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Cyber threats are among the biggest and most costly threats to a company in the modern day. As a business owner, you owe it to your clients and employees to ensure the safety of their assets. A good place to start is with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 27001. ISO is a non-governmental organization held up as the international standard for a wide range of industries. It is held in high regard as one of the best options for maintaining security protocol. Companies need to maintain ISO certification to remain compliant.
Implementation of this standard isn’t the only thing you need to consider. To comply with ISO 27001, you need your team to put safety first. The best way to do this is by making sure everyone understands their job within the system and does it well. This requires knowledge of ISO 27001 roles and responsibilities. Being able to employ the nuances of the framework is crucial to a strong security strategy.
ISO 27001 is an international information security standard designed to help businesses develop, integrate, maintain, and improve their information security management system (ISMS). The Role and Responsibility Document outlines specific duties for each party in an organization as they relate to information security.
The guidelines established in ISO 27001 are based on risk-avoidance factors at all levels.
The document is divided into 10 clauses that outline the standard’s primary directives. Clause 5 of the document specifically addresses leadership and goes into how to delegate the roles within your ISMS. Looking closer, Clause 5.3 speaks explicitly about allocating ISO 27001 roles and responsibilities within your ISMS to ensure the security and functionality of your system.
Top management should be responsible for clearly defining and communicating roles relevant to security within the organization. They are also responsible for assigning authority and responsibility to individuals to ensure their protocol aligns with the standards established in ISO 27001. Aside from this, top management is responsible for establishing and delegating employees to oversee the feedback process and directly review the same.
Create a list of roles and responsibilities you have to fill within your organization, such as senior management, security lead, compliance officer, and so on.
Once you have defined the roles, use a competency matrix to ensure that those you place in roles are qualified. Documentation of certifications and qualifications for the person assigned to the role will improve the authority of your ISMS.
The main goal in creating the roles is to encourage specialization, evidence competency, reduce conflict, and clearly define responsibilities. Not only will being transparent about the responsibilities of each role inform your employees of their job duties, but it will also benefit you to have written documentation upholding clause 5.3 during audits.
Management review involves ensuring policy implementation and reporting back to top management about the status of the ISMS. Choose at least one individual from each department to act on this committee and create a failsafe authorized to act on their behalf should they not be present.
This committee should ideally meet once every month to three months and more frequently leading up to audits or during the beginning of implementation. If you employ a meeting calendar, scheduling meetings in advance and documenting the minutes can keep things running smoothly.
Several other players in your ISMS need to be defined, in addition to top management. Since these roles may interact and overlap in some cases, it is important to define each role as much as possible.
The most important position below your top manager is your Information security manager. This person oversees the implementation of your ISMS and plays a key role in the managerial feedback process. They may also help design the ISMS and provide appropriate documentation of successful implementation.
The duties of this position may overlap with those of your Risk Assessment Team, which is responsible for assessing potential security risks, reporting them, and employing risk mitigation techniques.
In addition to these roles, you should also create an IT Manager role within your ISMS. A technical professional on your team allows you to implement cyber security protocols to build a robust technical infrastructure. Your IT team is responsible for troubleshooting your website and authentication technology and keeping employees up to date on meaningful changes.
Your human resources lead is the counterpart to this. This role seeks to ensure an understanding of and compliance with the ISMS. Human resources is also responsible for screening new employees and managing employee access.
Lastly, you can assign a legal compliance officer and a security awareness coordinator. The legal compliance officer is responsible for advising on legal matters related to ISMS and keeping up to date with important legal changes that might affect the business. The security awareness coordinator helps foster a security-focused culture within the organization. They are also responsible for creating safety awareness training and encouraging the reporting of potential security risks.
Focusing on a security-first culture using the ISO 27001 roles and responsibilities document is essential to creating a functioning ISMS. By fully understanding the implications outlined in ISO 27001, you will be more able to pass audits and provide ongoing security as well as remain in compliance with ISO 27001. This will help you ensure that all aspects of information security are managed properly and that everyone within the organization understands their part in maintaining a secure environment.
We encourage you to embrace the trusted international standard and get ISO 27001 certified. Having a strong and reliable ISMS is a positive business practice that can save you from costly cyber attacks, and build trust with your consumers. We can help you integrate your current technology and automate your systems. Contact us if you would like to set up an ISMS for your company, or if you want to request a free demo of our services.
