Table of contents
- What is ISO 27001 Clause 4.2?
- What are interested parties?
- Purpose
- Definition
- Ownership
- Implementation Guide
- How to implement ISO 27001 Clause 4.2
- How to audit ISO 27001 Clause 4.2
- Who are the ISO 27001 interested parties?
- How To Identify Interested Parties
- Example Interested Parties
- Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties
- How To Identify Needs and Expectations
- Example Interested Parties Requirements
- Watch the Tutorial
- How to pass the audit
- What the auditor will check
- ISO 27001 Templates
- Mistakes People Make
- ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 FAQ
- Further Reading
In this ultimate guide to ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Understanding The Needs And Expectations of Interested Parties you will learn
- What ISO 27001 interested parties are
- How to identify them
- Examples of interested parties and their requirements
- An Implementation Checklist
- An Audit Checklist
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.
I am Stuart Barker, the ISO 27001 Ninja and author of the Ultimate ISO 27001 Toolkit and this is ISO 27001 Understanding The Needs And Expectations of Interested Parties explained simply.
What is ISO 27001 Clause 4.2?
ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Understanding The Needs And Expectations of Interested Parties is an ISO 27001 clause that requires an organisation to understand who has an interest in the information security management system, what their requirements are and how those requirements are being met.
What are interested parties?
Essentially, this clause focuses on conducting a stakeholder analysis, a critical step in any information security management system (ISMS).
The objective is to identify individuals or entities who have an interest in the effectiveness of the ISMS.
These parties may have requirements for the ISMS to achieve specific goals or to function in a particular manner. By understanding their needs and expectations, organisations can demonstrate how the ISMS will meet these requirements. This aligns with the broader context of the organisation, as outlined in Clause 4.1, where internal and external issues were identified.
Clause 4.2 emphasises the importance of understanding interested parties. Notably, these parties and their requirements often remain consistent across different organisations. This allows for efficient implementation, as organisations can leverage pre-populated templates, minimising the effort required for this crucial analysis.
Purpose
The purpose of ISO 27001 clause 4.2 is to ensure you have considered people, their requirements and how you will address those requirements when implementing and operating your information security management system (ISMS).
Definition
The ISO 27001 standard defines ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 as:
The organisation shall determine:
ISO 27001:2022 Clause 4.2 Understanding The Needs And Expectations Of Interested Parties
a) interested parties that are relevant to the information security management system
b) the requirements of these interested parties
c) which of these requirements will be addressed through the information security management system.
Ownership
The Information Security Officer is responsible for collaborating closely with the domain experts to identify and manage the needs and expectations of interested parties.
Implementation Guide
When implementing ISO 27001, to comply with ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Understanding The Needs And Expectations of Interested Parties, you will need to identify and document your needs and expectations of interested parties that could potentially affect your information security management system and document them in a Context of Organisation document.
How to implement ISO 27001 Clause 4.2
To implement ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 follow the ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Implementation Checklist.
How to audit ISO 27001 Clause 4.2
To perform an audit of ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 follow the ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Audit Checklist.
Who are the ISO 27001 interested parties?
ISO 27001 Interested Parties are both internal and external to the organisation and their motivations can be both positive and negative. What we’re looking at is who might have an interest in our information security management system, who might have an interest in the outcomes of that management system and what are their interests? What is it that they want to see from it? What are their goals and objectives for it?
How To Identify Interested Parties
Interested parties is just another way of saying stakeholders. There are 2 ways to identify them:
Informal Approach
The first step is usually a brainstorming session with appropriately selected members and an optional facilitator.
Taking key individuals from the organisation based on their social, cultural and professional standing, all stakeholders are initially considered although possibly dropped as the process is refined. Where possible and appropriate the stakeholders are identified by name.
Formal Approach
The formal approach to identifying interested parties would be to conduct a traditional stakeholder analysis.
Example Interested Parties
Examples of interested parties include:
- senior leadership
- the board
- shareholders
- staff
- clients
- customers
- competitors
ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Interested Parties and their requirements example:
Interested Party | Requirements Relevant to ISMS |
---|---|
Executive Board | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance • Avoidance of data breach • Avoidance of fines • Commercial advantage for tender and sales • To protect the company reputation |
Shareholders | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance • Avoidance of data breach • Avoidance of fines • Commercial advantage for tender and sales • To protect the company reputation |
Employees | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance • To understand, implement and follow the governance framework. • To be trained in the information security management system • To have appropriate and adequate protection of employee and customer data • To be able to conduct their role without undue bureaucracy. • To work in a safe environment |
Information Commissioner’s Office and Regulators | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance |
Law Enforcement Agencies | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance • Timely co-operation on investigations |
Customers | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance • Products and services fit for purpose. • Avoidance of data breach |
Insurers | • Legal and Regulatory Compliance • Current applicable contracts for products and services. • Current applicable contracts covering an understanding of any information security requirements. |
Local Residents | • No negative or adverse impact from physical and environmental security |
Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties
Once we have identified the interested parties, the next step is to identify and document their needs and expectations. The key is to do this from the perspective of the interested party, not ours.
