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Information Security Roles and Responsibilities

13/09/2025

Author: Stuart Barker | ISO 27001 Expert and Thought Leader

Information security is like a team sport where everyone has a job to do to keep data safe. ISO 27001 is a set of rules that helps organisations manage their information security. It’s not a single person’s job; it needs different people to do different things.

Examples

  • CEO or Board of Directors: They make sure the company cares about security. They give the green light for security projects and make sure there’s enough money and people to do the work.
  • Information Security Manager: This person is like the coach of the security team. They plan and lead the security efforts and make sure everyone follows the rules.
  • IT Department: These are the people who build and fix the technology. They put security rules into action on computers and networks, like setting up firewalls and strong passwords.
  • Employees: Everyone in the company has a role. They must follow security rules, like not sharing their passwords and being careful with emails that seem suspicious.

Context

Assigning clear roles and responsibilities is important because it avoids confusion. When everyone knows what they’re supposed to do, security becomes a part of daily work. This makes the company’s data and systems much safer. The ISO 27001 standard requires organisations to define who is responsible for what so that security is managed well.

Relevant ISO 27001 Controls

The following controls from the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard are related to Information Security Roles and Responsibilities:

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.