ISO 27001 A.5.11: returning assets, explained for startups
What A.5.11 asks of a small company, and what an auditor samples.
When someone leaves or changes role, collect back the laptops, badges, data, and access they were given. Track returns so nothing walks out the door with a departing person.
Why it exists: to get company devices and information back when people leave.
A.5.11 Return of assets
Leavers hand back company devices and data. What proves it: a leaver step that collects devices and data, and a completed record for a recent leaver.
A certification auditor samples leaver checklists showing returned devices. A file that usually does the job: an offboarding ticket showing the laptop returned and wiped, or a courier receipt for a remote return.
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.5.11 walks you through it in this order.
- Add device and data return to the offboarding checklist.
- For remote staff, send a prepaid return box, or lock and wipe the device remotely.
- Record the date each device comes back.
The free ISO 27001 readiness assessment asks 2 questions that evidence it:
- Do you keep an inventory of devices, cloud accounts, data stores and software, with an owner for each?
- When someone leaves, how quickly is their access removed?
Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap
In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Asset Management and Information Classification Policy covers A.5.11. 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 criterion that cover this ground: CC6.2, user provisioning.
Organizational controls
A.5.11 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.5.8, security in projects
- A.5.9, asset inventory
- A.5.10, acceptable use
- A.5.12, classifying information
- A.5.13, labeling information
- A.5.14, sending information out
Before it: A.5.10, acceptable use. After it: A.5.12, classifying information. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.
Questions
What does ISO 27001 A.5.11 require?
What evidence does an auditor want for A.5.11?
Get ready for ISO 27001 certification.
The readiness assessment is free, with no payment and no card. ISO 27001 is part of Constellation, at $10,800 a year: everything in Orbit plus the management system, the policies, the evidence and the management review for ISO 27001, and your SOC 2 Type 2 audit is included in every contract year. You contract the certification body directly.
The internal audit is priced separately: Polara arranges it with an independent internal auditor from our partner network who works in the platform, and quotes it for your company.
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