security rules and regulations.

The following are the benefits of achieving an ISO 27001 certification:

1.Attract new employees and customers:

Achieving the latest ISO 27001 certification can help your small business attract new employees and clients by ensuring that the IT system of your organization meets the industry standards.

It also shows your commitment to providing a high level of integrity, confidentiality, and availability to your consumers.

2.Lower the human errors:

Getting ISO 27001 certified helps your organization cut down the human errors to keep the brand safe from the fallout of wrong moves or mistakes.

The goal of this ISO certification is to keep most damage at bay and make your business operations protected all around.

3.Provide quality assurance:

Passing the ISO 27001 audit process can help your brand implement quality assurance procedures during the development, manufacturing, and installation of the product.

The ISO 27001 standard establishes a framework for quality management systems in the business by promoting a comprehensive approach to quality assurance across the organization.

This framework ensures that your organization has all the processes in place to meet the latest ISO ISMS requirements alongside customer expectations.

4.Prevent data breaches and related financial costs:

Getting the latest ISO 27001 certification can help you lower the financial costs and losses related to data breaches by protecting your business information.

These costs can be staggering, from losing business revenue to brand reputation.

5.Improve the organizational focus and structure:

Implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your business process helps you pinpoint the necessary security measures for your small business, which can further enable you to prioritize the overall improvement of your brand, beyond the security enhancements.

It can also help you facilitate better organizational focus and structure that can further assist you in creating value for your customers and returning what’s essential.

6.Save company time by efficient and rested procedures:

It’s a must to run regular audits to keep your organization safe from breaches.

Though it can be time-consuming and costly, implementing the latest ISO 27001 standard would be helpful. It can simplify the procedures by providing the employees with written processes they can follow.

Having an ISMS in place, individuals no longer have to assume or enquire about how something can be achieved, as all the necessary protocols and procedures will be there.

7.Mitigate loopholes in information security:

Getting your company ISO 27001 certified can help you address various security flaws, which are one of the most vulnerable aspects of ISMS.

Any security flaws can further lead to catastrophic breaches.

Implementing this ISO standard in your business process can help you install controls within your organization adhering to the best ISMS practices.

8.Ensure regulatory, legal, contractual, and business compliance:

Implementing the latest ISO 27001 standard in your business process can help you meet the latest compliance requirements with a comprehensive risk assessment to achieve the certification.

During this risk assessment process, you need to assess current procedures and identify gaps that can further stop you from meeting the regulatory standards.

After completing it, you’ll have a clear understanding of how closely your business aligns with the ISO 27001 requirements and look for areas for further enhancements.

9.Provide an independent opinion on the status of your ISMS:

Achieving ISO 27001 certification can help your organization get an unbiased assessment of how secure they are.

It can also ensure that your organization has put enough security measures by considering a few factors like how aware your organization is of threats and weaknesses, how you train your staff(s) to stop cyberattacks, and how you plan for emergencies.

10.Improve the business process and strategies:

Implementing the ISO 27001 standard in your business process can make it easier for you to test your current processes alongside strategies that can further help you improve them.

11.Increase confidence among consumers:

Getting your organization ISO 27001 certified ensures that you take serious measures to protect sensitive business and customer data, which can further increase confidence among consumers and offer you a competitive advantage over others.

Bottom line

Can’t decide how implementing the latest ISO 27001 ISMS standard in your business helps you? Well, there are many ISO 27001 certification benefits besides protecting your organization’s data. We hope this blog can help you to understand that.

With a cyber attack happening every 39 seconds on average, information security is no longer an afterthought. It’s a necessity.

Consequently, information security standards and regulations, such as ISO 27001, have become the cornerstone of building a resilient and thriving information security management system. In fact, many companies these days demand their partners to provide an information security certification to protect their operations from cyber attacks.

That said, the ISO 27001 certification benefits go beyond healthy partnerships. It can help you protect the most critical assets of your organization and avoid legal issues related to cyber crimes.

However, obtaining the ISO 27001 certification is not a walk in the park. It’s a lengthy, detailed, and demanding process that requires continuous maintenance. As a result, mistakes happen. Moreover, if you don’t take appropriate action to address those blunders, you might lose the certification.

Through today’s blog, we are here to give you an advance alert so you don’t make the same errors as others when pursuing the ISO 27001 certification.

So, let’s get started!

