In an evolving work environment, in which business’ are constantly integrating new technology into their operations to streamline performance and where many employees are now working from home, it may appear like there are endless information security risks that business’ needs to account for. However, while innovative technological developments may result in new information security risks, the basic principles of safeguarding against them remain unchanged.

It comes down to preparation, and following a simple, easy to understand plan, in which the steps your business will take to address potential risks are documented, followed through on, and then performance reviewed to ascertain the effectiveness of the strategy.

ISO 27001:2013, the International Organization for Standardization’s information security standard, outlines a number of key principles and guidelines that business’ should follow to ensure that they are adequately identifying potential risks and working to mitigate their effects, dealing with existing data breaches in a methodical, prepared manner, which sees the issue being accurately logged, assessed to determine its scope, and dealt with in the manner that least impacts the organisation’s daily operations.

Specifically, ISO 27001:2013 addresses incident reporting by explaining how to simplify the process by breaking it down into a step-by-step incident plan. This plan describes how business’ can:

• Use pro-active measures, such as data mapping of the business premises, to detect potential weak spots and vulnerabilities, and the ways in which they could be exploited. This measure allows business’ to catalogue an array of potential security threats, and log how each will be countered. This forward-thinking measure means that in the event of an incident, the business can immediately work at eliminating the issue, rather than spend time and resources ascertaining how to deal with such an event.
• Implement an internal Business Impact Analysis (BIA). A BIA addresses how different divisions within your business operations, as well as the overall organisation itself, could be affected by the potential security threats that were identified. Business’ can then work out what is an acceptable ‘downtime’ for each department. This can then be used as a guideline to ascertain whether issues are being addressed in a timely manner.
• Form an incident response team, who will oversee the steps taken to eliminate the issue. This works at both ensuring incidents are adequately dealt with, but also assists in the actual logging of issues, as it details a clear chain of command that staff follow when dealing with an problem, meaning that everyone knows what their role and responsibilities are.

ISO 27001 takes the insecurity out of business security

In short, ISO 27001:2013 is the international standard for dealing with information security breaches in business’ because it outlines a clear, well-delegated system in which contingencies are planned for, risky hypothetical scenarios are discussed to develop a plan for what to do in the event of a real breach, and staff are given easy to follow guidelines about what they can do to help mitigate the effects of a security breach.

If you are looking to give your business the edge it needs to survive and thrive in a competitive market then consider implementing ISO27001, as it not only outlines the procedures to follow in the event of information security breaches, it gives you peace of mind by ensuring that your business is protecting its most valuable assets, and upholding its reputation. Anitech Group’s Information security management consultants can assist with this endeavour, by discussing the specifics of ISO 27001 and how they relate to your business needs. If you would like some guidance in protecting your business’ information security, please contact us on 1300 802 163.