ISO/IEC 27001 Framework

The ISO/IEC 27001 standard, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), provides a globally recognised framework for managing information security through a structured and systematic approach. It helps organizations of all sizes and industries to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve an Information Security Management System (ISMS). By focusing on identifying and mitigating risks to information assets, ISO/IEC 27001 ensures that organizations can protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their data.

Brainframe supports your ISO/IEC 27001 compliance journey by offering a robust ISMS solution that aligns with the standard's core requirements. Our platform helps you streamline the process of risk assessment, control implementation, and continuous monitoring, providing the necessary tools to stay on top of your compliance efforts. Whether it's tracking progress, managing documentation, or conducting regular audits, Brainframe simplifies the complexities of maintaining an effective ISMS while reducing manual workloads and improving overall security posture.

ISO/IEC 27001 also emphasises continuous improvement, requiring organizations to regularly review and update their security measures in response to evolving threats and changes in the business environment. With Brainframe, you can stay proactive in your approach, ensuring that your ISMS remains relevant and effective over time. For more detailed information about ISO/IEC 27001 and its requirements visit the official ISO website.

ISO/IEC 27001 is an internationally recognised standard for managing information security. It provides a systematic approach to securing sensitive information, ensuring its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The framework helps organizations implement an Information Security Management System (ISMS) to manage risks and protect assets. The key components include :

Understanding the context of the organization is a critical first step in implementing ISO/IEC27001. This involves identifying both internal and external factors that could impact information security, such as market conditions, technological trends, regulatory requirements, and organizational culture. Organizations must also identify stakeholders, including employees, customers, partners, and regulators, to understand their expectations regarding information security. By analysing these factors, organizations can establish a strong foundation for their ISMS that aligns with their business environment and objectives.

Key tasks include:

Assessing internal and external issues relevant to information security.
Identifying key stakeholders and their expectations.
Defining the scope of the ISMS based on these insights.

Leadership plays a crucial role in the success of an ISMS. ISO/IEC27001 requires top management to demonstrate a commitment to information security by actively participating in the establishment and maintenance of the ISMS. Leadership must also ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, with appropriate authority given to those managing security processes.

Key actions by leadership include:

Setting a clear information security policy.
Providing necessary resources for ISMS implementation.
Promoting a culture of security awareness throughout the organization.
Regularly reviewing the ISMS to ensure alignment with organizational goals.

Effective planning is central to the ISO/IEC 27001 framework. This includes conducting a thorough risk assessment to identify potential threats to information assets and evaluating the likelihood and impact of these risks. Based on this assessment, organizations develop risk treatment plans to mitigate identified risks. Additionally, organizations set measurable information security objectives that are aligned with their business strategy and ISMS goals.

Key components of planning:

Risk Assessment and Treatment:
- Identify and evaluate risks to information security.
- Develop and implement treatment plans for identified risks.
Information Security Objectives:
- Define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives.

Support encompasses all resources and tools necessary for the effective operation of the ISMS. This includes ensuring that employees have the skills and knowledge required to fulfill their roles in maintaining information security. Organizations must also establish effective communication channels to keep stakeholders informed about security policies and incidents. Maintaining documented information is another critical aspect, as it provides evidence of compliance and supports the ISMS processes.

Key areas of support:

Resources: Allocate appropriate human, technical, and financial resources.
Competence and Awareness: Provide training and raise awareness among employees.
Communication: Develop clear communication strategies for internal and external stakeholders.
Documented Information: Maintain accurate records to support ISMS implementation and audits.

The operation phase focuses on the implementation of the ISMS and the execution of risk treatment plans. Organizations must ensure that their controls and processes are effective in managing identified risks. Additionally, they must be prepared to respond to security incidents to minimize their impact and ensure continuity of operations.

Key operational tasks:

Implement controls and measures as per the risk treatment plan.
Establish procedures for managing and responding to information security incidents.
Ensure business continuity by maintaining critical operations during disruptions.

Regular performance evaluation is essential to ensure the ISMS remains effective and aligned with organizational goals. This involves monitoring and measuring the performance of information security processes, conducting internal audits, and holding management reviews. These evaluations help identify areas for improvement and ensure the ISMS adapts to changing risks and business environments.

Key elements include:

Monitoring and Measurement: Use performance indicators to track ISMS effectiveness.
Internal Audits: Conduct audits to identify nonconformities and areas for improvement.
Management Review: Top management reviews ISMS performance and identifies strategic improvements.

Continuous improvement is a core principle of ISO/IEC 27001. Organizations must actively seek to enhance their ISMS by addressing nonconformities and implementing corrective actions. This ensures that the ISMS evolves in response to new risks, regulatory changes, and organizational needs. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, organizations can strengthen their security posture and resilience over time.

