ISO 27001 is an international standard for information security management systems (ISMS), providing organizations with a framework to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their information.
Organizations seek to achieve ISO 27001 certification to show customers, vendors and regulators (not to mention their own employees!) that they have established processes to manage and protect sensitive data and have undertaken “best practice” steps to reduce the risk of data breaches, cyberattacks, and non-compliance with the increasingly complex web of local, national, and international comprehensive privacy laws, many of which apply extraterritorially (i.e., to anyone who does business in the state or country)!
Not surprisingly, Information Governance (IG) best practices play a critical role in helping organizations to achieve ISO 27001 compliance. In particular, IG best practices offer organizations a defined and strategic approach to managing data and records in all formats, from retention to classification, that can support ISO 27001 compliance efforts. And we believe that you can't really comply with ISO 27001 without having robust IG best practices in place.
Here are 5 six critical ways that we believe IG practices are mission critical for organizations seeking to achieve and maintain ISO 27001 compliance.
Retention Compliance: Managing Data for Security and Cost Efficiency. Put simply, retention compliance means establishing and enforcing policies for how long data and records should be retained and when it should be securely destroyed. The most important of these policies is the up-to-date and legally defensible retention schedule. Knowing when to destroy records is essential for ISO 27001 compliance, as it ensures that only necessary data is stored, reducing exposure to breaches and legal risks. And the benefits are not just theoretical – research by Deloitte found that organizations implementing robust retention policies saw a 30% reduction in data storage costs.
Metadata Classification: Improving Data Accuracy and Access Control. Metadata classification is the process of organizing and tagging data with descriptive information (metadata) to make it easier to identify, locate, and manage for security, compliance, and efficiency purposes. ISO 27001 compliant organizations must know where their sensitive data is located – and effective metadata classification plays a key role in making that happen! In fact, according to one Gartner study, organizations using advanced metadata strategies experienced a 50% improvement in data retrieval accuracy.
Risk Assessments: Identifying and Mitigating Vulnerabilities. Another requirement of ISO 27001 is the obligation to conduct regular risk assessments to information systems and implement controls to mitigate them. IG practices, such as continuous risk assessments and monitoring, enable organizations to improve the accuracy of these assessments and have the potential to drastically reduce data breaches.
IG Policies and Procedures: Establishing a Strong Governance Framework. ISO-27001 certified organizations need a comprehensive governance policy framework to manage and secure information. In this vein, and not surprisingly, a Bain & Company Study found that organizations with robust IG policies saw a 40% improvement in data security and privacy, which is critical for preventing unauthorized access, data loss, or breaches.
Automation: Reducing Compliance Costs and Enhancing Efficiency. Automated tools help track retention schedules, manage data security, and ensure timely responses to compliance requirements, such as data deletion. According to IBM Research, businesses using automated governance tools can reduce compliance-related costs by 25%, as automation minimizes the need for manual intervention and reduces the risk of human error. This efficiency makes it easier to stay compliant with ISO 27001’s rigorous data management standards.
Achieving ISO 27001 compliance is a critical step for organizations looking to protect their data, reputation, and legal standing. By integrating Information Governance best practices—such as retention compliance, metadata classification, risk assessments, automation, and clear processor agreements—businesses can streamline their compliance efforts while improving security and reducing costs.
Simply put, proper IG strategies in place, equip organizations to meet their compliance demands, maintain vendor and customer confidence, and avoid regulatory penalties. And, privacy simply cannot be divested from records management best practices!
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