ISO 27001 A.8.10: deleting information, explained for startups

A.8.10 Information deletion

Data is deleted when it is no longer needed. What proves it: retention rules for your data, and the jobs or tickets that delete it on time.

A certification auditor samples deletion jobs and deletion requests. A file that usually does the job: storage lifecycle rules that expire old data, or a completed customer deletion request.

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.8.10 walks you through it in this order.

1. Set how long each type of data is kept.
2. Automate deletion with lifecycle rules or scheduled jobs.
3. Handle deletion requests through a ticket and keep the record.

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

• Do you delete data when you no longer need it?

Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap

In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Operations Security Policy covers A.8.10. 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: C1.2, confidential data disposal and CC6.5, data and device disposal.

Technological controls

A.8.10 is one of the 34 technological controls in Annex A. The controls built into your systems: access, devices, malware, vulnerabilities, backups, logging, networks, encryption and secure development. Exports and settings screenshots prove most of them.

Nearby controls in the same theme:

• A.8.7, malware protection
• A.8.8, vulnerability management
• A.8.9, configuration management
• A.8.11, data masking
• A.8.12, data leak prevention
• A.8.13, backups

Before it: A.8.9, configuration management. After it: A.8.11, data masking. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.