ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Communication – Ultimate Certification Guide

Introduction

In this article I lay bare ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Communication. Exposing the insider trade secrets, giving you the templates that will save you hours of your life and showing you exactly what you need to do to satisfy it for ISO 27001 certification.

I show you exactly what changed in the ISO 27001:2022 update.

I am Stuart Barker the ISO 27001 Ninja and this is ISO 27001 Clause 7.4

What is ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Communication?

The ISO 27001 standard requires an organisation to effectively communicate about Information Security. That feels a bit vague so it goes further. It wants you to set out the what, when, with whom, the process and method of communication and who will do it.

ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Communication is about planning, documenting and evidence the communications around information security. The ISO 27001 standard for ISO 27001 certification wants you to let people know what you expect, educate them and have processes in place for if things go wrong. It is one of the ISO 27001 controls.

What are the ISO 27001:2022 Changes to Clause 7.4?

There are minor changes to ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 in the 2022 update. The changes can be seen as a simplification. It removes who shall communicate and replaces it with how to communicate and it completely removes the need to show the processes by which communication shall be effected.

It is our opinion that keeping who and the process of how is good practice but you can, if you wish, not account for it directly.

ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Definition

The ISO 27001:2022 standard defines clause 7.4 as:

The organisation shall determine the need for internal and external communications relevant to the information security management system including:

a) on what to communicate;
b) when to communicate;
c) with whom to communicate;
d) who shall communicate; and how to communicate
e) the processes by which communication shall be effected.

ISO 27001:2022 Clause 7.4 Communication

ISO 27001 Annex A / ISO 27002 2022 Guidance on Communication

There is further guidance provided in the ISO 27001 Annex A Controls that was revised in 2022 with changes to the ISO 27002 standard and specifically calls out required communications. Let’s take a look at what Annex A says.

ISO 27002 Clause 5.1 Policies for Information Security

Information security policy and topic-specific policies should be defined, approved by management, published, communicated to and acknowledged by relevant personnel and relevant interested parties, and reviewed at planned intervals and if significant changes occur.

ISO 27002 Clause 5.1 Policies for Information Security

Here we see it isn’t enough just to have Information Security Policies but that we must in fact communicate them.

ISO 27002 Clause 5.24 Information security incident management planning and preparation

The organization should plan and prepare for managing information security incidents by defining, establishing and communicating information security incident management processes, roles and responsibilities

ISO 27002 Clause 5.24 Information security incident management planning and preparation

Communicating the incident management process is a key step so that everyone knows what to do if things go wrong. The basics would be to communicate ‘how to report and incident’ and ‘who is responsible for information security’.

ISO 27002 Clause 6.4 Disciplinary Process

A disciplinary process should be formalized and communicated to take actions against personnel and other relevant interested parties who have committed an information security policy violation.

ISO 27002 Clause 6.4 Disciplinary Process

This is usually the function of the HR department and part of good HR practice. HR will have many communication requirements of their own but we are interested for ISO 27001 certification in ensuring that they have communicated the disciplinary process. The disciplinary process must include steps for what happens if staff breach information security.

ISO 27002 Clause 6.5 Responsibilities after termination or change of employment.

Information security responsibilities and duties that remain valid after termination or change of employment should be defined, enforced and communicated to relevant personnel and other interested parties.

ISO 27002 Clause 6.5 Responsibilities after termination or change of employment.

Another function of the HR department as part of the off boarding process. Contracts of employment and contracts of engagement will have clauses related directly to information security which should be re communicated as part of the off boarding process so that everyone is aware of their ongoing responsibilities and obligations.

There are distinct phases in the journey of staff, contracts and third parties. Each of those phases potentially requires a different level of communication. It is possible that one approach will work but the likelihood is you are going to have different communication styles and approaches depending on the ‘who’ and the ‘where’ they are in their journey with you.

How To Comply With ISO 27001 Clause 7.4

ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Implementation Guide

There are many ways to communicate and to raise and manage awareness and what is right for you will depend on your company culture and the tools available.

Consider the best methods for you that you know get results and where possible retain evidence of your communications.

Emails are great but also consider standup meetings, having presentations at company meetings, perhaps bringing outside resource.

There is no one size fits all answer.

What ever you do record it in your communication plan.

How do you demonstrate compliance to ISO 27001 clause 7.4?

Having a communication plan that records what you communicated, when, to whom and the evidence that you did is the main part of showing compliance to the clause.

ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 Templates

ISO 27001 templates are a great way to implement your information security management system. Whilst an ISO 27001 Toolkit can save you up to 30x in consulting fees and allow you to deliver up to 10x faster these individual templates help meet the specific requirements of ISO 27001 clause 7.4

ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 FAQ