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ISO/IEC 27001:2022 — Information Security Management System (ISMS)

ISO/IEC 27001 illustration

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 — published October 2022 — is the international management-system standard for information security. It specifies requirements for an organisation to establish, implement, maintain and continually improve an Information Security Management System (ISMS) under a certifiable management-system framework with the Annex SL backbone shared by ISO/IEC 42001, ISO/IEC 27701 and ISO 9001.

In this guide, "ISO 27001" is shorthand for ISO/IEC 27001:2022.

Quick decision

  • You need a certifiable security baseline → ISO 27001 is the canonical management-system option. See ISMS foundations for what auditors test.
  • You need a structured way to govern AI security controls → ISO 27001 is the security backbone; pair it with ISO 42001 for AI-specific risk, impact and lifecycle controls. See Integration with AI governance.
  • You need to write the Statement of Applicability → Annex A is normative under ISO 27001; the SoA is mandatory under Clause 6.1.3 d. See Annex A (controls reference).
  • You want a deep read of the management-system clauses → see Clauses 4–10.
  • You are rolling out the ISMS in Modulos → see Operationalizing in Modulos — the OFF-9 + MFF-9 framework templates.

TL;DR

  • Third edition published October 2022. Accredited certificates against the 2013 edition were sunset by the late-2025 transition deadline; ISO/IEC 27001:2022 is the current edition.
  • Annex SL backbone — Clauses 4–10 shared with ISO 42001, 27701, 9001.
  • Annex A is normative — 93 controls under four themes (5 Organizational, 6 People, 7 Physical, 8 Technological). The Statement of Applicability (Clause 6.1.3 d) is mandatory documented information.
  • Certification cycle: Stage 1 + Stage 2 audit by an accredited body; annual surveillance; recertification every 3 years.
  • IMS-ready — operates naturally alongside ISO 42001 (AIMS) and ISO 27701 (PIMS) on a shared Clauses 4–10 spine.
  • Modulos operationalises ISO 27001 through the OFF-9 (org, 28 ORF requirements) and MFF-9 (app, 2 MRF requirements) framework templates.

Primary source

ISO/IEC 27001:2022Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Information security management systems — Requirements (third edition, October 2022). Available via the ISO Online Browsing Platform. © ISO.

Key facts
Publisher
ISO/IEC (joint)
Edition
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (Oct 2022)
Type
Certifiable management-system standard
Scope
Information-security management (ISMS)
Annex A
Normative — 93 controls, 4 themes
Outcome
Accredited ISO 27001 certificate

What the ISMS actually requires

ISO 27001 expects the organisation to:

  • determine the ISMS scope (Clause 4.3) and its interactions with the rest of the organisation (4.4);
  • maintain a documented information-security policy (5.2);
  • assign roles, responsibilities and authorities (5.3);
  • perform a structured information-security risk assessment (6.1.2) and risk treatment (6.1.3) — producing the Statement of Applicability (6.1.3 d);
  • set and pursue information-security objectives (6.2);
  • operate the Annex A controls selected in the SoA;
  • monitor, measure, internally audit and review (Clause 9) and continually improve (Clause 10).

The defining ISO 27001 artefact is the Statement of Applicability — the record of which Annex A controls apply, the justification for inclusion or exclusion, and the implementation status. Under Clause 6.1.3 d, the SoA is mandatory documented information.

Go deeper: Clauses 4–10 (implementation guide) · Annex A (controls reference).

Annex A — 93 controls, four themes

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A organises the 93 information-security controls into four themes:

ThemeFocusControl count
5 Organizational controlsPolicies, roles, supplier relationships, incident management, business continuity, legal and compliance37
6 People controlsScreening, terms and conditions, awareness, disciplinary process, remote working8
7 Physical controlsPhysical security perimeter, equipment, secure disposal, clear desk / clear screen14
8 Technological controlsEndpoint security, identity and access management, cryptography, network security, secure development, logging, vulnerability management34

The 2022 edition introduced 11 new controls at A.5.7, A.5.23, A.5.30, A.7.4, A.8.9, A.8.10, A.8.11, A.8.12, A.8.16, A.8.23 and A.8.28 — covering cloud services, configuration management, modern data-protection techniques and threat intelligence.

Go deeper: Annex A (controls reference).

How ISO 27001 supports AI governance

AI governance fails most often for operational reasons that ISO 27001 explicitly addresses:

  • Unclear access control → Annex A theme 8 (Technological) covers identity and access management.
  • Vendor sprawl → Annex A theme 5 (Organizational) covers supplier relationships.
  • Weak incident handling → Annex A theme 5 covers incident management.
  • Missing documentation discipline → Clause 7.5 covers documented information.

The ISMS provides the security backbone on which an AI management system (ISO/IEC 42001) layers AI-specific risk, impact and lifecycle controls. Organisations that already operate ISO 27001 typically reach ISO 42001 Stage 2 in 6–9 months instead of 9–15.

Related: Integration with AI governance · ISO 42001 vs ISO 27001 comparison.

How to operationalise ISO 27001 in Modulos

Modulos models ISO 27001 through two framework templates:

TemplateScopeMapped requirements
OFF-9 (org)Clauses 4–10 ISMS spineORF-196…ORF-223 (28 requirements)
MFF-9 (app)Per-AI-system overlap with the ISMSMRF-221 (Clause 8.2 risk assessment), MRF-222 (Clause 8.3 risk treatment)

The Statement of Applicability is owner-authored documented information stored as evidence on the Clause 6.1.3 risk-treatment requirement; Annex A controls are tracked through control-level evidence linked to that requirement.

Standard rollout in Modulos:

  • One organisation project for the ISMS itself — scope statement, information-security policy, risk-management process, Statement of Applicability, internal audit, management review. Apply OFF-9.
  • AI-system projects for the per-system security overlap (information-security risk assessment + treatment for the AI deployment). Apply MFF-9.
  • Where the same organisation runs ISO/IEC 42001 (AIMS) or ISO/IEC 27701 (PIMS), both share Clauses 4–10 with the ISMS — only the standard-specific risk, control and Annex A content is unique to each.

Go deeper: Operationalizing in Modulos.

Cross-framework mapping (preview)

ISO 27001 elementAdjacent provision
Clause 4.3 ISMS scopeISO 42001 Clause 4.3 AIMS scope; ISO 27701 Clause 4.3 PIMS scope
Clause 5.2 information-security policyISO 42001 Clause 5.2 AI policy; ISO 27701 Clause 5.2 privacy policy
Clause 6.1.2 information-security risk assessmentISO 42001 Clause 6.1.2 AI risk assessment; ISO 31000 risk-management process
Clause 6.1.3 information-security risk treatment + SoAISO 42001 Clause 6.1.3 AI risk treatment; EU AI Act Article 9 RMS
Annex A theme 5 supplier relationshipsEU AI Act Article 25 value chain; NIS2 Article 21(2)(d); ISO 42001 Annex A.10
Annex A theme 8 cryptography (A.8.24)EU AI Act Article 15(5) cybersecurity for high-risk AI; NIS2 Article 21(2)(h)
Annex A theme 8 logging (A.8.15)EU AI Act Article 12 logging; EU AI Act Article 26(6) deployer log retention
Clause 9.1 monitoringISO 42001 Clause 9.1; ISO 9001 Clause 9.1

Source attribution

ISO/IEC 27001:2022Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Information security management systems — Requirements (third edition, published October 2022). © ISO/IEC. Available via the ISO Online Browsing Platform.

Disclaimer

This page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal or certification advice.