There is an old saying in the world of information security: the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. This is the main idea behind ISO 27001 Annex A 5.6. It is a control that people often overlook, but it is vital for building a strong defence. After all, if your compliance stops at your office walls, it is fragile. Your real network is your early-warning system.
This control is not about boring compliance work or collecting memberships like trading cards. It is about creating a living loop of feedback that ensures your security programme adapts in real time.
For you as an AI company, this is a strategic necessity, not just a “nice-to-have.” You are working on the frontier of technology, which means you are also facing new risks every day. If you rely only on what your internal team knows, you are vulnerable. By engaging with external Special Interest Groups (SIGs), you tap into a massive brain trust. This gives you the early warnings and solutions you need to stay ahead.
This guide acts as your playbook. We will look at what the requirements actually mean, why they matter for AI, and how you can turn this control into a competitive advantage.
Table of contents
1. Demystifying Annex A 5.6: What Is It Really Asking For?
To do this right, you need to understand the core purpose. Annex A 5.6 asks you to establish and maintain contact with security forums, professional associations, and special interest groups. The goal is to ensure an “appropriate flow of information” takes place.
It is designed to break down your walls so you aren’t operating in a vacuum. To make this clear, it helps to compare it with its neighbour, Annex A 5.5. Think of it as the difference between people who can teach you and people who can fine you.
Annex A 5.6 is about your ‘Friends’: These are collaborative bodies that provide intelligence. The goal is proactive learning and getting early warnings. You are there to absorb knowledge.
Annex A 5.5 is about the ‘Police’: These are regulatory and legal authorities. The goal is ensuring you comply with the law. You are there to meet demands and avoid fines.
Engaging with the ‘Friends’ (SIGs) strengthens your Information Security Management System (ISMS) by giving you three things: threat intelligence on new malware, best practices from peers in your sector, and expert guidance on niche problems.
2. The Strategic Value for AI Companies
For an AI company, controls like Annex A 5.6 are your secret weapon. You are in a high-stakes industry where trust is everything. Proving that you are committed to continuous learning makes you stand out in the market.
These groups are vital for spotting threats specific to AI. If you actively participate in groups like OWASP’s AI security projects, you get a direct line to warnings about data poisoning, adversarial attacks, and model theft. This feedback loop moves you from theoretical risks to practical defences.
The return on investment here is real. Actively engaged firms are 25% more likely to pass their audit on the first attempt. Furthermore, real-time alerts from these groups can help you cut your incident response times in half. For an AI company, where a breach can destroy your reputation instantly, speed is everything.
Using the HighTable.io ISO 27001 toolkit can help you track these metrics effortlessly, turning compliance data into a tool for securing board-level buy-in.
3. Your Implementation Playbook
Implementing Annex A 5.6 doesn’t have to be complicated. You just need a systematic approach. Follow these four steps to turn this requirement into a valuable part of your operations.
Step 1: Curate Your List
First, identify a targeted list of groups. Don’t just join everything; focus on relevance. You need a mix that covers general security, your specific tech stack, and AI governance.
- Professional Bodies (e.g., ISACA, ISC2): Good for career development and broad knowledge.
- Government CERTs (e.g., NCSC, CISA): Essential for national threat alerts.
- Technical & AI Forums (e.g., OWASP): Crucial for deep technical knowledge on AI vulnerabilities.
- Vendor Groups (e.g., AWS/Azure Security): Necessary for patch warnings on your infrastructure.
Step 2: Assign Ownership
This is where most people fail. It is not enough to just “be a member.” You need a named individual responsible for reading the updates. If alerts sit in an inbox unread, the control is failing.
Assign a specific owner for every group. Your Lead ML Engineer should own the OWASP AI updates. Your Cloud Lead should own the AWS bulletins. Your CISO should handle the professional bodies.
Step 3: Create the Feedback Loop
To pass your audit, you must prove that information leads to action. Passive reading isn’t enough. You need to show how external insights change your internal processes.
A simple “Forum to Slack to Jira” trail works wonders. An owner sees an alert, posts it in a team channel, and the team creates a ticket to fix it. This proves your engagement is dynamic.
Step 4: Document the Register
During an audit, the auditor will ask to see your register of special interest groups. This is your primary evidence. It doesn’t need to be complex; a well-maintained table is perfect.
The HighTable.io toolkit provides templates for this register, ensuring you capture exactly what the auditor wants to see without overcomplicating it.
4. Acing the Audit: Common Pitfalls
Auditors are trained to spot “paper compliance.” They will look to see if your engagement is real. They will likely ask your assigned owners, “What have you learned from this group recently?”
If your team responds with a blank stare, that is a non-conformity. Here is how to avoid common traps:
- The Outdated Register: If your list has dead links or no review date, you will struggle. Review it quarterly and document the date.
- The “Tick-Box” Membership: Ensure your owners can describe a recent benefit or alert they received.
- The Information Silo: Don’t keep intelligence locked away with one person. Use automated workflows to share alerts with the wider team.
5. The Multiplier Effect
Mastering Annex A 5.6 supports more than just ISO 27001. It creates a multiplier effect for other frameworks relevant to AI companies.
For example, the EU AI Act and ISO 42001 require evidence of peer learning and due diligence. Active participation in SIGs is perfect proof of this. Similarly, for GDPR, privacy-focused groups help you stay ahead of legal changes. If you are in finance, DORA explicitly mandates threat intelligence sharing.
By centralising your evidence in the HighTable.io platform, you can export this proof for multiple regulations at once, saving you from a resourcing crisis when new laws arrive.
Conclusion
ISO 27001 Annex A 5.6 is far more than a bureaucratic hurdle. It is a mechanism for embedding continuous learning into your organisation’s DNA. By identifying the right sources, assigning ownership, and acting on intelligence, you build an ISMS that is alive and responsive.
For an AI company, this commitment to collaborative learning is exactly what distinguishes a resilient, trustworthy organisation in a competitive market.
About the author
Stuart Barker is a veteran practitioner with over 30 years of experience in systems security and risk management.
Holding an MSc in Software and Systems Security, Stuart combines academic rigor with extensive operational experience. His background includes over a decade leading Data Governance for General Electric (GE) across Europe, as well as founding and exiting a successful cyber security consultancy.
As a qualified ISO 27001 Lead Auditor and Lead Implementer, Stuart possesses distinct insight into the specific evidence standards required by certification bodies. He has successfully guided hundreds of organizations – from high-growth technology startups to enterprise financial institutions – through the audit lifecycle.
His toolkits represents the distillation of that field experience into a standardised framework. They move beyond theoretical compliance, providing a pragmatic, auditor-verified methodology designed to satisfy ISO/IEC 27001:2022 while minimising operational friction.
