ISO 27001 A.5.32: intellectual property, explained for startups

A.5.32 Intellectual property rights

You use software and content only as their licenses allow. What proves it: a list of the software and content you license, and a check that use stays within each license.

A certification auditor samples software license inventory. A file that usually does the job: a subscription list with seat counts compared to users, and an open-source license report for your code.

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.5.32 walks you through it in this order.

1. List paid software and the number of seats you hold.
2. Compare seats with real users and remove unlicensed installs.
3. Check the open-source licenses in your code with a scanning tool.

No question in the readiness assessment covers A.5.32 directly, so the control card is its whole evidence path.

Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap

In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Legal, Regulatory and Contractual Compliance Policy covers A.5.32. 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: CC1.1, integrity and ethics.

Organizational controls

A.5.32 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.5.29, security during a disruption
• A.5.30, technology continuity
• A.5.31, legal and contract duties
• A.5.33, protecting records
• A.5.34, personal data protection
• A.5.35, independent security review

Before it: A.5.31, legal and contract duties. After it: A.5.33, protecting records. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.