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The business case for ISO 27001 certification

At MOD1, we recognise you as a digital healthcare leader whose goal is to assure stakeholders that your organisation is committed to safeguarding sensitive patient data by employing a structured approach to managing information risk that aligns with legal, regulatory and business requirements.

To achieve this, you will be required to implement an information security management system (ISMS) that can be certified to the ISO/IEC 27001 international standard for information security management.

Common challenges

When embarking on a project to certify an ISMS, one of the challenges you face is accurately assessing your existing information security management capabilities and compliance gaps compared to the ISO 27001 certification requirements.

The problem is exacerbated when your organisation lacks the specialist expertise necessary to approximate the proposed scope of your management system implementation and determine the required resources (people, time, and finances) to pass the ISO 27001 certification audit.

If unresolved, this can seriously delay your implementation and place your organisation at heightened risk of a data breach, loss of revenue, damaged reputation, operational downtime and legal liability.

The MOD1 ISO 27001 gap analysis service

That’s why we created the MOD1 ISO 27001 gap analysis service, a comprehensive assessment that provides the following benefits:

  • indicates what you need to do, how long it might take and how much it might cost
  • assesses the feasibility of undertaking an ISO27001 certification project
  • serves as input to subsequent scoping and road-mapping exercises
  • informs your leadership of critical problem areas and concerns
  • reduces effort and cost by identifying duplicate processes
  • outlines the requirements that you have already met
  • identifies problems and areas for improvement

Here's how it works:

We present a detailed explanation of the gap assessment process in the context of the full ISO/IEC 27001 implementation and agree on the appointment of an internal project coordinator to liaise between the consultant and staff.

Assigning an internal project coordinator ensures that our requests for information about existing policies, procedures, processes and controls are managed to minimise disruption whilst ensuring the gap analysis is prioritised appropriately.

We undertake a series of interviews and walkthroughs with key personnel to establish which processes and procedures have been implemented and the extent to which they are executed.

These discussions help us understand how the guidelines are followed and identify possible control weaknesses not evident from documentation reviews.

Our accredited cybersecurity, privacy, risk, and compliance experts conduct a detailed analysis of the documented evidence and operation of critical processes.

We then compare the assessment’s findings against the standard’s requirements to identify opportunities for improvement, address shortfalls and mitigate the risk of data breaches.

The results of our assessment form the basis of a gap analysis report that summarises your existing capabilities, highlights deficiencies and provides recommendations on measures required to meet the certification objectives.

The report addresses the requirements of ISO 27001 Clause 4 – 10, and each of the 114 Annex A controls to provide a concise description of the following:

  • what arrangements are currently in place (policies, procedures, processes and technical controls)
  • whether the current arrangements could be adapted to meet the requirements of the standard
  • an indication of resource requirements for process development
  • an estimate of the timeframe for implementation
  • potential challenges in meeting the requirements
  • implications for certification by an external auditor

What are the deliverables?

The gap analysis culminates in a comprehensive report highlighting deficiencies and providing recommendations on measures that you need to meet the certification objectives.

You also benefit from a management presentation that walks through the content of the report to help provide guidance around the issues observed and the most logical steps forward based on your certification goals.

Our insights help you and your team approximate the proposed scope of your management system implementation and determine the resources (people, time, and finances) necessary to pass the ISO/IEC 27001 certification audit.

Why MOD1?

Unlike other ISO 27001 compliance services providers, all of our consultants hold the ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Implementer accreditation and are accustomed to working in the highly regulated digital health sector.

We appreciate that no two organisations are the same, so we tailor our services to each client’s size, complexity, risk appetite, and budget.

Ready to kickstart your journey to ISO 27001 certification?

Book your free ISO 27001 gap analysis discovery call today.