How Can Your Application Accomplish ISO 27001 in AWS Cloud?
In this article, we will take a look at how your application can accomplish ISO 27001 in AWS Cloud. International Organization for Standardisation, also known as ISO/IEC 27001:2013, is an international body that governs the specific set of laws and regulations to secure the information.
It partners with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and works as a framework for an organization’s Information Security Management System (ISMS). This ISO model monitor establishes, implements, operates, reviews, and maintains ISMS. From releasing the first ISO standards in 2005, the latest 27001 standard includes all the significant changes developed in 2013.
This body’s primary purpose is to protect its information cost-effectively, using ISMS. In a nutshell, ISO 27001 is a set of standards and compliance to handle customer’s/organizations' information security.
What is ISMS?
This is nothing but the compilation of a set of rules. Organizations and Businesses need to abide by these rules to establish data safeguarding, mitigating and risk management, performance scaling, and identification policies and strategies. ISMS is a lower cost, legal compliance to maintain the organizations’ security and performance for their betterment and competitive advantage.
Why do we need ISO 27001?
Most countries do not emphasize implementing ISO 27001, but there are some countries that mandate that industries and businesses to implement ISO 27001. Businesses make use of ISO 27001 to protect their valuable information and data. But through certification, the customers and partners can prove their data is safeguarded by the company.
ISO 27001 Certification can be achieved by individuals too. Through the courses and the examination, candidates can prove potential employees in adding value to the organizations.
This is an internationally recognized standard, increasing business opportunities for various organizations and professionals worldwide. It can assess the risk and manage the same with the implementation of Safeguarding techniques. Dealing with the sensitive information and data needed in medicine and finance is served by ISO 27001.
ISO 27001 in AWS Cloud
ISO 27001 standard in AWS covers the infrastructure, data centers, and services, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). This way, applications and services we list on the AWS cloud are automatically governed and protected by the ISO 27001 standard.
ISO 27001 certification in AWS includes all AWS data centers in all regions worldwide, and AWS has also established a formal program to maintain the certification.
Requirements for ISO 27001
Clause 4 to clause 10 of ISO-27001 compliance mentions the companies’ requirements to comply with the standard. They are given a
- Introduction to the standards
- Contextualization for Organisations
- Leadership
- Scope
- Planning
- Support
- Operations
- Terminologies
- Definition
- Evaluation of Performance
- Improvements
- References
Compliance vs. Certification
Compliance– Set of laws to abide by. This means the organizations are following ISO-27001 standards or even the parts of it.
Certification– The companies need an ISO-27001 ISMS certification, in compliance with the certified auditors known as ‘Central Bodies’. This way, companies, and other businesses can prove to their customers, partners, or even vendors that they are secure and comply with the International standard. This is an essential step in proving the potential to handle the sensitive, clandestine information and data of fellow customers and partners.
Getting ISO 27001 Certified
- A Centralized body governs the documentation review for ISMS.
- The same certification body performs in-depth auditing, checking the ISO-27001 contents against the organization’s ISMS.
- Lastly, the certification body schedules the Follow-up auditing with the Organisation, ensuring the well running of compliance.
How much does it cost?
Considering the data breaches costing more than $4 million, the ISO-27001 takes just £ 2000 as a starter. It actually depends on the organization’s size and certification body appointed. This should include an approximate fee for training, surveillance, external support, technologies involved, and employee efforts.
What are the steps to get ISO Certification?
- Preparation – A thorough understanding of ISO-27001 compliance
- Management framework establishment – The set of instructions to provide by the organization in the implementation of ISO-27001 objectives.
- Context establishment – The external and internal factors responsible for the organization’s security.
- Objectives- Project, cost, and timeframe should be put forth in the context
- Scope establishment – Considering the needs and requirements of stakeholders, partners, employees, government, etc.
- Risk Management – Formal risk assessment and methodology to be followed by organizations.
- Training – Workshops or meets to be aware of the importance of security and data handling amongst employees and other bodies.
- Updating and Reviewing documentation- To ensure the necessary ISMS policies, standards, procedures, etc.
- Internal Audits – Managers should prevail the working knowledge of auditing processes for implementation of ISO 27001.
- Registration – After the intricate checking of the documents, the certification body moves your organization to the stage 2 registration audit
This way, within 6-12 months, the certification is issued, and the organization is good to go!
- Hiring an ISO 27001 expert always helps in accelerating the implementation process.
Tips in maintaining ISO 27001 Compliance
These are pretty much the same as the requirements/standardization plans.
Though, a final checklist to ensure the appropriate maintenance of ISO-27001 compliance can be –
- ISMS policy updating
- Scope defining
- Getting management support
- Preparing a Risk management strategy
- Jotting down control measures
- Monitoring and operating ISMS efficiently
- Internal Auditing
- Planning the preventive measures
More than 500 breaches among the large organizations worldwide have embarked on this year’s calendar, and more than a billion people get affected every year. Hence, if security and privacy are your greatest priority, ISO-27001 is the accurate answer to the adversity!
Why Cloudanix?
Cloudanix is built by a team that has experience and vision in running large workloads in the cloud ecosystem. We also believe that all the tools should weave together and be available under one umbrella rather than scattered all over the place.