Key improvement activities:

Nonconformity and Corrective Action: Identify, investigate, and correct nonconformities.
Continual Improvement: Use audit findings and performance data to enhance ISMS processes.

ISO/IEC 27001 Best practices

Management Commitment

Ensure that top management is fully engaged in the ISMS. Their support is crucial for providing the necessary resources, setting security as a priority, and fostering a culture of accountability and awareness throughout the organization. Without their buy-in, it can be challenging to implement and maintain an effective ISMS.

Define Scope and Objectives

Clearly outline the scope of your ISMS to specify which information assets, systems, and processes are covered. Align the ISMS objectives with the organization’s strategic goals to ensure that security measures directly support business needs and compliance requirements.

Conduct Risk Assessments

Regularly identify, evaluate, and prioritise risks to your information assets. This helps you understand potential threats and vulnerabilities, allowing you to focus resources on areas with the highest risk, ensuring a more effective and efficient security strategy.

Adopt a Risk-based Approach

Apply controls tailored to the risks identified during the assessment. Select appropriate measures of ISO/IEC 27001 or other frameworks to reduce the likelihood and impact of potential incidents, ensuring critical assets are adequately protected.

Regular Training and Awareness

Conduct ongoing training programs to ensure that all employees understand their roles in maintaining information security. Regular awareness campaigns can help staff stay vigilant against emerging threats like phishing or social engineering.

Maintain Documentation

Keep detailed records of ISMS policies, risk assessments, control implementations, and audit findings. This documentation not only demonstrates compliance during external audits but also helps track the ISMS’s performance and areas for improvement.

Regular Audits and Improvement

Conduct periodic internal audits to evaluate the ISMS’s effectiveness and identify non-conformities. Use audit findings, along with performance metrics, to continually refine and improve your ISMS, ensuring it stays aligned with changing risks and business needs.

Test Incident Response Plans

Develop robust incident response and business continuity plans to ensure rapid detection, containment, and recovery from security incidents. Regularly test these plans through simulations to ensure they are effective and that all stakeholders know their roles in a crisis.

Brainframe overview

Asset Management

Brainframe enables you to maintain a comprehensive inventory of your assets, seamlessly mapping them to the processes they support. It allows you to assign a criticality level to each asset, ensuring you can effectively prioritise and manage your organization's key resources.

Risk Management

Brainframe allows you to define your risks for each asset or process, determine their criticality level, plan for and prioritise their mitigation, and offers a comprehensive view to track all your risks in a centralized dashboard.

Policy Management

Leverage Brainframe's comprehensive templates to efficiently develop the policies and procedures mandated by ISO/IEC 27001. Assign specific roles and responsibilities to management, ensuring their active involvement and accountability in the policy creation and decision-making process.

Maturity Management

Map your controls to their requirements and track your compliance frameworks' maturity level. Thanks to the deep integration with the task manager, you can show your progress and improve your audit efficiency.

Achieve ISO 27001

compliance with Brainframe

Self-hosted solution

Brainframe can be seamlessly implemented on your on-premises infrastructure, providing full control over your data and systems. This deployment option ensures compliance with internal security policies and regulatory requirements, while offering the same powerful features and capabilities of Brainframe’s cloud-based solutions. With on-premises implementation, you can tailor the platform to your unique environment, ensuring optimal performance and integration with existing infrastructure.

Cloud solution

Brainframe is available as a cloud-based solution, offering flexibility and scalability without the need for complex infrastructure management. This deployment option ensures quick implementation and automatic updates, while maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance. With Brainframe in the cloud, you can access the platform from anywhere, enabling seamless collaboration and ensuring that your organization stays resilient and up-to-date with minimal overhead.

Here is how Brainframe can help you with some of the ISO/IEC 27001 requirements:

