ISO 27001 A.5.20: security in supplier contracts, explained for startups
What A.5.20 asks of a small company, and what an auditor samples.
Write your security requirements into supplier contracts so they are enforceable. Make the vendor obligations explicit rather than assumed.
Why it exists: to bind suppliers to the security terms its information needs.
A.5.20 Addressing information security within supplier agreements
Supplier contracts include the security terms you need. What proves it: signed agreements with your key suppliers that include confidentiality, breach notice and data protection terms.
A certification auditor samples signed contracts or data processing agreements with security clauses. A file that usually does the job: a signed data processing agreement with the security and breach notice clauses marked.
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.5.20 walks you through it in this order.
- List the suppliers that process your data.
- Make sure each has a signed agreement with confidentiality, breach notice and data protection terms.
- Keep a copy of each.
The free ISO 27001 readiness assessment asks one question that evidences it:
- How do you manage the suppliers and cloud services that handle your data?
Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap
In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Supplier and Cloud Service Security Policy covers A.5.20. 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: CC9.2, vendor risk.
Organizational controls
A.5.20 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.5.17, passwords and secrets
- A.5.18, granting and removing access
- A.5.19, supplier security
- A.5.21, technology supply chain
- A.5.22, watching your suppliers
- A.5.23, cloud services
Before it: A.5.19, supplier security. After it: A.5.21, technology supply chain. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.
Questions
What does ISO 27001 A.5.20 require?
What evidence does an auditor want for A.5.20?
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.
Take the free assessmentPolara Labs is not a certification body. Certification audits are performed by independent accredited certification bodies.