Who Should Hold ISO 27001 Certification

Who ISO 27001 concerns

ISO 27001 applies to organizations of all sizes and sectors, regardless of the country they operate in. It is a management-system certificate rather than a product certificate, and its requirements scale up or down to match the organization. It is particularly relevant in sectors where the protection of information carries high stakes, including finance, healthcare, public sector, and IT.

We receive a consistent stream of questions about who ISO 27001 is intended for, and our consultancy and certification work helps clarify the answer for organizations considering the standard. The certificate is also important for organizations that manage information on behalf of others, including outsourcing providers. It can be used to confirm to customers that their information is protected by a maintained management system rather than by informal practice.

The original standard in this area, BS 7799, was prepared by the British Standards Institution and has existed since 1998, but it was not itself an international standard. The earlier ISO 17799 provided guidance on how information security could be done better, but it was not a standard against which organizations could certify themselves. The former BS 7799 was replaced by the international standard that is now known, in its current form, as ISO 27001.

ISO 27001 was prepared to provide a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining, and improving an information security management system (ISMS). That is the function of the standard in a single sentence: it defines what an ISMS must be able to do.

The standard provides a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining, and improving an information security management system. The wording is deliberately repeated because the operating-and-improvement half of that sentence is exactly what separates a living management system from a binder that sits on a shelf.

The ISMS standard covers all types of organization, including commercial enterprises, public-sector bodies, and not-for-profits. It specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining, and improving a documented ISMS within the context of the organization's total business risks. It also specifies the requirements for implementing security controls that are customized to the needs of individual organizations or their parts.

The ISMS is designed to provide adequate and proportionate security controls that protect information assets and give confidence to interested parties. With our sector experience, Sistem Patent Kalite Certification and Test Consultancy is among the recognized providers in Turkiye and is proud to be one of the country's leading firms in this area. You can reach us through our offices in Izmir, Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Adana, Antalya, Konya, Kayseri, and Eskisehir, or online through our contact channels.