ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.7 Threat Intelligence for SMEs

In this guide, I will show you exactly how small businesses and SMEs can implement ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.7 Threat intelligence without the enterprise-level complexity. You will get a complete walkthrough of the control tailored for organizations with limited resources, along with practical examples and access to ISO 27001 templates that make compliance easy.

I am Stuart Barker, an ISO 27001 Lead Auditor with over 30 years of experience auditing businesses of all sizes. I will cut through the jargon to show you exactly what changed in the 2022 update and provide the plain-English advice you need to get your small business certified.

Key Takeaways: ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 Threat Intelligence (SME Edition)

For Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 does not mean building a military-grade Security Operations Centre (SOC) with wall-to-wall screens. It simply means moving from “hoping nothing happens” to “knowing what might happen and fixing it”. This control requires you to collect and analyse information about threats relevant to your business, so you are not blindsided by preventable attacks.

Core requirements for compliance include:

• Curate, Don’t Collect: Do not sign up for every threat feed in existence. You will drown in noise. Pick 3-4 high-quality sources relevant to your tech stack (e.g., Microsoft alerts if you use Office 365, or WordPress security news if that is your web platform).
• The “Watcher” Role: Intelligence is useless if nobody reads it. You must assign a specific person (e.g., the IT Manager or Ops Lead) to scan these alerts weekly.
• The “So What?” Test: This is the analysis part. When an alert arrives (e.g., “Oracle Database Flaw”), you must ask: “Do we use Oracle?” If no, discard it. If yes, take action.
• Actionable Outcomes: The goal is not just to read news; it is to act. If you see a phishing warning, warn your staff. If you see a patch alert, update your systems.
• Distinction from Annex A 5.6: Annex A 5.6 is about who you talk to (networking). Annex A 5.7 is about what you do with the information (analysis and decision making).

Audit Focus: Auditors will look for “The Decision Trail”:

1. Relevance: “You subscribe to a threat feed for Industrial Control Systems, but you are a marketing agency. How is this relevant?” (This shows you are just ticking boxes).
2. Evidence of Analysis: “Show me an alert you received last month. Did you decide it applied to you? If not, why?”
3. Proof of Action: “Here is a major Windows vulnerability from last quarter. Show me the email or ticket where you instructed the team to patch it based on this intelligence.”

SME Threat Intelligence Matrix (Audit Prep):

Alert Source	The “So What?” Analysis	Required Action
Vendor Alert	“Critical update for our CRM software.”	Action: Schedule immediate patch.
NCSC / CISA	“Rise in phishing targeting HR teams.”	Action: Slack message to HR: “Watch for fake CVs.”
Industry News	“Law firm hacked via unpatched VPN.”	Action: Check our own VPN patch status.
Irrelevant Alert	“Vulnerability in Linux Server.” (We use Windows).	Action: Discard / Ignore.

What is ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 for SMEs?

The standard requires you to “collect and analyse information about information security threats.”

In plain English, this means:

1. Listen: Pay attention to news about hackers and viruses.
2. Think: Ask, “Does this affect my business?”
3. Act: If yes, do something about it.

That’s it. You don’t need expensive AI tools or a 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC). You just need a process to ensure you aren’t the last person to know about a major security flaw in the software you use.

Why This Matters for Small Teams

You might think, “I’m too small to be a target.” Unfortunately, automated bots don’t care how small you are. They scan the internet looking for easy openings, like an unpatched router or a WordPress plugin that hasn’t been updated in three years.

Annex A 5.7 helps you spot these issues early. By subscribing to the right alerts, you can patch a vulnerability on Tuesday morning that would have caused a ransomware attack on Tuesday night.

How to Implement ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 for SMEs

You can satisfy this control with zero budget if you are smart about your sources. Here is a step-by-step guide for small businesses.

Step 1: Choose Your Sources (Curate, Don’t Collect)

The biggest mistake is signing up for everything. You will drown in emails and stop reading them. Pick 3-4 high-quality sources that are relevant to your technology.

Recommended Free Sources for Small Biz:

• Vendor Alerts: This is non-negotiable. If you use Microsoft 365, you need their security emails. If you use Adobe, sign up for theirs. These are the people who built your tools; listen when they say “update now.”
• National CERTs: Your country’s Computer Emergency Response Team (like CISA in the US or NCSC in the UK) publishes excellent, plain-English alerts about major threats.
• Industry News: A reputable tech news site or a newsletter relevant to your sector (e.g., a legal tech security blog if you are a law firm).

Step 2: Assign a “Watcher”

Intelligence is useless if nobody reads it. In a small business, you probably don’t have a CISO. That’s fine. Assign the role to your IT Manager, or even a tech-savvy Operations Manager.

Their job description is simple: Spend 15 minutes a week scanning the alerts. If they see something big (like “Critical Vulnerability in Windows”), they flag it.

Step 3: filter for Relevance (The “So What?” Test)

This is the “Analysis” part of the standard. When an alert comes in, apply the “So What?” test.

• Alert: “Critical flaw in Oracle Database Servers.”
• Your Analysis: “We run everything on Google Workspace and don’t own a single server.”
• Conclusion: Ignore/Discard.

