ISO 27001 A.7.4: physical monitoring, explained for startups
What A.7.4 asks of a small company, and what an auditor samples.
Watch your premises for unauthorized physical access using tools like cameras or alarms. Monitoring helps you catch and respond to break-ins.
Why it exists: to detect a break in at its premises.
A.7.4 Physical security monitoring
Offices are watched for break-ins. What proves it: the alarm or camera monitoring in place, and a record that it works.
A certification auditor samples alarm or camera system records. A file that usually does the job: an alarm monitoring contract, or the building management's confirmation of camera coverage and response.
This control applies only where you have an office or other premises. A fully remote company can exclude it in its Statement of Applicability, with the reason written down.
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.7.4 walks you through it in this order.
- Use an alarm or camera system, or confirm the building provides one.
- Name who is alerted and who responds.
- Test it once a year and keep the record.
No question in the readiness assessment covers A.7.4 directly, so the control card is its whole evidence path.
Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap
In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Physical and Environmental Security Policy covers A.7.4. 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: CC6.4, physical access.
Physical controls
A.7.4 is one of the 14 physical controls in Annex A. Buildings, rooms, equipment and media. A remote company with no office can exclude several of these in its Statement of Applicability, with the reason written down, and covers the rest through laptop rules and its cloud provider.
Nearby controls in the same theme:
- A.7.1, physical perimeters
- A.7.2, getting into the building
- A.7.3, securing offices and rooms
- A.7.5, environmental threats
- A.7.6, working in secure areas
- A.7.7, clear desk and screen
Before it: A.7.3, securing offices and rooms. After it: A.7.5, environmental threats. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.
Questions
What does ISO 27001 A.7.4 require?
What evidence does an auditor want for A.7.4?
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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