Achieve ISO 27001:2022 Excellence with a Clause-Wise Checklist

Implementing an Information Security Management System (ISMS) can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down clause by clause makes it structured and achievable.
📌 What’s inside the checklist?
Scope, Normative References, Terms & Definitions, Context of the Organization, Leadership, Planning, Support, Operation, Performance Evaluation, Improvement
✅ From risk assessments to performance evaluations, this checklist ensures your ISMS is aligned with the ISO 27001:2022 requirements.
Why does it matter?
• Builds trust with clients & stakeholders
• Demonstrates compliance with global standards
• Strengthens your security posture
• Drives continual improvement across your organization
ISO 27001 isn’t just a certification—it’s proof that your organization takes information security seriously.
Are you ready to strengthen your ISMS with a clause-wise approach?

1. ISO/IEC 27001
Clause-Wise
for ISMS Implementation
Checklist

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................03
2. Clause 1: Scope.............................................................04
3. Clause 2: Normative References..........................04
4. Clause 3: Terms and Definitions............................04
5. Clause 4: Context of the Organization................05
6. Clause 5: Leadership..................................................07
7. Clause 6: Planning.......................................................09
8. Clause 7: Support.........................................................11
9. Clause 8: Operation.....................................................13
10. Clause 9: Performance Evaluation.....................15
11. Clause 10: Improvement.........................................18

3. What is ISO 27001?
Why an ISO 27001
Information Security
Management System?
Format/Process for Achieving
ISO 27001 Information
Security Management System
Introduction
ISO 27001 is a globally recognized
standard that outlines how to build,
operate, maintain, and improve an
Information Security Management
System (ISMS). An ISMS is a
structured framework designed to
keep sensitive business information
secure by integrating people,
processes, and technology.
Implementing an ISO 27001
Information Security Management
System (ISMS) is crucial as it
demonstrates an organization's
independent validation that its
ISMS aligns with the rigorous
criteria set by this global certifica-
tion standard. Achieving alignment
assures clients, business partners,
and stakeholders that your organi-
zation prioritizes information
security and has strong measures
in place to protect confidential
data. It builds trust, enhances
reputation, and can provide a
competitive advantage by assuring
compliance with best practices and
regulatory requirements.
Obtaining independent validation against
the ISO 27001 global certification
standard typically involves several key
phases:
1. Planning and Scoping: Defining the
scope of the ISMS and establishing the
project plan.
2. ISMS Implementation: Creating and
applying essential policies, processes, risk
evaluations, and security controls, along
with training staff and preparing the
required documentation.
3. Internal Audits: Conducting internal
reviews to ensure the ISMS is functioning
effectively and complies with the standard.
4. Management Review: Top management
reviewing the ISMS performance and
suitability.
5. Certification Audit (Stage 1 & Stage 2):
This is where an accredited external
certification body audits your ISMS.
6. Certification and Continual
Improvement: Upon successful audit,
certification is granted, followed by
ongoing monitoring, reviews, and continual
improvement of the ISMS.
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4. Clause 1: Scope
ISO 27001 sets out the requirements for an Information Security Management System (ISMS).
It is a generic standard, applicable to all types and sizes of organizations,
regardless of their nature or purpose.
Clause 2: Normative References
ISO 27001 references ISO 27000 (Information security management systems,
Overview and vocabulary) for its terms and definitions. This is crucial for understanding
the foundational terminology used throughout the standard.
Clause 3: Terms and Definitions
This clause outlines the key terms and definitions relevant to information security
management within the standard, primarily referring to ISO 27000 for the comprehensive list.
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5. Requirement
Has the organization identified internal issues
relevant to its purpose and its ISMS? (e.g., culture,
capabilities, resources, internal policies)
Has the organization identified external issues
relevant to its purpose and its ISMS?
(e.g., legal/regulatory, technological, market, social,
environmental, competitive, including climate change)
Is there documented evidence of this analysis
(e.g., Context Document, SWOT/PESTLE analysis,
meeting minutes)?
Is the analysis reviewed and updated
on a regular basis?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 4: Context of the Organization
4.1: Understanding the Organization and its Context
Requirement
Has the organization mapped all relevant
stakeholders (e.g., clients, regulators, partners,
suppliers, employees)?
Have their information security-related needs
and expectations been clearly identified
(e.g., compliance obligations, service-level agreements)?
Is there documented justification for these needs
(such as legal registers, contractual clauses,
or stakeholder matrices)?
Are these expectations reflected in the ISMS
design and operations?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
4.2: Understanding the Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties
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6. Requirement
Is the scope of the ISMS clearly defined,
considering the organization's objectives,
functions, and boundaries?
Has the scope been developed based on
the context (4.1) and stakeholder analysis (4.2)?
If any exclusions exist, are they justified, documented,
and do not undermine the ISMS’s credibility?
