Your Complete Guide to ISO 27001: From Gap Analysis to Certification

CyberKainos. Reading time: 6 mins

ISO 27001 at a glance:

Jurisdiction: International (adapted locally)

Applicable business / industries: Any

Difficulty: Medium / High 

Status: Voluntary (but often required for contracts)

Renewal: Annual surveillance audits + 3-year re-certification 

What is ISO 27001?

ISO 27001 is the international standard for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). It outlines a series of controls to help organisations manage sensitive information and help keep it secure through their people, processes, and IT systems. 

As the world’s most widely recognised information security standard, ISO 27001 demonstrates to clients, partners, and regulators that you are taking information security seriously. The standard is built around a risk-based approach, requiring organisations to identify, assess, and treat information security risks systematically. 

There are over 80,000 organisations worldwide with ISO 27001 certification. The standard also aligns closely with other compliance frameworks including GDPR, SOX, HIPAA, and Cyber Essentials, making it a cornerstone for information security management. 

At CyberKainos, we believe obtaining ISO 27001 certification is essential for any organisation serious about information security. Beyond risk reduction, it provides competitive advantages, regulatory alignment, and operational improvements that deliver genuine business value. 

How This Blog Will Help You On Your ISO 27001 Journey

Whether you are researching ISO 27001, planning your certification, or preparing for your annual surveillance audit, this comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know, including: 

•  The Plan-DO-Check-Act Cycle

•  Introducing ‘Annex A’ Controls

•  The benefits of achieving ISO 27001 compliance

•  A 10 step process guide to success

•  How Aegis, our information security compliance platform automates information gathering, control management, processes, and continuous monitoring to accelerate your ISO 27001 certification

Plan-Do-Check-Act

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) Cycle is a four-step model that enables continuous improvement. Following this cycle will help the ISMS grow as the organisation changes over time, a key part of ISO 27001.

Plan: Establish the ISMS, define scope, conduct risk assessments, and create security policies (ISO Clauses 4, 5, 6,and 7)

Do: Implement and operate the ISMS controls and procedures (ISO Clause 8)

Check: Monitor, measure, and review ISMS performance through internal audits (ISO Clause 9)

Act: Take corrective actions to continually improve the ISMS (ISO Clause 10)

3 Reasons why the PDCA Model Matters

•  Facilitates continuous improvement. Reinforces a structured loop of planning, execution, evaluation, and acting, ensuring your ISMS adapts and improves over time incident response plans stress tested, so when they are needed your people and processes are ready

•  Encourages a risk-based focus. Making planning and reviewing phases the norm ensures actions will align with risk assessments and audit findings

•  Creates an audit-ready structure. Aligning each cycle phase with ISO clauses simplifies both internal and external audits, saving time, and demonstrating methodical governance.

 

Introducing ‘Annex A’ Controls

‘Annex A’ is the name given to the full catalogue of security controls within ISO 27001. There are 93 of them in total across 4 key themes.

These controls serve as a reference framework for organisations to manage and mitigate information security risks identified during the risk assessment process. The good news is not every control is mandatory, but each must be evaluated for relevance and either implemented (or excluded with documented justification) in the Statement of Applicability (SoA).

The four key Annex A control themes:

Organizational Controls (leadership and governance focussed) – 37 controls

People Controls (creating a resilient cybersecurity culture) – 8 controls

Physical Controls (physical protection of IT assets) – 14 controls

Technological Controls (the defence of systems and networks) – 34 controls

Benefits of ISO 27001 Certification 

Achieving ISO 27001 certification delivers multiple business benefits beyond simply improving security posture: 

Enhanced reputation and trust 

• Create competitive advantages in tenders and procurement processes against those lacking certification 
• Build customer confidence through your demonstrated security commitment 
• ISO 27001 is an internationally recognised and accepted information security standard 

Regulatory compliance and legal benefits 

• Align with other standards such as GDPR through privacy and data protection controls 
• Reduce regulatory risk with documented compliance evidence 
• Improve your legal position in case of future security incidents 

Cost savings

• Reduced insurance premiums through your now demonstrable risk management 
• Fewer security incidents means less time is spent investigating and remediating them 
• Improved operational efficiency through standardised processes 

 

10 Steps to Achieve ISO 27001 Certification 

1. Gain senior management support 

ISO 27001 implementation requires significant organisational commitment. Senior management must: 

•  Allocate adequate budget and resource

•  Appoint competent ISMS personnel 

•  Communicate the importance of IS0 27001 throughout the organisation 

2. Define your ISMS scope and boundaries 

Clearly define what parts of your organisation the ISMS will cover: 

• Physical locations (offices, data centres, remote sites) 
• Organisational units (departments, subsidiaries, functions) 
• Information systems (networks, applications, databases) 
• Business processes (operations, support functions, outsourced services) 

It is important to document scope boundaries and exclusions with clear justifications as early as possible. Our Aegis platform can help by mapping your digital assets and identify scope boundaries automatically, which could save your teams days of work.

3. Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment 

Perform a thorough information security risk assessment to identify: 

• Your information assets that require protection 
• Threats that could exploit your vulnerabilities 
• Known vulnerabilities in current security arrangements 
• Risk levels based on likelihood and impact 
• Risk treatment options in each instance (accept, avoid, transfer, mitigate) 

Again, this is an area where Aegis can help save significant time thanks to its automated risk assessment tooling.

4. Develop information security policies and procedures 

Create comprehensive documentation including: 

• Information security policy (a mandatory top-level document) 
• Risk management policy and procedures 
• Incident response procedures 

The Aegis platform includes a template library, providing industry-tested policies that you can customise for your organisation. This has the potential to save your team days of work by not having to create them from scratch.

5. Implement Selected Security Controls 

Based on your risk treatment decisions, implement the chosen controls from Annex A: 

• Configure technical controls (firewalls, encryption, access controls) 
• Establish operational procedures (backup, monitoring, maintenance) 
• Implement organisational controls (training, roles, responsibilities) 
• Deploy physical security measures (access controls, environmental protection) 

The Aegis platform can automate many of these control implementations and provide continuous monitoring and alerting so your team does not have to keep checking them.

6. Provide Security Awareness Training 

Ensure all personnel know and understand their information security responsibilities including:

• Role-specific training based on job functions 
• Regular awareness sessions and training on current threats 
• Incident reporting procedures and escalation paths 
• Policy acknowledgment and compliance requirements 

Again, Aegis simplifies things by allowing administrators to easily see which users are passing or failing security awareness training, through actions such as clicking on simulated phishing emails. Training can they be targeted to ensure these higher risk individuals do not remain a weakness in cyber defences.

7. Conduct Internal ISMS Audits 

Perform internal audits to verify ISMS effectiveness: 

• Plan audit programme covering all processes and controls 
• Use competent internal or external auditors 
• Document findings and non-conformities 
• Track corrective actions to completion 

8. Management Review and Continual Improvement 

Senior management must regularly review ISMS performance: 

•  Review audit results and performance metrics 

•  Assess risk changes and control effectiveness 

•  Make improvement decisions and resource allocations 

•  Update policies and procedures as needed 

9. Select Accredited Certification Body 

The CyberKainos ISO lead assessors and implementers will help you get ready for your assessment. However, only a certified body can do the official ISO 27001 certification audit.

CyberKainos are pleased to partner with A-LIGN, who, as an ANAB and UKAS accredited ISO 27001 certification body, have helped hundreds of organisations meet their ISO certification needs

10. Complete your Stage 1 and Stage 2 Certification Audits 

The certification process involves two audit stages: 

Stage 1 (documentation review): 

•  Review ISMS documentation and readiness

•  Identify any major gaps or issues

•  Plan the Stage 2 audit approach

Stage 2 (implementation audit): 

•  Verify controls are effectively implemented

•  Test ISMS performance and effectiveness

•  Interview personnel and observe processes

•  Issue certificate if successful (typically 3-year validity) 

Ready to get started with ISO 27001?

Here’s how to take the next steps: 

Step 1: Initial assessment. Take advantage of our FREE ISO27001 readiness assessment checker to understand your current maturity and position. To book, please click here and complete the form

Step 2: Planning. Engage our experienced consultants to develop a realistic implementation roadmap and business case 

Step 3 Implementation. Leverage the Aegis platform and our CISO level expertise to accelerate and simplify your ISO 27001 journey

Step 4 Certification. Only a certified body can complete the official ISO 27001 certification audit. Through our partners at A-LIGN, CyberKainos are able to offer a full certification service. As an ANAB and UKAS accredited ISO 27001 certification body, A-LIGN have helped hundreds of organisations meet their ISO certification needs. Once our assessors and implementors have undertaken your pre-audit you will be handed seamlessly over to A-LIGN.

Step 5 Re-Certification. ISO 27001 certification is valid for three years, with annual surveillance audits and a re-certification audit in year three. Thanks to Aegis’ continuous monitoring, any gaps that may open are immediately identified and flagged to the right people, along with the reasons why it has been flagged, and a step-by step guide for remediation.

This means when renewal time comes around your team are well ahead of the game and ready for a swift, cost effective audit that will have zero impact on your operations or bid processes. 

Contact our ISO 27001 experts today. Let’s talk about your needs and see how we can help you get certified quickly and easily. 

hello@cyberkainos.com

01753 375 908