ISO 27001:2022

ISO 27001 Organisation Controls

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.1: Policies for information security

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.2: Information Security Roles and Responsibilities

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.3: Segregation of duties

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.4: Management responsibilities

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.5: Contact with authorities

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.6: Contact with special interest groups

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.7: Threat intelligence

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.8: Information security in project management

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.9: Inventory of information and other associated assets

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.10: Acceptable use of information and other associated assets

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.11: Return of assets

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.12: Classification of information

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.13: Labelling of information

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.14: Information transfer

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.15: Access control

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.16: Identity management

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.17: Authentication information

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.18: Access rights

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.19: Information security in supplier relationships

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.20: Addressing information security within supplier agreements

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.21: Managing information security in the ICT supply chain

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.22: Monitoring, review and change management of supplier services

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.23: Information security for use of cloud services

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.24: Information security incident management planning and preparation

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.25: Assessment and decision on information security events

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.26: Response to information security incidents

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.27: Learning from information security incidents

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.28: Collection of evidence

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.29: Information security during disruption

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.30: ICT readiness for business continuity

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.31: Identification of legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.32: Intellectual property rights

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.33: Protection of records

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.34: Privacy and protection of PII

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.35: Independent review of information security

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.36: Compliance with policies and standards for information security

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.37: Documented operating procedures

ISO 27001 Technical Controls

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.1: User Endpoint Devices

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.2: Privileged Access Rights

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.3: Information Access Restriction

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.4: Access To Source Code

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.5: Secure Authentication

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.6: Capacity Management

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.7: Protection Against Malware

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.8: Management of Technical Vulnerabilities

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.9: Configuration Management 

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.10: Information Deletion

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.11: Data Masking

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.12: Data Leakage Prevention

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.13: Information Backup

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.14: Redundancy of Information Processing Facilities

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.15: Logging

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.16: Monitoring Activities

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.17: Clock Synchronisation

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.18: Use of Privileged Utility Programs

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.19: Installation of Software on Operational Systems

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.20: Network Security

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.21: Security of Network Services

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.22: Segregation of Networks

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.23: Web Filtering

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.24: Use of Cryptography

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.25: Secure Development Life Cycle

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.26: Application Security Requirements

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.27: Secure Systems Architecture and Engineering Principles

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.28: Secure Coding

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.29: Security Testing in Development and Acceptance

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.30: Outsourced Development

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.31: Separation of Development, Test and Production Environments

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.32: Change Management

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.33: Test Information

ISO 27001 Annex A 8.34: Protection of information systems during audit testing

Home / ISO 27001 Annex A Controls / The Ultimate Guide to ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5: Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats

The Ultimate Guide to ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5: Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats

Last updated Sep 12, 2025

Author: Stuart Barker | ISO 27001 Expert and Thought Leader

ISO 27001 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats is an ISO 27001 control that  requires an organisation to protect against physical and environmental threats.

The focus for this ISO 27001 Control is physical protection from natural disasters and physical threats. As one of the ISO 27001 controls this is about reducing damage and impact from things that cannot be planned and are out of your control.

Purpose

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 is a preventive control that ensures you prevent or reduce the consequences of events originating from physical and environmental threats.

Definition

ISO 27001 defines ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 as:

Protection against physical and environmental threats, such as natural disasters and other intentional or unintentional physical threats to infrastructure should be designed and implemented.

ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats
ISO 27001 Toolkit

Watch the Tutorial

In the video ISO 27001 Protecting Against Physical & Environmental Threats Explained – ISO27001:2022 Annex A 7.5 I show you how to implement it and how to pass the audit.

General Guidance

You are going to have to

  • conduct a risk assessment
  • consult a professional for specialist advice where required – for example fire, flood, theft, civil unrest, earthquake, explosions
  • install and configure systems to detect fire, flood, electrical surges explosive and weapons
  • implement physical security controls based on risk and business need

The implementation of securing offices, rooms and facilities is in the context of the physical security perimeter where you can find guidance in the Ultimate guide to ISO 27001 Annex A 7.1 Physical Security Perimeter.

Health and Safety

Your number one priority is to meet the requirements of law and regulation. Be sure to engage with a legal professional to understand what you can and cannot do and to check that you are not breaking any laws. The most significant laws are those around health and safety as the protection of human life and wellbeing is always our number priority. There are common things that should be considered such as entry point doors that fail open. Whilst we want to protect buildings and information our absolute priority is to protect people.

Define your protection requirements

Start by understanding your risk and doing a risk assessment. For guidance on how, read The Complete Guide to ISO 27001 Risk Assessment. This is going to be based on the needs of the business and the risks that you are managing. As a starting point there are basics such as protection from fire and flood. It maybe that the physical environment brings with it other threats such as electrical surges, local civil unrest, explosives, tectonic fault lines. Do what is right for you. Consider the environment around the location and the threats that may be posed and be sensible in addressing them.

ISO 27001 Physical Security Policy Template

To communicate to people what you do and what is expected you are going to write, sign off, implement and communicate your topic specific Physical and Environmental Security Policy.

