Apr 03 2020
Ensure your organisation can survive in the face of disaster; learn how to create and implement an effective business continuity plan.
#Coronavirus Business Continuity Management (#BCM) Bundle
Webinar: Business Continuity Management: Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awLn7yZDKXs
Subscribe to DISC InfoSec blog by Email
Apr 27 2016
Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) puts such a program in the context of an ISO Management Systems, and ISO 22301:2012 sets a certifiable standard for a BCMS. It is the first and most recognized international standard for business continuity.
Steps in ISO 22301 implementation are the following:
1. Obtain management support
2. Identify all applicable requirements
3. Develop top-level Business Continuity Policy and objectives
4. Write documents that support the management system
5. Perform risk assessment and treatment
6. Perform business impact analysis
7. Develop business continuity strategy
8. Write the business continuity plan(s)
9. Implement training and awareness programs
10. Maintain the documentation
11. Perform exercising and testing
12. Perform post-incident reviews
13. Communicate continuously with the interested parties
14. Measure and evaluate the BCMS
15. Perform internal audit
16. Implement all the necessary corrective and preventive actions, and
17. Perform the management review
Nov 09 2014
If you’re starting to implement complex standards like ISO 27001 or ISO 22301, you’re probably looking for a way to make your job easier. Who wouldn’t? After all, reinventing the wheel doesn’t sound like a very interesting job.
So, you start looking for some tool to help you with these information security and business continuity standards, but beware – not every tool will help you: you might end up with a truck wheel that doesn’t fit the car you’re driving.
Types of tools
Let’s start first with what types of tools you’ll find in the market that are made specifically for ISO 27001 and ISO 22301:
a) Automation tools – these tools help you semi-automate part of your processes – e.g., performing the risk assessment, writing the business continuity plans, managing incidents, keeping your documentation, assisting in measurement, etc.
b) Tools for writing documentation – these tools help you develop policies and procedures – usually, they include documentation templates, tutorials for writing documentation, etc.
Pros and cons of automation tools
Automation tools are generally useful for larger companies – for example, using spreadsheets for assessing risks can be a problem if you have, e.g., 100 departments, because when you have to merge those results this becomes very difficult. Or, if you have 50 different recovery plans and you want to change the same detail in each of them, using a tool is probably much easier.
However, applying such automation tools to smaller companies can prove to be very expensive – most of these tools are not priced with smaller companies in mind, and even worse – training employees for using such tools takes too much time. Therefore, for smaller companies, performing risk assessment using Excel or writing business continuity plans in Word is a very quick and affordable solution.
There are some tools for which I personally see no purpose – for example, tools for keeping ISO documentation. For that purpose, larger companies will use their existing document management system (e.g., SharePoint), while smaller companies can upload the documentation to shared folders with defined access rights – it doesn’t have to be any more sophisticated than that.
Can you automate everything?
One important fact needs to be emphasized here: automation tools cannot help you manage your information security or business continuity. For instance, you cannot automate writing your Access control policy – to finalize such a document, you need to coordinate your CISO, IT department and business side of the organization, and only after you reach an agreement can you write this policy. No automation can do that for you.
Yes, you can semi-automate the measurement of success of particular controls, but again a human needs to interpret those results to understand why the control was performing well or poorly – this part of the process cannot be automated, and neither can the decision on which corrective or preventive actions need to be taken as a result of gained insight.
What to watch out for when looking for documentation writing tools
You won’t need tools for writing your policies, procedures, and plans if you already developed your documentation based on a framework that it similar to ISO 27001 – e.g., COBIT, Cybersecurity Framework, or NFPA 1600. Also, if you hired a consultant, then it will be his duty to write all the documents (see also: 5 criteria for choosing an ISO 22301 / ISO 27001 consultant).
In other cases you will find documentation writing tools (i.e., documentation templates) quite useful because they will speed up writing your policies and procedures. The main question here is how to choose the right ones – here are a couple of tips:
So, to conclude: yes – in most cases tools can help you with your ISO 27001 and ISO 22301 implementation. Since there are many tool providers in the market, make sure you perform thorough research before you decide to use one.
Author: Dejan Kosutic, Expert at 27001Academy, is the author of a documentation tool aimed at small and mid-sized companies: ISO 27001 & ISO 22301 Documentation Toolkit .
Jun 19 2012
International IT Standards help organizations achieve best practice systems and management of their IT processes. Certification against standards can help organizations protect their critical assets, rebuff cyber attacks, help win new business and achieve compliance against regulatory requirements.
ISO27001: Cyber Security Standard (Cheapest price on the web)
ISO27001 helps businesses create a best in class Information Security Management System (ISMS), safeguarding its information assets, protecting its reputation
.
ISO22301: Business Continuity Standard (Published last Month)
ISO22301 sets out the requirements for a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) and helps organizations ensure they are prepared should an disruptive incident occur, and more importantly, continue trading and return to business as usual as quickly as possible
ISO20000: IT Service Management Standard (Best Seller)
ISO20000 enables IT organizations (whether in-house, outsourced or external) to ensure that their IT service management processes are aligned. This standard specifies the requirements for an service management system (SMS). This standard will help you develop, implement, establish an SMS.