Conversely:

• Alert: “New phishing campaign targeting HR teams with fake CVs.”
• Your Analysis: “We are hiring right now and receiving lots of CVs.”
• Conclusion: Action Required.

Step 4: Take Action and Document It

To pass the audit, you need to prove you did something. In the phishing example above, the action might be sending a Slack message to the team saying, “Hey everyone, watch out for fake CVs today.”

You should maintain a simple Threat Intelligence Register. It doesn’t need to be complex. Just a log that says:

• Date: 12th Oct
• Threat: Google Chrome Zero-Day Exploit
• Source: CISA Alert
• Action: Instructed all staff to restart browsers to apply update.

If you want a professional template that is already set up with the right columns and categories, Hightable.io offers ISO 27001 toolkits specifically for small businesses. Using their pre-built registers can save you time and ensures you don’t miss any required fields for the auditor.

Top 3 ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 Mistakes SMEs Make and How to Avoid Them

1. Doing Nothing: Ignoring the control because it sounds too technical is the most common failure. Even a basic process is better than no process.
2. Over-Complicating: Don’t buy expensive threat feed subscriptions unless you have a security analyst to read them. Free sources are usually sufficient for small business compliance.
3. Confusing A 5.7 with A 5.6: Remember, Annex A 5.6 is about joining groups (networking). Annex A 5.7 is about using the data (analysis). They work together, but they are different.

Fast Track ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 Compliance for SMEs with the ISO 27001 Toolkit

For Small Businesses and SMEs, ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 (Threat intelligence) is about “keeping your ear to the ground”. It moves you from hoping nothing happens to knowing what might happen and fixing it before an attacker gets in. You do not need a military bunker or expensive spy agency tools; you just need a process to ensure you are not the last to know about a major security flaw in the software you use.

While SaaS compliance platforms often try to sell you “automated threat feed integrations” or complex “intelligence dashboards”, they cannot actually perform the “So What?” test for your unique business or ensure your “Watcher” is taking the right action. Those are human governance and analytical tasks. The High Table ISO 27001 Toolkit is the logical choice for SMEs because it provides the intelligence framework you need without a recurring subscription fee.

1. Ownership: You Own Your Threat Intelligence History Forever

SaaS platforms act as a middleman for your compliance evidence. If you define your threat sources and store your analysis logs inside their proprietary system, you are essentially renting your own security awareness.

• The Toolkit Advantage: You receive the Threat Intelligence Register and Analysis Log templates in fully editable Word and Excel formats. These files are yours forever. You maintain permanent ownership of your records, such as your specific history of patching critical vulnerabilities, ensuring you are always ready for an audit without an ongoing “rental” fee.

2. Simplicity: Governance for Pragmatic Security Smarts

Annex A 5.7 is about listening, thinking, and acting. You do not need a complex new software interface to manage what a curated list of vendor alerts and a simple tracking log already do perfectly.

• The Toolkit Advantage: SMEs need to avoid drowning in data. What they need is the governance layer to prove to an auditor that someone is watching for threats and that the business acts on relevant news. The Toolkit provides pre-written “So What? Test” guidelines and action logs that formalise your existing awareness into an auditor-ready framework, without forcing your team to learn a new software platform just to log a Slack alert.

3. Cost: A One-Off Fee vs. The “Intelligence Feed” Tax

Many compliance SaaS platforms charge more based on the number of “integrated feeds”, “automated alerts”, or “security seats”. For an SME, these monthly costs can scale aggressively for very little added value.

• The Toolkit Advantage: You pay a single, one-off fee for the entire toolkit. Whether you track 3 high-quality sources or 30, the cost of your Threat Intelligence Documentation remains the same. You save your budget for actual security upgrades rather than an expensive compliance dashboard.

4. Freedom: No Vendor Lock-In for Your Awareness Strategy

SaaS tools often mandate specific ways to report on and monitor “threat intelligence”. If their system does not match your unique business model or specialised industry requirements, such as sector-specific phishing alerts, the tool becomes a bottleneck to efficiency.

• The Toolkit Advantage: The High Table Toolkit is 100% technology-agnostic. You can tailor the Analysis Procedures to match exactly how you operate, whether you use formal vendor bulletins or simple, risk-managed industry news. You maintain total freedom to evolve your awareness strategy without being constrained by the technical limitations of a rented SaaS platform.

Summary: For SMEs, the auditor wants to see a live threat intelligence register with evidence of analysis and action (e.g. logs showing how you responded to a specific vendor exploit). The High Table ISO 27001 Toolkit provides the governance framework to satisfy this requirement immediately. It is the most direct, cost-effective way to achieve compliance using permanent documentation that you own and control.

Conclusion

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7 for a small business is really just about “keeping your ear to the ground.” It protects you from being blindsided by preventable attacks. By curating a few good sources, checking them weekly, and acting on the relevant ones, you turn a scary-sounding requirement into a simple habit that keeps your business safe.

Don’t overthink it. Get your sources lined up, use a simple tracking template like the ones from Hightable.io, and you will breeze through this part of your audit.