How To Identify Needs and Expectations
Examples of how to identify the needs and expectations of interested parties include:
Interview
For the identified stakeholders and interested parties you could conduct an interview and ask them what their requirements are. Consider the following questions to help guide you:
- What are your expectations of the information security management system?
- How does an effective information security management system benefit you?
- Are there other interested parties that may conflict with your interests?
- What concerns do you have for the information security management system?
Needs and expectations of interested parties template
Using the ISO 27001 interested parties template that contains a list of common interested parties and their needs.
Example of the ISO 27001 Interested Parties Register:
Example Interested Parties Requirements
The common requirements that ISO 27001 Interested Parties have on an information security management system are that it:
- meets our legal and regulatory requirements
- avoids or contributes to the avoidance of a data breach
- reduces our number of incidents
- helps us to avoid Legal and Regulatory fines
- gives us a commercial advantage for tenders
- gives us a commercial advantage when it comes to sales
- protects our company reputation
- provides a work environment that is safe
- allows people to conduct their role without undue bureaucracy
- is providing us the ability to cooperate with external investigation if they come up in a timely and an efficient manner.
Watch the Tutorial
Watch the ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 tutorial How to implement ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties
How to pass the audit
To successfully pass an audit of ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Interested Parties, a crucial step in achieving ISO 27001 Certification, you must ensure you have implemented the mandatory ISO 27001 documents and ISO 27001 polices. You are going to need to put in place ISO 27001 controls to:
- Understand the requirements of ISO 27001 Clause 4.2
- Identify your interested parties
- Assess the needs and expectations of those interested parties
- Document the interested parties in a Context of Organisation Document
What the auditor will check
The audit is going to check a number of areas for compliance with Clause 4.2 Interested Parties. Lets go through them
That you have documented interested parties
The simplest way to do this is with the fully populated ISO 27001 Context of Organisation Template.
That you have addressed their requirements
Be sure to record what requirements the interested parties have on the information security management system (ISMS).
That you can link requirements to the ISMS
Auditors like to able to see that you have identified requirements and can link them to the information security management system and demonstrate that you are addressing. The template does it for you but if you write yourself be sure that you can do this.
ISO 27001 Templates
The ISO 27001 Context Of Organisation template fully satisfies the requirements of ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 and is pre written with common examples.
Available as individual download it is also part of the internationally best selling and award winning ISO 27001 Toolkit.
DO IT YOURSELF ISO 27001
All the templates, tools, support and knowledge you need to do it yourself.
Mistakes People Make
In my experience, the top 3 mistakes people make for ISO 27001 clause 4.2 are
You have no evidence that anything actually happened
You need to keep records and minutes and documented evidence.
Recording the interested parties that apply and their requirements shows a thorough understand of the requirement and will avoid awkward questions.
You did not link to the ISMS
Where an interested party and their requirement was identified you are not able to link this to the information security management system and how you address it.
Even if it is something you verbally explain be sure you can demonstrate this and you understand the linkage.
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 Clause 4.2 FAQ
Interested parties are people or entities that have an interest in how your informations security management system is built and operates. Their interests will shape how you build your management system, how you operate it and how you report on it. Examples of interested parties could include the Information Commissioner or equivalent who has an expectation that you are protecting personal information. Customer and clients may have an interest and very specific requirements on what they expect of you for information security. Internally the business owners and senior management may be interested in ensuring that the management system is efficient and does not harm profitability.
There is no real change to ISO 27001 clause 4.2 for the 2022 update. It has clarified that you will now determine which of the identified requirements will be addressed through the information security management system rather than implying it.
Examples of ISO 27001 interested parties requirements would include ensuring the information security management system is operating effectively and protecting the organisation from cyber attack and legal and regulatory breach. Specific customer examples may include how you store, process or transmit their specific information and the controls that you have in place around it. Commercial requirements will come from the organisation owners and senior management teams.
Yes. They should be documented, approved and minuted at a management review team meeting. As part of continual improvement this list will be reviewed and updated at least annually or as significant change occurs. Significant change usually means a new client requirement in the course of business.
Senior management are responsible for ensuring that ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 is implemented and maintained.
Other than your ISO 27001 certification requiring it, the following are benefits of implementing ISO 27001 interested parties:
Improved security: You will have an effective information security management system that address people’s needs
Reduced risk: You will reduce the risk to your information security management system by identifying relevant people, their needs and addressing them
Improved compliance: Standards and regulations require context of organisation to be in place
Reputation Protection: In the event of a breach having effectively managed risks to the management system will reduce the potential for fines and reduce the PR impact of an event
ISO 27001 interested parties is important because it allows you to understand what can impact your information security management system so you can address it. There are actually many people that require things from the management system. Usually that it is secure, meets laws and regulations and doesn’t lead to a data breach. But there are others. By understanding this allows to you to plan for them, mitigate and manage them and as a result increase in the effectiveness of the information security management system in meeting the business objectives and needs.
Further Reading
ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 Implementation Checklist