Summary
The post provides an internal audit checklist for ISO 27001 certification. It aims to help business owners conduct accurate audits for a seamless certification experience.
Obtaining ISO 27001 certification includes several steps. One critical step that you can never ignore when developing a management system is an internal audit.
Internal audits are a way to monitor, identify, and improve how your company manages specific systems and processes. In this case, you will audit your company’s information security management system you go through your own internal auditor or a professional auditor from outside your organization.
Internal audits can help you discover system errors early on so your certification process goes as smoothly as possible, raise employee awareness and improve management participation.
However, conducting internal audits can be pretty complex, especially if you don’t have access to expert auditors or tools.
Thus, to make the process easier for you, the following section presents a complete internal audit guide for ISO 27001.
So, keep reading!
How To Prepare For ISO 27001 Certification Internal Audit!
Before jumping into the checklist, let’s look at how you can prepare for the internal audit of your information security management system.
• Start by studying the legislation. Some industries, like finance, have distinct rules regarding internal audits.
• Determine how many audits you want to perform annually. If you are a small business owner, a single audit in a year will be enough to maintain the ISO 27001 controls. But if you have a larger organization, consider breaking the audit into parts (e.g., audit one department each month) and conduct at least two complete audits in a year.
• If you already have an ISO 9001 quality management system in place, you can utilize the same audit procedure for ISO 27001 certification as well. Also, you can consider hiring the same auditor to save time and effort as long as they are trained and competent in information security.
• Establish a written procedure detailing how you will complete the internal audit, who will be involved and their responsibilities.
• Ensure you have all the required internal audit documentation, including internal audit procedures, annual internal audit programs, an internal audit checklist and internal audit report.
• Also, confirm your internal audit documents have different sections for references, what to look for, compliance and findings.
How To Conduct Internal Audits For ISO 27001 Certification?
Internal audits are mandatory for ISO 27001, nevertheless they are also useful to reduce your chances of facing nonconformities during the certification audit.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to conducting internal audits:
• Document review: Start your auditing process by reading all the documents related to your ISMS (Information Security Management System). Your goal should be becoming familiar with the management system processes and identifying nonconformities in the documentation.
• Create a checklist: Your ISO 27001 certification auditing checklist should include specific standard requirements, procedures, policies and plans.
• Plan the audit: Plan your audits by department or location. Mention when you will conduct each audit and which areas require the most attention.
• Performing the audit: If you hire professional auditors, they will manage every aspect of the auditing process. However, if you are doing it yourself, choose a method of auditing, like interviews. Speak with your employees, check the equipment and analyze physical security. Ensure your checklist has all the things you must audit during this period. Also, take detailed notes of everything you do and all the records you viewed.
• Reporting: Once you have completed the audit, summarize all the flaws, improvement opportunities and nonconformities you found. Use it to write a thorough internal audit report. Later, you will use this report to plan corrective action procedures.
• Follow-Up: After performing the corrective actions, follow up with your plans to ensure you have addressed all the non-conformities.
Summing Up
So, this is how you complete an internal audit in preparation for ISO 27001 certification. If this is your first time pursuing an ISO certification, it’s best to hire a professional auditor. They can help you ensure the audits are flawless and post the certification audit.
Blue Wolf certifications is a customer friendly and customer focused auditor for various accredited certification bodies.