Terrifying Mistakes That Can Prevent You From Enjoying The ISO 27001 Certification Benefits

1.Neglecting Top Management Involvement 

Top management has critical responsibilities in developing, implementing, analyzing, and maintaining ISO 27001 certification. Their commitment, support, and role in communicating the ISO 27001 certification benefits are critical for the organization-wide success of the system.

It’s nearly impossible to comply with the ISO 27001 requirements without dedication from top management. It can lead to poor resource management, direction, authority, and ineffective implementation.

2.Overcomplicated Policies

Another grave error organizations make when pursuing ISO 27001 certification is creating complex and convoluted policies. If your ISMS policies are not comprehensible to auditors or staff, you can’t expect them to follow the rules.

Overcomplicated policies also lead to confusion, misinterpretations, misdiagnosis of security issues, and, eventually, non-compliance.

Hence, keep your ISO 27001 policies straightforward, jargon-free, and accessible to relevant parties.

3.Failing To Align Business Objectives With ISO 27001 Policies

To truly enjoy the countless ISO 27001 certification benefits, you must align the organization’s overall objectives with the ISMS policies. Failing to establish this alignment will create a disconnection between your company’s aims and priorities.

Hence, when developing the ISO 27001 policies, involve key stakeholders and utilize the policies to address business risks, objectives, and compliance requirements.

4.Neglecting the Risk Assessment

The significance of risk assessments in ISO 27001 cannot be emphasized enough. It’s the best way for you to detect the risks threatening your ISMS and address them swiftly.

Yet, many organizations neglect their risk assessment performance, leading to overlooked threats, impacts, and inefficient controls.

If you don’t want to make the same error, regularly review and update your organization’s risk assessment process.

5.Not Reviewing The Policies

A prominent ISO 27001 certification benefit is that it mandates the periodic review of policies, procedures, and processes. It encourages organizations to keep their priorities in check and constantly make improvements to their system.

The routine reviews also aid with staying relevant and compliant with applicable regulations.

However, when you neglect to review and update the ISMS policies, it appears as a red flag to third-party auditors. It can lead to major non-conformations and even legal issues.

6.Inadequate Incident Response Planning

An adequate incident response plan is critical for minimizing the impact of potential security incidents and ensuring timely response.

Still, many organizations make the mistake of poorly developing their incident response plans.

As a result, they struggle to detect, respond to, and receive security issues. Instead of repeating the same mistake, ISO 27001 experts suggest periodically testing the incident plans and improving its effectiveness.

7.Failure To Monitor And Measure The ISMS Processes And Compliance

Monitoring and measuring is one of the most significant clauses you have to meet to enjoy the ISO 27001 certification benefits. ISO 27001 requires establishing a proper process for measuring and monitoring the ISMS policies and procedures.

Naturally, if you fail to satisfy this requirement, it will become a major nonconformity.

Also, you will miss out on the gaps and flaws of your system, leading to inaccurate outcomes.

8.Ignoring Third-Party Risks

Do you know 95% of data breaches are a result of human error? Many of these incidents are caused by third-party vendors or partners.

ISO 27001 requirements specifically ask organizations to carry out third-party risk management and conduct due diligence before establishing relationships.

Failing to comply will prevent you from obtaining the ISO 27001 certification.

9.Lack Of Continual Improvement Evidence

ISO standards encourage organizations to embrace a culture of continual improvement to stay compliant and relevant.

Unfortunately, organizations often see policy executions as a one-time job. They don’t put much effort into improving the policies and recording the improvement actions. To auditors, this appears as a sign of a lack of commitment.

Hence, if you want to obtain the ISO 27001 certification seamlessly, regularly review your policies, seek feedback, and identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

10.Noncompliance With Legal And Regulatory Requirements

When you implement the requirements of ISO 27001, you not only commit to following its 10 clauses but all the legal and regulatory requirements that apply to your organization. It may include the data protection laws of your country and contractual obligations in your industry. Not complying with these laws can lead to major nonconformities.

Concluding Thoughts

Committing any of these mistakes can cost you the ISMS certification and prevent you from enjoying the ISO 27001 certification benefits. So, take notes and ensure to involve your top management in the process, create straightforward policies, and comply with each clause of the standard carefully.

Information is the most critical asset of any growing organization. Yet, most fail to protect it, leading to costly IT disasters.

According to reports, the average cost of data breaches was an astounding $4.45 million last year. If that’s not bad enough, reports also suggest that most organizations can’t even detect data breaches when it occurs. On average, organizations take around 207 days to identify a data violation.