Context of the Organization

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement	Brainframe Solution
4.2 Understanding the Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties To ensure the ISMS meets all relevant requirements, organizations must identify their key stakeholders and understand their information security expectations. These stakeholders could include clients, regulatory bodies, suppliers, and internal teams. Addressing their needs is critical for maintaining trust and ensuring compliance with contractual and legal obligations.	Brainframe provides a comprehensive document management system where you can inventory all of your assets and visualise it in a helicopter view. You can customise each asset's properties to store all the important information such as stakeholders, security expectations, contacts, etc... Allows detailed documentation of stakeholder requirements and expectations. Provides customizable templates to gather feedback or specific security needs from stakeholders. Tracks and manages compliance obligations, issuing automated notifications to ensure ongoing alignment with stakeholder expectations.
4.3 Determining the Scope of the ISMS Defining the scope of the ISMS is a crucial task that determines which information assets, processes, and systems are protected under the framework. A well-defined scope ensures that critical areas are included, minimizing the risk of gaps in security. The scope should be reviewed regularly to account for changes in the organization’s operations, technology, or risk landscape.	With Brainframe's document management system, you can keep an inventory of all your physical and digital assets and visualise it in a helicopter view. You can customise each asset's properties to assign criticality to your assets, ensuring that you can prioritise your security efforts properly. You can set periodic review dates for documents to ensure they are up-to-date. You can assign an asset to the relevant stakeholders and set up notifications to make sure they are accountable for the management of the asset.
4.4 Information Security Management System (ISMS) and Its Processes This requirement focuses on establishing processes that support the organization in meeting its information security objectives. Processes should be tailored to the organization’s needs, helping to manage risks, implement controls, and ensure continual improvement. These processes must also be well-documented and auditable to meet ISO/IEC 27001 standards.	Brainframe allows you to link a document to another, and visualise the dependencies in a helicopter view. To make sure your documentation is approved and up-to-date, you can schedule periodic reviews to automatically notify the stakeholder that a review action must be taken. Provides a centralized platform to design, implement, and manage ISMS processes efficiently.

Leadership

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement	Brainframe Solution
5.1 Leadership Commitment Top management must demonstrate their commitment to establishing, implementing, and maintaining an ISMS. This includes aligning the ISMS with the organization’s strategic goals, ensuring its continual improvement, and embedding information security into the organizational culture. Leadership involvement is critical for ensuring the ISMS is seen as a priority and not just a compliance exercise.	Brainframe allows you to treat your stakeholders as assets, meaning that you can assign properties to them, other assets, reviews,... In the "Task" module, they can track their progress and to-do list in a Kanban view for a clear overview of what they must do. Brainframe lets leaders assign and track security responsibilities, making it easy to oversee and reinforce security across departments. The platform supports policy approvals and automated review notifications, helping managers stay engaged and accountable for the ISMS.
5.2 Establishing an Information Security Policy Leadership is responsible for developing and communicating an information security policy that outlines the organization’s commitment to protecting its information assets. The policy should set the direction for the ISMS and be regularly reviewed to ensure it remains relevant.	Brainframe provides a centralized dashboard where you can create your information security policies from our built-in templates and customise them to your needs, or you can create them from scratch. You can link all the assets and documents related to a policy directly to the policy. It provides a distribution feature to share the policy with all staff, tracks who has read and acknowledged it, and sends reminders for regular updates.
5.3 Roles, Responsibilities, and Authorities ISO/IEC 27001 requires that roles and responsibilities related to the ISMS are clearly defined and communicated. This ensures that everyone understands their part in maintaining information security, and that accountability is established across all levels of the organization.	With Brainframe, you can assign roles, responsibilities, and security tasks to team members, ensuring clear accountability. Its task tracking feature sends notifications, so everyone knows when they have security-related actions to complete. Brainframe’s Kanban view helps individuals see all their responsibilities in one place, keeping them on track.

Planning

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement

Brainframe Solution

6.1 Addressing Risks and Opportunities

Organizations must identify potential risks and opportunities that could impact the Information Security Management System (ISMS). This involves conducting risk assessments to determine threats and vulnerabilities, and developing treatment plans to mitigate identified risks.

Brainframe’s risk module allows you to record and track risks, set priorities, and assign follow-up actions.
It provides a risk matrix to visualise and sort risks by priority, and links these actions back to business goals.
Customizable templates make it easy to create risk assessments that align with your organization’s goals and any legal requirements.

6.2 Establishing Information Security Objectives and Planning to Achieve Them

Setting clear, measurable information security objectives aligned with the organization's strategic goals is essential. Organizations must also develop plans to achieve these objectives, ensuring continuous improvement of the ISMS.

With Brainframe, you can define and track these goals, seeing progress on a centralized dashboard.
Tasks related to goals can be assigned with deadlines, and you’ll get alerts for any missed steps or upcoming reviews.
Brainframe helps teams stay focused on meeting security goals by providing clear, traceable objectives.

