The ISO 27001 Audit Checklist

Accreditation with ISO 27001 can be a complex undertaking with much paperwork involved, so preparation is key to ensure a smooth journey and your company reaches its goal of data security.

Use a checklist to track all the requirements for your ISMS. This includes policies, procedures and plans for business continuity.

1. Risk Assessment

ISO 27001’s assessment process identifies threats and vulnerabilities that threaten information security within an organization. You need to identify what might harm data, its severity of impact and who would best address any concerns identified during this step.

As part of your risk acceptance criteria, it is also necessary to set your level of residual risk that you’re willing to accept. A scenario-based or asset-based risk analysis approach are both viable options; with the latter generally providing more comprehensive analysis.

Once your team has developed its rules for risk evaluation, it is time to start. This typically happens through interviews with responsible persons from each department who then assess each risk’s consequences and likelihood using your chosen scales.

2. Documentation

Documentation is key in the ISO 27001 audit process and must cover everything from scope of assessment to the audit report itself.

Documentation should be easy for all employees to comprehend, accessible and should include notes and comments to aid clarity of information.

Your documentation should then be used to assess how closely the controls meet applicable standards, as well as evaluate whether or not your ISMS is effectively handling the risks identified during risk analysis.

Documenting can take time depending on the size and maturity of your organization’s ISMS, so it is crucial that sufficient time be set aside to complete it correctly.

3. Audit Planning

An ISMS documentation review serves as a precursor to formal audit, with its primary goal of ensuring all internal resources have access to all necessary information and that your documentation meets ISO 27001. As part of this process, an independent resource may be hired as a facilitator to conduct these reviews and avoid potential conflicts of interest.

An integral component of this process is creating an audit checklist. This allows you to keep track of everything you need to review during your main audit – for instance, backup frequency requirements should be scheduled regularly in your checklist.

Prepare an ISMS audit workplan that details timing and resources required. Use conventional project planning charts or use Secureframe to generate this plan.

4. Audit Fieldwork

Once they’ve established an audit scope with management, auditors must create a more practical plan. This involves identifying key ISMS stakeholders and gathering the documents that will be audited; conventional project planning charts often help here.

Auditor will conduct field reviews as part of their audit process to observe and interview employees about how ISMS implementation takes place in practice, then sort and review audit evidence against ISMS risk treatment plans and control objectives.

Once all audit records have been analyzed, an audit report will be provided for management review. It is essential that this record be preserved as a valuable reference tool; additionally it’s wise to take notes regarding any nonconformities that need correcting and documenting as soon as possible.

5. Audit Report

Once the audit is over, you must compile a report detailing what was observed and its correlation to your ISMS. This step of the process provides you with an opportunity to present your findings to all relevant parties; additionally, this report should contain details on all nonconformities found during audit (minor and major nonconformities as well as opportunities for improvement) found during your examination of your organization.

This report should then be given to your ISMR and used as part of their next management review cycle. Furthermore, this can serve as an educational opportunity to show team members how their role in maintaining compliance will have an effectful impact on the company as a whole – giving them more ownership over ISMS processes and increasing buy-in to it while reinforcing why ISO certification matters so much!