In this ultimate how to implement guide to ISO 27001 Annex A 8.29 Security Testing in Development and Acceptance, you will learn directly from an ISO 27001 Lead Auditor:
- The requirement of the control
- The required implementation steps
- The minimum requirement
I am Stuart Barker, the ISO 27001 Lead Auditor and author of the Ultimate ISO 27001 Toolkit.
Using over 30 years of industry experience across hundreds of audits, I’m giving you the exact templates, walkthroughs, and practical examples you need to achieve ISO 27001 certification.
Table of contents
- ISO 27001 Security testing in development and acceptance Implementation Checklist
- 1. Define Security Acceptance Criteria
- 2. Implement Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
- 3. Conduct Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
- 4. Perform Manual Penetration Testing
- 5. Execute Security Regression Testing
- 6. Validate Input Sanitisation
- 7. Test Authentication and Session Management
- 8. Secure the Testing Environment
- 9. Sanitise Test Data
- 10. Enforce Formal Sign-Off
- ISO 27001 Annex A 8.29 SaaS / GRC Platform Implementation Failure Checklist
Implementing ISO 27001 Annex A 8.29 is the strategic integration of security validation within the software development lifecycle to ensure systems meet specified security requirements. This control mandates the execution of security testing during development and acceptance phases, such as SAST and DAST. The primary business benefit is preventing vulnerabilities in production and reducing remediation costs.
ISO 27001 Security testing in development and acceptance Implementation Checklist
Use this implementation checklist to achieve compliance with ISO 27001 Annex A 8.29. This control mandates that security testing is integrated directly into the development lifecycle and acceptance processes to validate that requirements are met before deployment.
1. Define Security Acceptance Criteria
Control Requirement: Security requirements must be clearly defined and approved before development begins.
Required Implementation Step: Update your “Definition of Done” for every user story or feature request to include specific security criteria (e.g., “Must pass OWASP ZAP scan with zero High alerts” or “Must enforce MFA”). Do not allow a ticket to move to the ‘Testing’ column without these criteria.
Minimum Requirement: Every project specification document has a dedicated “Security Requirements” section.
2. Implement Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
Control Requirement: Code must be analysed for vulnerabilities during the development phase.
Required Implementation Step: Integrate a SAST tool (like SonarQube or Snyk) directly into your CI/CD pipeline. Configure the build to fail automatically if critical vulnerabilities (such as hardcoded credentials or SQL injection patterns) are detected in the source code.
Minimum Requirement: Automated code scanning runs on every commit.
3. Conduct Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
Control Requirement: The running application must be tested for vulnerabilities in an operating state.
Required Implementation Step: Schedule automated DAST scans against your staging environment. Tools like OWASP ZAP or Burp Suite Professional should aggressively test endpoints for runtime issues that static analysis misses, such as misconfigured headers or cross-site scripting (XSS).
Minimum Requirement: A weekly automated vulnerability scan of the staging environment.