Has the defined scope been communicated to
internal and external interested parties?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
4.3: Determining the Scope of the
Information Security Management System
Requirement
Has the organization established, implemented,
maintained, and continually improved an
ISMS in alignment with ISO/IEC 27001:2022?
Are all required interconnected processes and
responsibilities clearly defined as part of the system?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
4.4: Information Security Management System
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7. Requirement
Does top management actively demonstrate leadership
and support for the ISMS (e.g., through active
participation, policy approval, allocation of resources)?
Is the importance of effective information security
clearly communicated across all levels
of the organization?
Has management ensured that information security
requirements are integrated into strategic
and operational processes?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 5: Leadership
5.1: Leadership and Commitment
Requirement
Has an information security policy been formally
defined, approved, and documented?
Does the policy reflect the organization’s purpose,
operational nature, and risk appetite?
Does it explicitly express a commitment to meet
applicable requirements and continuously
improve the ISMS?
Is the policy communicated to relevant
stakeholders and made readily accessible?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
5.2: Policy
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8. Requirement
Does top management actively demonstrate leadership
and support for the ISMS (e.g., through active
participation, policy approval, allocation of resources)?
Is the importance of effective information security
clearly communicated across all levels
of the organization?
Has management ensured that information security
requirements are integrated into strategic
and operational processes?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
5.1: Leadership and Commitment
Requirement
Are roles and responsibilities for information
security clearly defined, documented, and
communicated across the organization?
Is there evidence that personnel understand and
accept their responsibilities (e.g., onboarding
training, acknowledgments)?
Has top management delegated appropriate
authority to responsible individuals to manage,
monitor, and report on ISMS effectiveness?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
5.3: Organizational Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities
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9. Requirement
Has the organization identified risks and opportunities
related to its ISMS objectives, operations, and context
(as determined in Clauses 4.1 and 4.2)?
Are there documented action plans to address
these risks and opportunities, integrated
into ISMS processes?
Are actions designed to prevent undesired effects,
support continuous improvement, and enable the
ISMS to achieve its intended outcomes?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 6: Planning
6.1: Actions to Address Risks and Opportunities
6.1.1: General
Requirement
Is there a defined risk assessment methodology,
including acceptance criteria and evaluation metrics?
Are information assets, threats, and vulnerabilities
systematically identified and assessed based on
confidentiality, integrity, and availability?
Are risk owners identified, and is there consistency
and traceability in how risks are evaluated?
Is documented evidence of risk assessments
maintained?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
6.1.2: Information Security Risk Assessment
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10. Requirement
Is there a documented process for risk treatment,
including the selection of treatment options
(e.g., mitigate, accept, transfer)?
Are appropriate controls selected (including those
from Annex A or other sources), with justification
for inclusion or exclusion?
Has a Statement of Applicability (SoA) been
developed, clearly stating which controls
are implemented and why?
Is there a risk treatment plan with approval
from risk owners and acceptance of residual risk?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
6.1.3: Information Security Risk Treatment
Requirement
Are measurable information security objectives
established at relevant levels and aligned
with the security policy?
Are the objectives based on risk assessment outputs,
legal/regulatory requirements, and business needs?
Is there a plan detailing what will be done,
who is responsible, deadlines, resources,
and evaluation metrics?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
6.2: Information Security Objectives and Planning to Achieve Them
Requirement
Are changes to the ISMS planned in a controlled
manner, ensuring minimal disruption to ongoing
processes and alignment with security objectives?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
6.3: Planning of Changes
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11. Requirement
Has the organization determined and allocated
adequate resources (human, technical, financial)
for the effective implementation and operation
of the ISMS?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 7: Support
7.1: Resources
Requirement
Are personnel aware of the information security policy,
their role in maintaining security, and the
consequences of non-conformity?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
7.3: Awareness
Requirement
Has the organization determined what, when,
with whom, and how to communicate ISMS-relevant
information internally and externally?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
7.4: Communication
Requirement
Are personnel performing ISMS-related tasks
competent through education, training, or experience?
Are training needs identified, and effectiveness
of training programs evaluated regularly?
Is documented evidence of personnel
competence maintained?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
7.2: Competence
Designation
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12. Requirement
Has the organization ensured that all required
documented information (as per ISO 27001 and
internally determined needs) is created and
maintained to support the ISMS?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
7.5: Documented Information
7.5.1: General
Requirement
Are there defined procedures to create and update
documents with appropriate identifiers, formats, and
review/approval processes (e.g., version control,
authorship, date)?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
7.5.2: Creating and Updating
Requirement
Is documented information readily available and
protected from loss of confidentiality, integrity,
or misuse?
Are controls in place for distribution, access,
retrieval, storage, change management, retention,
and secure disposal of documents?
Are externally sourced documents used in the ISMS
clearly identified and appropriately controlled?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
7.5.3: Control of Documented Information
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
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13. Requirement
Has the organization planned, implemented, and
controlled all necessary processes to meet ISMS
requirements and achieve intended outcomes?
