Mar 28 2025

Preparing for an ISO Audit: Essential Tips and Best Practices for a Successful Outcome

Category: Information Security,Internal Audit,ISO 27kdisc7 @ 2:44 pm

​”Preparing for an ISO Audit: Tips and Best Practices” is a comprehensive guide by AuditCo, published in February 2025, aimed at assisting organizations in effectively preparing for ISO audits. The article outlines several key strategies:​

  1. Understanding ISO Standards: It emphasizes the importance of familiarizing oneself with the specific ISO standards relevant to the organization.​
  2. Conducting a Pre-Audit: The guide recommends performing a self-assessment to identify and address areas of non-compliance before the official audit.​
  3. Organizing Documentation: Ensuring that all pertinent documents, such as policies and records, are well-organized and easily accessible is highlighted as a crucial step.​
  4. Training Employees: Providing staff with training on the audit process and their respective roles is advised to facilitate a smoother audit experience.​
  5. Engaging with Auditors: Establishing open communication with auditors to clarify expectations and address concerns is also recommended.

Additionally, the article suggests best practices like creating an audit checklist, involving top management to demonstrate commitment to compliance, monitoring corrective actions for identified non-conformities, and implementing improvements post-audit to enhance the management system.​

For a detailed exploration of these strategies, you can read the full article

 Full Preparation Plan for an ISO Audit

1.  Understand the ISO Standard :

– Familiarize yourself with the specific ISO standard relevant to your organization (e.g., ISO 27001 for Information Security, ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for environmental management, ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety).

– Study the standard requirements and guidelines to fully grasp what is expected.

2. Gap Analysis :

– Conduct a thorough gap analysis to compare your current processes and systems against the ISO standard requirements.

– Identify areas that need improvement and document these gaps.

3. Develop an Implementation Plan :

– Create a detailed plan to address the gaps identified in the gap analysis.

– Assign responsibilities to team members, set timelines, and allocate necessary resources.

4. Training and Awareness :

– Train your employees on the ISO standard requirements and the importance of compliance.

– Ensure that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities related to the ISO standards.

5. Document Control :

– Develop or update documentation to meet ISO requirements, including policies, procedures, work instructions, and records.

– Implement a document control system to manage and maintain these documents efficiently.

6. Internal Audits :

– Conduct internal audits to evaluate your readiness for the ISO audit.

– Identify non-conformities and take corrective actions to address them.

– Internal audits should closely mimic the external audit process.

7. Management Review :

– Hold a management review meeting to assess the effectiveness of your ISO management system.

– Ensure top management is involved and committed to the process.

8. Pre-Audit Assessment :

– If possible, conduct a pre-audit assessment with an external consultant to get an objective evaluation of your readiness.

– Use the feedback to make any necessary adjustments before the actual audit.

9. Audit Logistics :

– Coordinate with the external auditor to schedule the audit.

– Prepare all necessary documentation and ensure key personnel are available during the audit.

10. Continuous Improvement :

– ISO audits are not a one-time event. Implement a culture of continuous improvement to maintain compliance and enhance your management system.

– Regularly review and update your processes and systems to ensure ongoing compliance.

ISO 27001 INTERNAL AUDITS & DATA PROTECTION: STRENGTHENING COMPLIANCE & SECURITY: A Practical Guide to Conducting Internal Audits and Safeguarding Sensitive Data (ISO 27001:2022)

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Tags: ISO 27001 Internal Audit, ISO Audit Plan


Sep 24 2024

How to Conduct an ISO 27001 Internal Audit

Category: ISO 27kdisc7 @ 2:19 pm

The blog post provides a detailed guide on conducting an ISO 27001 audit, which is crucial for ensuring compliance with information security standards. It covers both internal and certification audits, explaining their purposes, the audit process, and steps such as setting the audit criteria, reviewing documentation, conducting a field review, and reporting findings. The article also emphasizes the importance of having an independent auditor and following up on corrective actions to ensure proper risk management.

In this blog

For more details, you can read the full post here.

ISO Internal Audit – A Plain English Guide: A Step-by-Step Handbook for Internal Auditors in Small Businesses

ISO 27001 Controls Handbook: Implementing and auditing 93 controls to reduce information security risks

ISO/IEC 27001:2022, Third Edition: Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection – Information security management systems

ISO/IEC 27002:2022, Third Edition: Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection – Information security controlsΒ 

Checkout our previous ISO27k posts |Β ISO 27k Chat bot

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Tags: isms, iso 27001, iso 27001 certification, ISO 27001 Internal Audit, iso 27002


Aug 05 2023

ISO 27001 Internal Audit Report Template

Category: ISO 27kdisc7 @ 11:45 am

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Tags: ISO 27001 Internal Audit, ISO 27001 Internal Auditor Course, ISO 270012022, ISO 270022022


Sep 19 2022

ISO 27001 Internal Audit

Category: Information Security,ISO 27kDISC @ 12:40 pm

DISC LLC presents a phase approach to deliver ISO 27001 Internal Audit services to SaaS businesses. 

ISO27001 Internal Audit Service - iTGRC security and compliance advisory  group

The Engagement:

We understand that your core business is your SaaS application and you desire an audit.  The audit is to be an independent assessment of the company’s ISMS, to measure the maturity of the program, to identify if the program is ready to pass the certification audit for ISO 27001:2013 certification, and provide strategic guidance for achieving the certification.  Our focus will be your application which is hosted at AWS/Azure and you have xxx employees who create, maintain, and manage the application.

The audit will be conducted remotely and we will have a dedicated contact person assigned to our audit team to facilitate access to documentation, records, and select staff for interviews.  We will complete your standard audit process documentation according to the ISO 27001 standard. 

The Plan:

Below is our high-level audit plan for your ISO 27001internal audit.  We propose a staged and flexible approach so we may progressively tune our audit process to deliver maximum business value to you.

Phase 1: This phase starts within a week one of signing of an engagement contract.  First step is a kickoff meeting to discuss the overall audit engagement, to finalize the formal audit plan, and to establish access to documents to be reviewed. We will review the available documents based on the ISO27001 standard. At the end of this phase we will present our findings in a briefing session.

Phase2: Phase 2 kickoff will be based on the document review and coordinate scheduling interviews that focus on critical processes to establishing the degree that the various control procedures have been activated. This is a critical part of the audit process. We will measure the maturity of required controls that has been implemented and present the findings for review within another review session (schedule subject to availability for interviews). 

Phase 3: Recommendations will be the focus of this phase.  This will also start with a kickoff meeting to establish a coordinated plan for what measures are already planned and what new measures are required to actually pass (to-be state) the certification audit.  This final step can save you a lot of effort as we can help you navigate to the end goal of passing the audit and also create the precise measures that have maximum business value.  The closing meeting of this phase will present our collective recommendations.

All of the efforts outlined above are aligned to a compliant internal audit process with a few enhancements that are value-add.  These audit records will likely be a primary target of the certification audit so they need to be well executed.  Your controls also have to be tailored to your business. We can help get you certified but that doesn’t mean you are actually secure.  We can help you do both.  Missing the secure part would be devastating to you and to all of your customers. This is our value-add. 

If you have a question about ISO 27001 internal audit:

LIST OF Materials for ISO Internal Audit

Checkout our latest articles on ISO 27001/2

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Tags: Internal audit, iso 27001, ISO 27001 2013 Gap Assessment, ISO 27001 Internal Audit