Support

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement	Brainframe Solution
7.1 Resources Organizations must allocate the necessary resources, including personnel, technology, and infrastructure, to effectively implement and maintain the ISMS. This ensures that the ISMS can operate smoothly and adapt to evolving security needs. Proper resource management is crucial for addressing risks and achieving information security objectives.	Brainframe provides a central platform where security resources and requirements are documented and tracked, making it easy for management to see resource allocation at a glance. It enables teams to assign resources to specific security tasks and objectives, ensuring the right people are focused on high-priority initiatives. Notifications can be set up to flag when additional resources are needed or when tasks are delayed due to resource limitations.
7.2 Competence It is essential that personnel involved in the ISMS possess the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their roles effectively. This includes both technical competencies and a thorough understanding of information security policies and procedures. Regular assessments and training programs are necessary to maintain a competent workforce.	Brainframe’s training management feature helps organizations track employee skill levels and schedule regular security training sessions. The platform logs completed training sessions and certifications, ensuring records are up to date. Managers can use Brainframe to assign skill-building tasks and monitor progress, ensuring the team remains competent in handling security responsibilities. You can upload evidences such as CVs, diplomas and other certificates to keep track of the competencies
7.3 Awareness Beyond technical competence, employees must be aware of the ISMS, their specific roles within it, and the broader importance of information security. Awareness campaigns help ensure that all staff understand how their actions contribute to maintaining a secure environment.	Brainframe makes it easy to distribute security policies, procedures as well as training video's to employees, ensuring everyone has access to the latest information. The platform can track acknowledgements, confirming that staff have read and understood key security policies. Regular reminders and notifications keep security awareness top of mind, and Brainframe’s task management tool can assign periodic refresher training.
7.4 Communication Effective communication is critical for the ISMS, both internally and externally. Clear communication ensures that stakeholders are kept informed about information security policies, incidents, and performance, fostering transparency and trust.	Brainframe enables centralized communication about security policies, roles, and incidents, with configurable access control to ensure sensitive information reaches only the right people. Notifications and alerts keep everyone informed of important updates, such as new policies or emerging threats. Managers can set up automatic reminders for regular communication, ensuring consistent information flow on security matters.
7.5 Documented Information Maintaining accurate and accessible documentation is essential for demonstrating ISMS compliance and supporting continuous improvement. This includes policies, procedures, audit reports, and other records necessary for effective ISMS operation.	Brainframe offers a document management system to organise and control all information security-related documents, including policies, procedures, and records. Built-in version control ensures that only the latest versions are accessible, and an audit trail tracks document changes. Documents can be tagged with review dates, triggering reminders for regular updates and ensuring that documentation remains current and compliant.

Operation

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement	Brainframe Solution
*8.1 Operational Planning and Control* Organizations must plan, implement, and control the processes needed to meet information security requirements and achieve the intended outcomes of the ISMS. This includes establishing criteria for these processes, implementing control measures, and maintaining documented information to ensure consistent and effective operation.	Brainframe enables you to set up and document workflows for all critical security operations, linking them to security policies and objectives. Tasks can be assigned to specific team members, with tracking and alerts to ensure activities stay on schedule. The platform’s dashboard view provides real-time status updates, helping management ensure all security activities are effectively controlled and aligned with the ISMS.
*8.2 Risk Assessment* Organizations are required to perform information security risk assessments at planned intervals and when significant changes occur. This involves identifying risks, analysing and evaluating them, and determining appropriate risk treatment options, taking into account the organization's risk appetite.	Brainframe’s risk management tools allow organizations to document and prioritise risks, set control measures, and monitor mitigation progress. The risk matrix feature helps visualise risk levels and impact, aiding in prioritising treatment efforts. Automated reminders for periodic reviews ensure that risks are regularly reassessed and updated as needed.
*8.3 Risk Treatment* Following the risk assessment, organizations must determine appropriate risk treatment options, such as mitigating, transferring, accepting, or avoiding risks. This includes implementing controls to reduce risks to acceptable levels.	Brainframe supports the entire risk treatment process, from initial risk identification to tracking mitigation actions and measuring residual risk. Treatment plans can be created, linked to specific risks, and assigned to responsible individuals or teams with progress tracking. A centralized dashboard allows management to see the status of each treatment plan, ensuring accountability and effective tracking of risk reduction efforts.