These statistics clearly show the dire need for a robust information security management system. It is where ISO 27001 comes in. The ISMS standard has controls and procedures for every type of cybersecurity issue, from malware attacks to data theft. Plus, it’s applicable to all organizations and industries.

Considering the growing cyber security issues, today’s blog sheds light on some of the best perks of ISO 27001.

Even if the scary numbers haven’t convinced you to adopt an ISMS yet, these ISO 27001 certification benefits will.

So, continue reading!

What Is ISO 27001 Certification?

Before jumping into the benefits, let’s learn what ISO 27001 means.

ISO 27001 is a globally accepted information security management system standard. It helps organizations maintain the quality of their information security management by establishing controls and addressing operations, technologies, and people.

The standard provides organizations with a straightforward ISMS framework. It also enables them to demonstrate compliance with cyber security regulations and laws.

Furthermore, ISO 27001 requires organizations to follow its ten clauses and implement the applicable controls to obtain the ISO 27001 certification. As a part of this requirement, you will create policies, procedures, and processes and routinely assess your ISMS.

The proactive and risk-based approach of the standard will allow you to detect information security issues before they cause severe damage.

The Best ISO 27001 Certification Benefits For Your Company

The ISO 27001 certification benefits are countless. And the best part is that any company can enjoy them.

• Improved company credibility and cyber resilience:

When an organization earns the ISO 27001 certification, it shows its commitment and dedication toward information security. For consumers and other stakeholders, it’s a sign that their personal data is safe with the organization.

It can help boost stakeholders’ trust, retain consumers, and win business deals. The ISMS certification can be especially beneficial for companies expanding overseas due to its international recognition.

• Avoid extra costs associated with cybersecurity: 

Data breaches and cyber-attacks cost organizations millions of dollars every year. Unfortunately, with more access to IT, the frequency of cyber attacks is increasing. Around 236.1 million ransomware attacks occurred only in 2022.

One of the best ISO 27001 certification benefits is that its clauses help you build a robust ISMS to prevent these attacks, eliminating the extra costs. Also, following the standard can help you avoid regulatory fines.

• Improve structure and focus:

Many organizations start with a resolution to take sufficient steps toward information security management. However, as their resources and market expand, cyber security management often takes a setback.

You will never face this issue with ISO 27001. The standard requires organizations to continuously monitor, assess, and improve their ISMS. It will help you improve the overall structure of your information security management system.

• Reduce human errors:

According to reports, human errors cause around 74% of all cybersecurity breaches. One of the ISO 27001 certification benefits is that it encourages organizations to train their human resources and relevant stakeholders to avoid this issue. It also requires companies to implement specific controls to monitor and control information access.

• Tested processes:

Following the ISMS framework of ISO 27001 certification can simplify audits and reviews. You can use the standard clauses to develop a written process for internal audits. It will allow you to clearly outline the necessary protocols, procedures, and timelines for completing them, eliminating the guessing game.

Furthermore, the regular audit will help you detect processes that bring visible results and the ones that are unnecessary. It can lead to consistent and effective workflow and better output.

• Get independent opinions on your ISMS:

One of the ISO 27001 certification benefits that people often overlook is the unbiased opinions of external auditors. To obtain the ISO 27001 certification, your organization will have to go through third-party audits. These audits are excellent for finding out the flaws in information security management systems. It can also help you detect improvement opportunities in the system, preparing you for emergencies.

• Reduce security loopholes:

From risk management to gap analysis, ISO 27001 requires organizations to frequently test their ISMS for security flaws. When you incorporate the standard into your organization, you will adhere to the industry’s best practices and stay up to date with the latest data-safeguarding methods.

• Improved security awareness:

ISO 27001 certification suggests organizations establish, follow, monitor, and evaluate their security policies, improving security awareness. Also, it includes clauses for evaluating suppliers and partners for security measures.

Concluding Thoughts

The ISO 27001 certification benefits can help you establish a structured process to maintain your company’s ISMS. You will be able to protect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of your stakeholders’ data, eliminate the risk of cyber security issues and associated costs, and comply with applicable regulations. Furthermore, since continual improvement is a critical clause of ISO 27001, your ISMS will never be overlooked ever again.

Logs act as digital diaries for effective information security. It allows organizations to follow meticulous recording steps and keep track of valuable interactions and events.

Additionally, logs are helpful when evaluating incidents. If anything goes wrong in your ISMS, you can use the recorded logs to find out precisely where things went wrong and who is responsible for it.

