Guidelines for Protecting Information Assets with ISO 27001 Certification

Businesses need to rely on huge information assets for conducting their daily operations. The ISO 27001 standard helps them to have the most comprehensive, robust management system for taking care of their information assets. While ISO 27001 certification can be said as the validation tool for your information security management system (ISMS), this article explains how exactly the standard has wider influence. It helps with the adoption of stringent security practices and measures that protect information assets across the organization concerning all its processes, people, suppliers, partners and customers.

ISMS is not only about taking care of the digital information assets that are stored or processed in the IT systems but is also about the information that are manually recorded in paper files or folders. These generally include the company’s policies, intellectual property assets, contract papers, bills, receipts for accounting and so on.

ISO 27001 standard hence covers widespread aspects regarding information security and helps organizations go far more beyond just ensuring the security of digital information systems. In fact, it is for this standard that organizations could get a clear idea of the information security management concept and develop their ISMS precisely. Here are provided some practical answers and guidelines about the standard to help you in the successful implementation of ISMS.

What Information Assets Should Be Protected?

Many organizations assume that assets comprise only the information stored in computers, hardware or IT systems, and software applications of the organization. However, the standard provides regulations and practices for protecting all forms of information that are used by the organization or add value to its processes. They secure information regardless of its type or volume, where and how it is stored, and how it is processed or used.

Why Safety for Information Assets is Crucial?

Information assets are critically important for businesses, irrespective of the size of their organizations or industries they belong to. Some information assets are highly confidential such as financial records which need to be protected for efficient decision-making regarding sales. Some information is concerning the customers, employees, or third parties of a business and hence must be protected in the first place to preserve the integrity of the company. Any information sent out through emails or other exchange systems from one department to department should also be protected to ensure smooth flow of operations. Information regarding patents, ownership matters, or intellectual property assets needs to be secured to sustain competitive advantage of the business in its particular industry.

Clearly, every type of information has certain significance to the business and so there should be respective procedures or measures by the ISMS to protect each type.

How to Protect Information Assets?

No matter how significant is the nature of the information, where it is used in the business or by whom, it should be protected by the organization at any cost. The procedure of establishing an ISMS therefore must start with defining the information assets one by one which needs to be protected. An organization can structure an inventory for its information assets, where for each asset type they can establish:

· Which members or processes are responsible for it?

· What is the purpose or uses of the asset?

· How any damage or breach to it can affect the organization?

Once an organization is successful at classifying its information assets, its information security officials can brainstorm to find out the measures or practices required for protecting each asset type. With ISO 27001’s strategic and systematic approach, they mostly need a 3-step process for that:

· Determining the legal security compliance that should be met by the assets

· Financial value or ethical importance of the assets to the organization

· Potential damages or consequences to the organization if the information is shared, manipulated or modified in an unauthorized way.

Protecting the information hence includes identifying the relevant assets, who are associated with them and how, and also the threats that they can face.

How to Manage Risks to Information Security?

Risk management procedures under ISO 27001 are systematic too. An organization needs to analyze the vulnerabilities of the risks and evaluate options to treat them. Risk treatment options include

· Avoiding the risk by completely eliminating the cause or causes

· Reducing the risk by applying immediate security controls or administrative rules

· Sharing the risk i.e. outsourcing it to a third-party which has resources or practices to treat it effectively

· Accepting the risk if it evaluated to fall under the risk acceptance criteria

Information assets are one of the integral possessions of a business that helps in their operations, decision-makings, and safeguarding the honesty or integrity of the company. They should be hence protected from any type of risks or breaches. The security guidelines which you need to adopt with ISO 27001 certification is not much challenging. They make your approach to ISMS simple and systematic and provide competitive advantage to your organization.

Author Bio:

Damon Anderson is the owner of an ISO certification agency that assists organizations in different sectors to get essential certifications like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 31000, ISO 27001 certification, and so on. He is the author of blogs and likes to share his knowledge on compliance of ISMS with ISO 27001 standard through his write-ups.

Contact Details:

Business Name: Compliancehelp Consulting, LLC
Email Id: info@quality-assurance.com
Phone No: 877 238 5855