ISO 27001 A.8.9: configuration management, explained for startups

A.8.9 Configuration management

Systems are set up from a known secure configuration that you check. What proves it: a defined secure configuration for your systems, and a way to detect drift from it.

A certification auditor samples configuration baselines and drift reports. A file that usually does the job: infrastructure as code repositories, or a cloud configuration rules report showing compliant resources.

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.8.9 walks you through it in this order.

1. Define configurations in code where you can.
2. Turn on your cloud provider's configuration rules to flag drift.
3. Set laptop baselines in device management.

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

• How are your production systems configured?

Policies, connectors and the SOC 2 overlap

In the ISO 27001 policy pack, the Operations Security Policy covers A.8.9. An auditor reads the policy for the rule, then samples the records to see the rule was followed.

Connected systems that pull evidence for it:

• Amazon Web Services, AWS Config recorders: whether AWS Config records configuration changes in each region.
• Google Cloud, Organization policies: organization policy constraints in effect on each project.

The same evidence counts toward SOC 2. The Trust Services criteria that cover this ground: CC7.1, vulnerability monitoring and CC8.1, change management.

Technological controls

A.8.9 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.8.6, capacity
• A.8.7, malware protection
• A.8.8, vulnerability management
• A.8.10, deleting information
• A.8.11, data masking
• A.8.12, data leak prevention

Before it: A.8.8, vulnerability management. After it: A.8.10, deleting information. Every control, by theme, is on the Annex A controls page.