ISO Certification broadly relates to whether a company has put in place enough controls and security measures to fulfill the requirements of the ISO organization and its specific range of standards. Depending on the actual certification, it shows customers that those particular standards have been met and verified by an independent auditor giving them more confidence in the company as a whole.
It is a surefire way to increase that confidence in the face of increased security threats and cybercrime. Although compliance does not ensure that a company is completely immune from cyber-attacks, it goes a long way to proving that the company by and large is aware of information security implications and has controls in place to protect their sensitive data as much as possible.
What is ISO?
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is not run by any specific country or government and is therefore completely independent, drawing on the foremost standards agencies from 160 different member countries. Over the years they have developed over 22,200 international standards covering a wide range of industries to ensure quality and safety. These are not regulatory but are certainly advantageous to inspire customer’s confidence in a company’s security and quality standards. Technology companies tend to choose to conform to ISO 27001, ISO 31000 and ISO 9001, as they are ideal for maintaining quality control and security throughout the development cycle and implementation.
What is ISO 27001?
The ISO 27001 standard relates to Information Security Management Systems (ISMS), the preservation of integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information and who will be able to access it. The presence of a certification for this standard will instill confidence in customers that the organization will be keeping their data secure at all times. Audited documentation must include the scope for the ISMS as well as an information security policy including roles and responsibilities. A thorough risk assessment of internal operating procedures as well as those of suppliers and third-parties must be included, and an explanation of disaster recovery plans and business continuity procedures in the event of a security breach.
What is ISO 31000?
The ISO 31000 standard deals with Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and includes senior management’s approach to threats and the controls put in place to eliminate them or reduce their likelihood. This can be from a risk management point of view or assessed using process elements or maturity models; documentation must support the process used.
What is ISO 9001?
The ISO 9001 standard is concerned with quality control and results in the creation of a Quality Management System (QMS). The QMS has to document the quality control objectives related to all processes and the responsibility for them. The audit will require documentation relating to the controls expected throughout the design, creation and implementation stages, as well as measurements of the results of the quality controls specified. These results are then reviewed so that any inconsistencies can be revisited and improved.
Is ISO Conformity as good as ISO certification?
The short answer is no. ISO conformity just means that the organization concerned is attempting to comply with the ISO standards by creating internal audits and having robust Quality Management Systems. Only when they are audited by a qualified assessor and given their certification will they become properly ISO certified. This certification will be specific in that it will reference the exact standard the company was audited on, for example ISO:9001:2015 Certification rather than simply ISO certified.
Who Can Certify a Company?
ISO itself just creates the standards, there are separate companies or assessors that investigate and certify businesses hoping to reach compliance. The Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) makes sure that those assessors are fully qualified to certify a company, giving them an ISO accreditation and classing them as certification bodies. Therefore, only those certification bodies can prove that they meet the standards CASCO has set, and meeting these standards allows them to determine whether or not the organization they are reviewing is allowed to be certified.
How Automation Can Improve Efficiency
Automating ISO Standards using software can help make compliance much easier. If manual methods are used with the huge number of spreadsheets and reports that are needed, it can be easy to miss something. However, if there is one single system of record that many people can update, it is far easier to maintain information for both internal and external audits. It can easily show you where there are gaps in your processing and where improvements can be made, while also having all the information to hand to create all the required mandatory reporting. With the addition of an automated workflow that allows basic regulatory content to be collated, automating compliance is a far easier way to make sure your company and data is secure and ISO certified successfully.