It is why ISO 27001 certification consultants, as well as the standard itself, encourage organizations to implement controls for effective logging.

In clause 8.15 of Annex A of ISO 27001, you will find the control requirement for producing, storing, protecting, and analyzing logs.

In today’s blog, we offer a breakdown of this requirement to help you comply with it.

So, if your company is pursuing the ISO 27001 certification, continue reading!

Logging Requirements In ISO 27001 Certification: Your ISO Audit Consultants

According to ISO 27001:2022, your ISMS logs should record activities, faults, exceptions, and other relevant events.

Overall, the control should focus on

•Recording events,

•Collecting evidence,

•Protecting information integrity,

•Securing log data against unauthorized access

•Identifying events and actions that can lead to data or security breaches,

•Acting as a tool in investigating internal and external matters.

What To Include In The Event Log?

ISO 27001 certification consultants explain that events are actions performed by a physical or logical presence on a computer system. For instance, it could be something like requesting data or deleting a file.

What you should include in the event log essentially depends on your operations. Yet, there are a few pointers that every event log should contain.

They are:

•User ID: Who or what account completed the event or performed the actions,

•System activity: What happened,

•Timestamps: Date and time of the actions or events,

•System and device identifiers and location: The system where the event occurred,

•Network address and protocols: IP information.

What Events Should You Record?

Logging every event may not be possible for your organization. In that case, ISO 27001 certification consultants and Control 8.15 highlight 10 critical events that you should definitely log in.

•System access attempts,

•Data or resource access attempts,

•System or OS configuration changes,

•Using elevated privileges,

•Using maintenance facilities or utility programs,

•File access, deletion, migration requests,

•Access control interruptions and alarms,

•Activation and deactivation of security systems,

•Identity administration work,

•Specific suspicious actions, such as data alterations,

How To Protect The Logs?

Logs play a vital role in establishing system and user behavior during investigation.

Therefore, it’s essential to protect their integrity and prevent users from deleting or modifying their own logs.

Reputed ISO 27001 certification consultants agree that each log should be complete, safeguarded, and accurate.

Experts recommend the following methods for protecting logs.

•Cryptographic hashing,

•Append-only recording,

•Read-only recording,

•Using public transparency files,

If your organization needs to send logs to suppliers to resolve incidents, you should de-identify the logs and mask the following information.

•Usernames,

•IP addresses,

•Hostnames.

Additionally, you shall take measures to secure personally identifiable information as per the organization’s data privacy protocols and applicable legislation.

What To Consider When Analyzing The Logs?

When you need to analyze the logs for identifying, resolving, and analyzing information security issues, you must consider the following factors.

•The competence of the person carrying out the analysis,

•The methods of analyzing the logs,

•The category, attributes, and type of each event that you need to analyze,

•Exceptions applied via network rules emerging from security platforms,

•The default network traffic flow compared to unexplainable patterns,

•Trends resulting from specialized data analysis,

•Threat intelligence.

What To Consider When Monitoring The Logs?

Along with log analyzing, ISO 27001 certification consultants recommend monitoring the logs to analyze key patterns and anomalous behavior.

For effective log monitoring, you should consider

•Reviewing attempts to access critical resources, such as web portals, file-sharing platforms, and domain servers,

•Scrutinize logs to keep an eye on outgoing traffic linked to dubious sources or dangerous server operations,

•Collect data usage reports to identify malicious activities,

•Collect logs from physical access points like fob logs, key cards, or room access information.

Additional Information

ISO 27001:2022 certification consultants recommend organizations consider utilizing specialized utility programs to search through vast amounts of information. It can help you save time and resources.

If your organization uses a cloud-based platform to carry out any operation related to logging, make log management a shared responsibility. Your organization, as well as the services provider, should take responsibility for the management system.

Furthermore, when implementing this control, you should check out the supporting controls of ISO 27001, including 5.34, 8.11, 8.17, and 8.18.

A lot of people ask how long they should retain the logs. Truthfully, ISO 27001 does not dictate a specific retention period. Therefore, it comes down to your needs. Your organization should specify the log retention period in its policy. If you are still confused, a good rule of thumb is to retain logs for at least three years.

Wrapping Up

So, are you ready to implement the log requirements of ISO 27001? Hopefully, this guide from ISO 27001 certification consultants has helped you understand the control. If you have any further queries, check out the Annex A control list of ISO 27001. Also, make sure you choose skilled and competent experts to oversee the controls and measure their effectiveness periodically.