ISO 27001 A.5.1: security policies, explained for startups

A.5.1 Policies for information security

Your security rules are written down, approved by leadership and shared with staff. What proves it: your policies approved by management in the last twelve months, and a record that staff received them.

A certification auditor samples the approved policy set with approval dates, and a record that staff received it. A file that usually does the job: the approval log in Policies, signed approval pages, or an acknowledgement report showing staff received the policies.

How to put it in place

Each step leaves a record, and the record is what the auditor samples rather than the step itself. Inside Polara, the control card for A.5.1 walks you through it in this order.

1. Draft and approve your policies in Policies.
2. Share them with every staff member and keep the acknowledgement record.
3. Review them at least once a year and after any big change.

The free ISO 27001 readiness assessment asks one question that evidences it:

• Has leadership approved your information security policy, scope and objectives in writing in the last 12 months?

Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap

In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Information Security Policy covers A.5.1. An auditor reads the policy for the rule, then samples the records to see the rule was followed.

The same evidence counts toward SOC 2. The Trust Services criteria that cover this ground: CC2.2, internal communication and CC5.3, policies and procedures.

Organizational controls

A.5.1 is one of the 37 organizational controls in Annex A. How the company runs security: policies, roles, suppliers, incidents, continuity and legal duties. Most of these are written decisions and the records that show you follow them.

Nearby controls in the same theme:

• A.5.2, security roles
• A.5.3, segregation of duties
• A.5.4, what managers must enforce

After it: A.5.2, security roles. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.