ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 Response To Information Security Incidents

Introduction

In this ultimate guide to ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 Response To Information Security Incidents you will learn

• What is ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26
• How to implement ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26

I am Stuart Barker, the ISO 27001 Ninja and author of the Ultimate ISO 27001 Toolkit.

With over 30 years industry experience I will show you what’s new, give you ISO 27001 templates, show you examples, do a walkthrough and show you how to implement it for ISO 27001 certification.

What is ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26?

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 Response to information security incidents is an ISO 27001 Annex A control that requires an organisation to respond to information security incidents based on documented procedures.

Purpose

The purpose of ISO 2701 Annex A 5.10 is a corrective control that ensures efficient and effective response to information security incidents.

Definition

ISO 27001 defines Annex A 5.26 as:

Information security incidents should be responded to in accordance with the documented procedures.

ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.26 Response to information security incidents

Implementation Guide

To implement ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 is straightforward. You are going to document processes and procedures for information security incident response and then communicate to those people that need to know about it.

The team that does the response is going to be designated which means you know and have recorded who they are and they are going to have the required competence to do the job.

What should the incident response process include?

The information security incident response process is going to include

• Containment: stopping the incident from spreading or getting worse
• Evidence Collection: collecting evidence of what happened
• Escalation: considering and acting on escalation as required which may mean invoking business continuity
• Logging: recording the response activities and what you did so you can analyse it later
• Communicating: telling people about the processes so they know what is expected and what to do
• Sharing: sharing knowledge with people that would be interested to improve responsiveness and reduce wider impact
• Closing: once the incident ends formally closing the incident and recording it
• Root cause: identifying why it happened and acting on that root cause conclusion.

The 3 steps of Information Security Incident Response

The 3 steps in information security incident response are:

1. Identification: identifying the information security incident
2. Assessment: assessing and prioritising the information security incident
3. Response: responding to the information security incident incident

Implementation Conclusion

This guide provides a framework for responding to an information security incident. The guide should be used in conjunction with your information security incident management plan.

The standard that relates to information security management for further reading if required is ISO/IEC 27035

ISO 27001 Templates

You can save months of effort with the ISO 27001 Toolkit that take 25 years of experience and distill it in a pack of prewritten best practice awesomeness. We have included guides on how to respond to incidents and resources to help your implementation.

How to comply

To comply with ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 you are going to implement the ‘how’ to the ‘what’ the control is expecting. In short measure you are going to:

1. Document your information security incident response process
2. Assign and document the roles and responsibilities involved in the information response process
3. Communicate the incident response processes that those that need to know about it
4. Implement appropriate controls to mitigate, monitor and report on information security incidents
5. Monitor and review the information security incident response effectiveness

How to pass an audit

To pass an audit of ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 Information security incidents should be responded to in accordance with the documented procedures you are going to make sure that you have followed the steps above in how to comply.

1. Have a documented information security incident management plan.
2. Implement the information security incident management plan.
3. Monitor the effectiveness of the information security incident management plan.
4. Review and update the information security incident management plan as needed.

What the audit will check

The audit is going to check a number of areas. Lets go through the main ones

1. That you have documented your roles, responsibilities and process

The audit will check the documentation, that you have reviewed it and signed and it off and that it represents what you actually do not what you think they want to hear.

2. That you can demonstrate the process working

They are going to ask you for evidence to the incident response process and take one example. For this example you are going to show them and walk them through the process and prove that you followed it and that the process worked.

3. That you can learn your lesson

Documenting your lessons learnt and following this through to continual improvements or incident and corrective actions will be checked. They want to see that not only did you respond but that you learnt from it and did something to improve that reduced or eliminated the possibility of it happening again.

Top 3 Mistakes People Make

The top 3 Mistakes People Make For ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 are

1. Not having a documented information security incident response plan.

This is the most common mistake made by organisations. A documented information security incident response plan is essential for effective incident response. It should include the following:

• A process for identifying information security incidents.
• A process for assessing the impact of information security incidents.
• A process for prioritising information security incidents.
• A process for responding to information security incidents.
• A process for recording information security incidents.

2. Not implementing the information security incident response plan.

Even if you have a documented information security incident response plan, it is not enough to simply have the plan. The plan must be implemented in order to be effective. This means assigning responsibility for implementing the plan, providing training on the plan, and testing the plan.

3. Not monitoring the effectiveness of the information security incident response plan.

Once the information security incident response plan is implemented, it is important to monitor its effectiveness. This means reviewing reports of information security incidents, conducting audits of the plan, and taking corrective action as needed.

By avoiding these mistakes, you can ensure that you have an effective information security incident management plan in place.

Why is ISO 27001 Response to Information Security Incidents Important?

As the saying goes, shit happens. It is facts of life. No system or security is 100% We cannot be on the back foot when the inevitable happens and effective incident management can eliminate or reduce the impact of information security incidents.

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 Response to information security incidents is important because it provides guidance on how to manage information security incidents. Information security incidents can have a significant impact on an organisation, so it is important to have a plan in place for how to respond to them. The guidance in ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26 can help you to develop and implement an effective information security incident response plan.

The following are some of the benefits of having an effective information security incident response plan:

• It can help to reduce the impact of information security incidents.
• It can help to protect the organisations reputation.
• It can help to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
• It can help to improve the organisations overall information security posture.

FAQ

ISO 27001 controls and attribute values

Control type	Information security properties	Cybersecurity concepts	Operational capabilities	Security domains
Corrective	Confidentiality	Respond	Information Security Event Management	Defence
	Integrity	Recover
	Availability