ISO 27001 Physical and Environmental Security Policy Template

How to pass the audit

To pass the audit of ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 you are going to

  • Define your physical protection requirements
  • Consult with a legal professional to ensure you are meeting legal and regulatory requirements
  • Consult with appropriate professionals who specialise in the identified protection requirements
  • Implement your physical threat protection
  • Write, sign off, implement and communicate your topic specific Physical and Environmental Security Policy
  • Write, sign off, implement and communicate your perimeter incident response procedures
  • Implement a process of internal audit that checks that the appropriate controls are in place and effective and where they are not follow the continual improvement process to address the risks

What the auditor will check

The audit is going to check a number of areas. Lets go through them

1. That you have considered physical and environmental threats

The audit will do some research and identify any obvious physical and environmental threats and that you have addressed them. If you are in a flood plane, have you considered and implemented protection against flooding. If you are in an area to susceptible to civil unrest do your controls address this. Are the basics such as fire protection covered and are they appropriate. A common one to check here is that fire extinguishers are legal and maintained and evidenced as being maintained.

2. The you have implemented controls

They have been doing this a long time and done many audits so they know what to look for. They will test the controls and see what happens where they can. They will want to see evidence that the controls have been reviewed and tested and are working as intended.

3. Documentation

They are going to look at audit trails and all your documentation. They will look at appropriate maintenance, reviews, logs of monitors and reports, incidents and how you managed them.

Top 3 Mistakes People Make

The top 3 mistakes people make for ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 are

1. Your fire extinguishers are not up to date

This one feels a bit random but as they walk around they will check fire extinguishers and look for evidence that they are operational and maintained. An example would be a fire extinguisher that works on pressure and the pressure gauge is at zero or in the red. Also that there is no evidence of them being maintained.

2. One or more members of your team haven’t done what they should have done

Prior to the audit check that all members of the team have done what they should have. Have control reviews taken place? Who gets informed about about the alarms and notification and do they still work here?

3. Your document and version control is wrong

Keeping your document version control up to date, making sure that version numbers match where used, having a review evidenced in the last 12 months, having documents that have no comments in are all good practices.

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 FAQ

Why is ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats important?

These are the kind of threats that can destroy facilities and at the very basic level prevent you gaining access. They are common place but often over looked. As a physical security control you want to do all you can to protect for unforeseen events using the most common types of events as your inspiration. It is all about risk management.

What policies do I need for ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats

You will need the ISO 27001 Physical and Environmental Security Policy

Are there free templates for ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats?

There are templates that support ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 located in the ISO 27001 toolkit

Do I have to satisfy ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats for ISO 27001 Certification?

If you have a physical location, office or processing facility, then yes.

Can I write polices for ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats myself?

Yes. You can write the policies for ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 yourself. You will need a copy of the standard and approximately 8 hours to do it. It would be advantageous to have a background n information security management systems. Alternatively you can download them the ISO 27001 Physical and Environmental Security Policy

Where can I get templates for ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats?

The main template you need is the Physical and Environmental Security Policy

How hard is ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats?

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 is not particularly hard as it is mainly common sense. As long as you consult with a legal professional on what you are doing to ensure you are not break any laws or regulations you will be fine. Physical security has been around a long time.

How long will ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats take me?

To write the Physical and Environmental Security Policy will take about 8 hours. To implement the controls will depend on what you re doing and what you are implementing. It can take from a few hours to a few months depending on how many locations you have and the level of security that you are implementing.

How much will ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Protecting Against Physical and Environmental Threats cost me?

The Physical and Environmental Security Policy will cost you 8 hours to write yourself or less than £10 to buy. The cost to implement the controls will depend on what controls you implement and where you buy them.

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.6: Working In Secure Areas

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.4: Physical Security Monitoring

Further Reading

ISO 27001 Physical Asset Register Beginner’s Guide

How To Create an ISO 27001 Threat Intelligence Process and Report

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.5 Attribute Table

Control typeInformation
security properties
Cybersecurity
concepts
Operational
capabilities
Security domains
Preventive
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
ProtectPhysical_securityProtection

About the author

Stuart Barker is an information security practitioner of over 30 years. He holds an MSc in Software and Systems Security and an undergraduate degree in Software Engineering. He is an ISO 27001 expert and thought leader holding both ISO 27001 Lead Implementer and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor qualifications. In 2010 he started his first cyber security consulting business that he sold in 2018. He worked for over a decade for GE, leading a data governance team across Europe and since then has gone on to deliver hundreds of client engagements and audits.

He regularly mentors and trains professionals on information security and runs a successful ISO 27001 YouTube channel where he shows people how they can implement ISO 27001 themselves. He is passionate that knowledge should not be hoarded and brought to market the first of its kind online ISO 27001 store for all the tools and templates people need when they want to do it themselves.

In his personal life he is an active and a hobbyist kickboxer.

His specialisms are ISO 27001 and SOC 2 and his niche is start up and early stage business.