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ISO 27001 Documented Information Beginner’s Guide

Last updated Mar 30, 2025

Author: Stuart Barker | ISO 27001 Lead Auditor

What is ISO 27001 Documented Information?

The standard requires documentation for the information security management system ( ISMS ) and the organisations operational procedures.

The driver is based on having process maturity.

The standard wants processes to be conducted in the same way and to deliver the same result irrespective of who operates it.

It acknowledges that the extent of the documented information can differ depending on organisational size.

The level and extent of your documentation will be based on

  • your size
  • your activity
  • your products
  • your services
  • the complexity of who you are
  • your processes
  • and the competency of persons.

Why is it important?

Having documentation is important for the following reasons

Consistency: having documented processes ensures a consistent approach to doing things. In turn this can reduce errors and mistakes.

Evidence: having processes that create documented records will evidence that the process is in place and that the process is operating effectively and as intended.

Process Maturity: having process maturity can provide a model of progressive improvement in processes that can be used to assess an organisation’s capabilities and to provide an improvement path.

Accountability: documented information drives organisational accountability.

ISO 27001 requirement for Documented Information

As the standard heavily relies on documented information the following ISO 27001 Clauses and ISO 27001 Annex A controls address it directly. You should read implementation guide for details on exactly what is required and how to implement it.

ISO 27001 Clause 7.5.1 Documented Information

ISO 27001 Clause 7.5.2 Creating and Updating Documented Information

ISO 27001 Clause 7.5.3 Control of Documented Information

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.37 Documented operating procedures

ISO 27001:2022 requirements

ISO 27001 Clauses

ISO 27001 Clause 4.1 – Understanding The Organisation And Its Context

ISO 27001 Clause 4.2 – Understanding The Needs And Expectations of Interested Parties

ISO 27001 Clause 4.3 – Determining The Scope Of The Information Security Management System

ISO 27001 Clause 4.4 – Information Security Management System

ISO 27001 Clause 5.1 – Leadership and Commitment

ISO 27001 Clause 5.3 – Organisational Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities

ISO 27001 Clause 6.1.1 – Planning General

ISO 27001 Clause 6.1.2 – Information Security Risk Assessment

ISO 27001 Clause 6.1.3 – Information Security Risk Treatment

ISO 27001 Clause 6.2 – Information Security Objectives and Planning to Achieve Them

ISO 27001 Clause 6.3 – Planning Of Changes

ISO 27001 Clause 7.1 – Resources

ISO 27001 Clause 7.2 – Competence

ISO 27001 Clause 7.3 – Awareness

ISO 27001 Clause 7.4 – Communication

ISO 27001 Clause 7.5.1 – Documented Information

ISO 27001 Clause 7.5.2 – Creating and Updating Documented Information

ISO 27001 Clause 8.3 – Information Security Risk Treatment

ISO 27001 Clause 9.1 – Monitoring, Measurement, Analysis, Evaluation

ISO 27001 Clause 9.2 – Internal Audit

ISO 27001 Clause 9.3 – Management Review

ISO 27001 Clause 10.1 – Continual Improvement

ISO 27001 Clause 10.2 – Nonconformity and Corrective Action

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