Performance Evaluation

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement	Brainframe Solution
*9.1 Monitoring, Measurement, Analysis, and Evaluation* Organizations are required to determine what needs to be monitored and measured, establish methods for monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation, and ensure valid results. This process helps in assessing the performance and effectiveness of the ISMS.	Brainframe’s dashboard allows monitoring of ISMS performance metrics and security objectives, providing management with a clear view of progress. The platform supports data tracking and analysis, enabling periodic measurement against set security KPIs and goals. Alerts and notifications help ensure regular evaluations, with reports that summarise ISMS performance for management reviews and audit readiness.
*9.2 Internal Audit* Regular internal audits are essential to verify that the ISMS conforms to the organization's requirements and the ISO/IEC 27001 standard. Audits help identify non-conformities and opportunities for improvement.	Brainframe allows for the scheduling and documentation of internal audits, tracking audit findings and corrective actions. The platform’s document management system stores audit checklists, plans, and records, making it easy to prepare for and conduct audits. Brainframe’s task management feature assigns follow-up actions from audit findings to relevant stakeholders, with notifications for deadlines and status updates to ensure timely resolutions.
*9.3 Management Review* Top management must review the ISMS at planned intervals to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. This review considers changes in external and internal issues, performance metrics, audit results, and opportunities for improvement.	Brainframe provides a centralized place to document and organize information for management reviews, including performance metrics, audit findings, and risk assessments. The platform allows management to review trends, track ISMS updates, and assess security objectives in one dashboard, enabling more effective oversight. Meeting notes, decisions, and action items from management reviews can be documented and assigned for follow-up within Brainframe, ensuring accountability and follow-through on improvement actions.

Continuous Improvement

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement

Brainframe Solution

10.1 Continual Improvement

Beyond addressing specific non-conformities, organizations are encouraged to proactively seek opportunities for enhancing the ISMS. This involves regularly evaluating the system's performance, staying informed about emerging threats, and adapting processes to improve information security outcomes.

Brainframe provides tools to track ISMS improvements, allowing teams to document and monitor enhancement initiatives within the platform.
The platform’s reporting and analytics features enable regular review of ISMS performance data, helping identify trends and areas where improvements can be made.
Brainframe’s centralized dashboard allows management to set, track, and review improvement objectives, keeping continuous improvement efforts visible and prioritised.

10.1 Nonconformity and Corrective Actions

Organizations must establish processes to identify and address non-conformities within the ISMS. This includes determining the causes of non-conformities, implementing corrective actions to prevent recurrence, and reviewing the effectiveness of these actions.

Brainframe’s task management feature allows teams to log, track, and address non-conformities by assigning corrective actions to specific team members.
Non-conformities can be documented within Brainframe, detailing root cause analysis and actions taken, with status tracking to ensure issues are fully resolved.
Automatic reminders and notifications help prevent delays in corrective actions, and completed actions are stored for future audit reference and continuous improvement efforts.

Annex A Controls

ISO/IEC 27001 requirement

Brainframe Solution

Annex A of ISO 27001:2022 provides a comprehensive set of controls to support the implementation of an ISMS. These controls are organized into four categories:

Organizational Controls: Focus on governance, policies, roles, risk management, and supplier relationships.
People Controls: Address training, awareness, and role-based security responsibilities.
Physical Controls: Ensure the physical protection of information assets and facilities.
Technological Controls: Cover technical measures like access control, encryption, network security, and incident response.

Organizations use Annex A as a reference to select controls based on their risk assessments, ensuring tailored security measures and regulatory compliance. The controls also support continuous improvement and audit readiness through regular monitoring and updates.

Brainframe provides a document management system to create and store all security policies and procedures, ensuring easy access for relevant stakeholders.
Brainframe's "Task" module allows you to translate processes into an actionable Kanban view for a better overview and process related tasks in a central place.
You can link documents/assets to the relevant policies and procedures to keep a full overview.
You can track the maturity of your policies and procedure in line with ISO requirements and save hours when performing an audit.
You can define a role for your personnel to ensure they have the relevant responsibilities configured automatically when it comes to your assets.
Easily distribute documents such as policies and procedures to the concerned staff, and notify them of actions to be performed such as completion, review, or update.

Audit trail

Brainframe ensures a comprehensive and automated audit trail by recording all actions, changes, and updates made within the system. It tracks user activities, policy modifications, risk assessments, and compliance measures, providing clear, time-stamped documentation. This detailed audit trail not only simplifies internal and external audits but also ensures transparency, accountability, and alignment with standards like ISO/IEC 27001.

KPIs

Brainframe enables comprehensive KPI monitoring, providing a centralized dashboard for tracking key performance metrics across departments or product lines. It offers real-time insights to ensure clear visibility into progress and performance. This streamlined approach facilitates data-driven decision-making and helps maintain alignment with organizational goals and compliance requirements.

Integrations

Brainframe supports seamless integrations with your existing systems (SharePoint, JIRA, Monday.com,...) allowing you to easily import documents and records. This ensures a smooth transition by centralising all relevant files within the platform, reducing manual work, and maintaining consistency. By integrating your current document workflows, the software helps streamline processes and enhance efficiency across your organization.

Interested in knowing more?

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