List of mandatory documents required by ISO 27001 (2013 revision)

Author: Dejan Kosutic

With the new revision of ISO/IEC 27001 published only a couple of days ago, many people are wondering what documents are mandatory in this new 2013 revision. Are there more or fewer documents required?

So here is the list – below you will see not only mandatory documents, but also the most commonly used documents for ISO 27001 implementation.

Mandatory documents and records required by ISO 27001:2013

Here are the documents you need to produce if you want to be compliant with ISO 27001: (Please note that documents from Annex A are mandatory only if there are risks which would require their implementation.)

• Scope of the ISMS (clause 4.3)
• Information security policy and objectives (clauses 5.2 and 6.2)
• Risk assessment and risk treatment methodology (clause 6.1.2)
• Statement of Applicability (clause 6.1.3 d)
• Risk treatment plan (clauses 6.1.3 e and 6.2)
• Risk assessment report (clause 8.2)
• Definition of security roles and responsibilities (clauses A.7.1.2 and A.13.2.4)
• Inventory of assets (clause A.8.1.1)
• Acceptable use of assets (clause A.8.1.3)
• Access control policy (clause A.9.1.1)
• Operating procedures for IT management (clause A.12.1.1)
• Secure system engineering principles (clause A.14.2.5)
• Supplier security policy (clause A.15.1.1)
• Incident management procedure (clause A.16.1.5)
• Business continuity procedures (clause A.17.1.2)
• Statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements (clause A.18.1.1)

And here are the mandatory records:

• Records of training, skills, experience and qualifications (clause 7.2)
• Monitoring and measurement results (clause 9.1)
• Internal audit program (clause 9.2)
• Results of internal audits (clause 9.2)
• Results of the management review (clause 9.3)
• Results of corrective actions (clause 10.1)
• Logs of user activities, exceptions, and security events (clauses A.12.4.1 and A.12.4.3)

Non-mandatory documents

There are numerous non-mandatory documents that can be used for ISO 27001 implementation, especially for the security controls from Annex A. However, I find these non-mandatory documents to be most commonly used:

• Procedure for document control (clause 7.5)
• Controls for managing records (clause 7.5)
• Procedure for internal audit (clause 9.2)
• Procedure for corrective action (clause 10.1)
• Bring your own device (BYOD) policy (clause A.6.2.1)
• Mobile device and teleworking policy (clause A.6.2.1)
• Information classification policy (clauses A.8.2.1, A.8.2.2, and A.8.2.3)
• Password policy (clauses A.9.2.1, A.9.2.2, A.9.2.4, A.9.3.1, and A.9.4.3)
• Disposal and destruction policy (clauses A.8.3.2 and A.11.2.7)
• Procedures for working in secure areas (clause A.11.1.5)
• Clear desk and clear screen policy (clause A.11.2.9)
• Change management policy (clauses A.12.1.2 and A.14.2.4)
• Backup policy (clause A.12.3.1)
• Information transfer policy (clauses A.13.2.1, A.13.2.2, and A.13.2.3)
• Business impact analysis (clause A.17.1.1)
• Exercising and testing plan (clause A.17.1.3)
• Maintenance and review plan (clause A.17.1.3)
• Business continuity strategy (clause A.17.2.1)

So this is it – what do you think? Is this too much to write? Do these documents cover all aspects of information security?

Click here to download the white paper Checklist of Mandatory Documentation Required by ISO 27001 (2013 Revision). It has more detailed information on the most common ways for structuring and implementing mandatory documents and records.