ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain

ISO27002: 2022 Clause 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain

In this article I lay bare ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 / ISO27002: 2022 Clause 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain.

A beginners guide, 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 ISO27001 certification. We show you exactly what changed in the ISO27001:2022 update. I am Stuart Barker the ISO27001 Ninja and this is ISO27001 Annex A 5.21

What is ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain?

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain is an ISO27002: 2022 control that requires an organisation to manage the risks associated the ICT products and services supply chain.

What is ICT?

ICT, or information and communications technology (or technologies), is the infrastructure and components that enable modern computing.

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Definition

The ISO27001 standard defines Annex A 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain as:

Processes and procedures should be defined and implemented to manage the information security risks associated with the ICT products and services supply chain.

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Implementation Guide

We discussed above that ICT means information and communications technology and we would include cloud services in that.

When we implement we are looking to build on existing best practices for information security, project management, quality management and engineering and not to replace those practices.

You are going to have to ensure that:

• you have information security requirements when acquiring products or services
• your suppliers propagate your security requirements through ‘their’ supply chain if they sub contract
• you request, and understand, of product suppliers, what software components they use
• you request and understand product security functions and how to configure it to be secure
• you implement monitoring and validation of security requirements in your suppliers
• you identify and document critical products and services
• critical components and their origin can be traced through the supply chain
• you have assurance products are functioning as expected
• you have assurance products meet required security levels
• you have rules for sharing information including issues and compromises
• you have process for managing component lifecycles, availability and associated security risks
• you have considered alternate suppliers and how to transfer to them if needed

It is always best and goes without saying, or it should, that you will acquire your products and services from reputable sources.

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Templates

You can save months of effort with these templates that take 25 years of experience and distill it in a pack of prewritten best practice awesomeness.

How to comply with ISO27001 Annex A 5.21

To comply with ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 you are going to implement the ‘how’ to the ‘what’ the control is expecting. In short measure you are going to

• Implement a topic specific policy
• Implement an supplier management process
• Include in your supplier management process supplier acquisition and supplier transfer
• Implement a third party supplier register
• Have agreements with all suppliers that cover information security requirements
• Have information security assurances for critical suppliers as a minimum and ideally all relevant suppliers

How to pass an audit of ISO27001 Annex A 5.21

To pass an audit of ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain you are going to make sure that you have followed the steps above in how to comply.

You are going to do that by first conducting an internal audit, following the How to Conduct an ISO27001 Internal Audit Guide.

What will an audit check?

The audit is going to check a number of areas. Lets go through the most common

#1 That you have a supplier agreements in place

The auditor is going to check that you have agreements in place with suppliers that cover the information security requriements. It will check that those agreements are in date and cover the products and / or services acquired.

#2 That you have an ISO27001 Supplier Register

You will need an ISO27001 Supplier Register to record and manage your suppliers. Make sure it is up to date and reflects your reality.

#3 Documentation

They are going to look at audit trails and all your documentation and see that is classified and labelled. All the documents that you show them, as a minimum if they are confidential should be labelled as such. Is the document up to date. Has it been reviewed in the last 12 months. Does the version control match.

Top 3 Annex ISO27001 A 5.21 Mistakes People Make

The top 3 Mistakes People Make For ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 are

#1 You have no contracts or legal terms with a supplier

Make sure that there is a contract, agreement, terms of business or some legal mechanism for engaging with suppliers and you have a copy, it is in date and covers what you are using.

#2 You have no assurance they are doing the right thing for information security

Make sure you have done your security assessment and can place your hands on an in date certificate such as an ISO27001 Certification for assurance they are doing the right thing. It needs to be in date a cover the products and / or services you have aquired and are using form the supplier.

#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.

Why is ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Important?

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 Managing information security in the ICT supply chain is important because suppliers represent the biggest risk to you. If they are not doing the right thing it is your reputation, your finances, your success that is stake. Get supplier management correct and reduce the risk.

ISO27001 Annex A 5.21 FAQ

Matrix of controls and attribute values

Control type	Information security properties	Cybersecurity concepts	Operational capabilities	Security domains
#Preventive	#Confidentiality #Integrity #Availability	#Identify	#Supplier_relationships_security	#Protection #Governance_and_ecosystem

See Also

• Guaranteed ISO 27001 Certification up to 10x Faster and 30x Cheaper
• The Ultimate ISO 27001 TOOLKIT so you can do it yourself 
• ISO 27001 Exposed: The facts you must know (Not knowing these could cost you $10,000s!) 
• 25 Things You Must Know Before Going for ISO 27001 Certification (Number 3 will blow your mind!)
• The Ultimate Reference Guide to ISO 27001 Controls

Reference

ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management