What Is An ISMS?

Introduction

When it comes to data protection, there are a lot of abbreviations. Often, industry professionals use this type of jargon just for convenience. You can check out our information security glossary for more information!

So, what is an ISMS and how does it impact your business? Our team here at Hicomply outlines everything you need to know.

What is an ISMS?

ISMS stands for information security management system.

Simply put, an information security management system is a set of policies, processes, and procedures that help an organisation manage data belonging to a business or information that it processes for its customers.

What does an ISMS do?

An ISMS enables compliance with government legislation to ensure that you are taking every measure to protect data from unwanted breaches, loss, corruption and more.

This is done by focusing on three main areas:

1. Confidentiality
2. Integrity
3. Availability

This means that the information should not be accessible to unauthorised parties, and only those with the correct authority should have access to what they need. As well as this, the information you hold must be complete and accurate and should not be tampered with.

Specifically, adhering to an ISMS framework protects your data and assets, provides an easy way of demonstrating your information security, shows that your organisation cares about data protection, and helps you stay ahead of future cyber risks.

Ensuring ISMS compliance will help your business protect itself and its customers from data breaches, which will, in turn, strengthen your brand and organisation and lead to more and happier customers.

What is ISO 27001 ISMS certification and what does it have to do with an ISMS?

ISO 27001 is a certification that provides specifications for achieving a best-practice ISMS which is compliant with data protection legislation.

Given the prevalence of cyberattacks in the current climate, businesses across all sectors that hold important data would benefit from an effective ISMS, recognised by ISO 27001 certification. ISO 27001 focuses on future-proofing organisations, with taking steps towards ongoing improvement a key factor in the certification.

You may have heard of ISO 27002, which provides the code of conduct. This is guidance that is used to implement and manage the specification.

What are the benefits to an ISMS?

If you have an ISO 27001-compliant ISMS, there are many benefits aside from being aligned with legislation.

1. Mitigate security risks – Implementing an ISMS means your organisation is keeping information secure and will therefore increase your company’s resilience to potential threats. As well as this, an ISMS is flexible and will continue to adapt to ensure that any evolving risks are kept at bay.
2. Improve your company culture – By having an ISMS in place, you will be able to show your employees the importance of data security and the associated risks. They will be able to improve their own working practices and become more vigilant in protecting your company’s valuable assets.
3. Protecting your data – As mentioned earlier, an ISMS is all about protecting the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of data. An ISMS implementation introduces a set of policies and procedures including physical and technical controls to protect your valuable data.
4. Managing data all in one place – Centralising all your information is important to ensure that you have an accurate and complete overview of everything that is going on with your data. Not only that, but it also makes everything more manageable!

There are many more benefits to having an ISMS in your business. If you’re interested in learning more, read Top 10 Benefits of Implementing An ISMS or ISO 27001.

And, now that you know what an ISMS is, read our guides to Defining ISMS Objectives, ISMS Implementation, and ISMS Risk Registers to learn more about information security management systems.