Are criteria for the operation of each process
defined and applied to ensure consistent and
secure performance?
Is there documented evidence confirming
that processes are being performed as planned?
Are planned changes managed effectively,
and is there a process to review and address
unintended changes?
Are externally provided processes, products, or services
(e.g., cloud platforms, outsourced IT) appropriately
controlled within the ISMS scope?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 8: Operation
8.1: Operational Planning and Control
Requirement
Are information security risk assessments conducted
at planned intervals or when significant operational
or contextual changes occur (e.g., new projects,
regulatory changes, breaches)?
Is the risk assessment methodology aligned with the
criteria established in Clause 6.1.2 (e.g., consistent,
comparable, valid outcomes)?
Is documented evidence retained for
all risk assessments performed?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
8.2: Information Security Risk Assessment
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14. Requirement
Are risk treatment plans from Clause
6.1.3 implemented effectively?
Are responsibilities clearly assigned to risk
owners or control owners for implementation?
Is evidence of implementation maintained
(e.g., control deployment logs, configuration
changes, incident response procedures)?
Are results monitored and validated to ensure the
chosen controls address the assessed risks adequately?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
8.3: Information Security Risk Treatment
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15. Requirement
Has the organization defined what needs to be
monitored and measured to evaluate ISMS performance
(e.g., control effectiveness, risk trends, security KPIs)?
Are the methods used for monitoring and measurement
appropriate to ensure valid, reproducible,
and comparable results?
Has the organization defined when and by whom
the monitoring and analysis should be conducted?
Is there documented evidence of measurement results
and their analysis, including evaluation of ISMS
effectiveness and achievement of security objectives?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 9: Performance Evaluation
9.1: Monitoring, Measurement, Analysis, and Evaluation
Requirement
Does the organization perform internal ISMS audits at
planned intervals to evaluate conformity with both
ISO 27001 and its own ISMS requirements?
Are audits used to verify whether the
ISMS is effectively implemented and maintained?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
9.2: Internal Audit
9.2.1: General
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16. Requirement
Is there a formal audit programme that includes
frequency, scope, responsibilities, methods,
and reporting?
Does the audit programme take into account the
importance of the audited processes and the
results of previous audits?
Are audit criteria and scope defined for each audit,
and are auditors selected to ensure objectivity
and impartiality?
Are audit results communicated to relevant
management, and is evidence retained?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
9.2.2: Internal Audit - Audit Programme
Requirement
Does top management conduct ISMS management
reviews at planned intervals to ensure continued
suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
9.3: Management Review
9.3.1: General
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17. Requirement
Has the organization reviewed the status of actions
from previous management reviews to ensure
timely and effective closure?
Have changes in the external and internal context (e.g.,
regulatory shifts, new business risks, operational
changes) that are relevant to the ISMS been
considered during the review?
Have changes in the needs and expectations of
interested parties (such as clients, regulators, partners,
or internal teams) been assessed and documented?
Has the review included an evaluation of information
security performance trends, including nonconformities,
audit results, results of monitoring and measurement,
and the achievement of information security objectives?
Has the organization gathered and considered
feedback from relevant interested parties, including
complaints, incident reports, or suggestions?
Have updates to the risk assessment and current
status of the risk treatment plan been presented,
reviewed, and discussed for adequacy
and effectiveness?
Has the review identified and documented
opportunities for continual improvement in
the ISMS, processes, or controls?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
9.3.2: Management Review Inputs
Requirement
Do the review outputs include decisions
related to improvements, as well as required
changes to the ISMS?
Is there documented evidence of management
review results?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
9.3.3: Management Review Results
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18. Requirement
Has the organization established a formal approach
to continually improve the suitability, adequacy,
and effectiveness of the ISMS?
Are outputs from audits, monitoring, incidents,
risk assessments, and management reviews used
as inputs to drive continual improvement?
Are improvement opportunities identified,
evaluated, and implemented in a timely
and documented manner?
Does continual improvement lead to measurable
benefits in ISMS performance or risk reduction?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
Clause 10: Improvement
10.1: Continual Improvement
Requirement
When a nonconformity occurs, does the organization
react promptly to control and correct it, including
actions to deal with its consequences?
Is a root cause analysis conducted to identify why the
nonconformity occurred, and whether similar
issues exist or could recur?
Are corrective actions determined and implemented
in proportion to the impact of the nonconformity?
Has the organization reviewed the effectiveness
of the corrective actions taken to ensure
they resolved the issue?
Are necessary changes made to the ISMS
(e.g., process updates, control redesigns)
as a result of the corrective action process?
Is documented evidence maintained for all
nonconformities, actions taken, root cause analyses,
and results of effectiveness reviews?
Status
(Yes / No / Partially / N/A)
Comments/
Evidence
Designation
10.2: Nonconformity and Corrective Action
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19. This content is created by the Azpirantz Marketing Team.