Information Security Management System (ISMS) ISO 27001:2022 is a framework of policies, procedures, guidelines, associated resources and activities to achieve the stated objectives of an organization.
Cyril Klimeš, Tomáš Pitner tomas.pitner@mendelu.cz
ISMS: what it is and why, the PDCA cycle (Plan–Do–Check–Act), SMART objectives, ISMS documentation.
Information security policy: components of information security, policy levels, structure of the policy document.
Risk management: the ISO/IEC 27005:2022 process, its place in the ISMS cycle, the procedure of risk analysis.
Vulnerabilities and threats: types of threats, vulnerability examples, threat vs. risk vs. attack vs. impact.
Attacks: intentional attacks, types and strength of attacks, attacks against data communication.
Risk estimation: likelihood and impact, ISO/IEC 27005:2022 terminology (EN–CZ–ISO), acceptable costs of protection.
Case study (WEB-SHOP): a complete worked risk analysis — asset valuation, R = T × A × V, risk levels, and controls.
Core questions of risk management and where they belong in the individual PDCA phases.
Information Security Management System (ISMS) ISO 27001:2022 is a framework of policies, procedures, guidelines, associated resources and activities to achieve the stated objectives of an organization.
It is based on the PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) and on the risk management approach of the information and communication system.
It specifies how to establish, implement and operate, monitor and review, maintain and improve information and data security, following the international standard ISO/IEC 27001:2022 ISO 27001:2022.
PDCA Model for Information Security Management ISO 27001:2022
Establish the framework, scope, risk approach, and controls
Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) scope definition
Identify relevant legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements
ISMS policy definition
Definition of the risk assessment approach
Identification of risks
Risk assessment
Identification and assessment of conditions for risk treatment
Selection of security measures and their objectives
Preparation of the SOA (Statement of Applicability) document
Obtain management approval and commitment
Identification of all selected measures
Justification for the choice (positive and negative) in the light of the risk assessment
Follows up on the results of the risk assessment and countermeasure implementation plan
Document the selected countermeasures (existing and planned) to cover the risks (mitigation, elimination, acceptance) and the rationale for the selection (according to ISO/IEC 27002:2022) ISO 27002:2022
Determines the dates for the implementation of the planned measures
Separate document only in case of subsequent certification or for large IS of large organizations
Implement and operate security policies and controls
Carry out the risk treatment plan (technical, organizational, administrative measures)
Establish organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities
Conduct training and awareness programs for staff
access control management
change management
incident management
backup and recovery
Ensure internal and external communication
Operate and manage information assets according to their classification
Implementation of monitoring
Regular reviews of the effectiveness of the ISMS
Review of the level of acceptable and residual risks
Performing internal ISMS audits
Managing reviews of effectiveness and risk levels
Keeping records of events and incidents with an impact on the ISMS
Implement if the changes have led to success
Improving ISMS
Corrective action
Determining the scope of the ISMS in the organisation
ISMS Basic Policy
Risk assessment
Definition and description of the risk assessment approach
Identification and valuation of assets
Identification of risks
Risk analysis
Proposal for countermeasures
Objectives of measures and safety measures to manage risks
Acceptance of risks
Declaration of support by the management of the organisation for the implementation and operation of the ISMS
Declaration of applicability
Determination of the scope of the ISMS within the organization
Basic ISMS policy
Risk assessment
Definition and description of the risk assessment approach
Identification and evaluation of assets
Identification of risks
Risk analysis
Design of countermeasures
Objectives and security controls for risk treatment
Risk acceptance
Management statement of support for the implementation and operation of the ISMS
Statement of Applicability (SoA)
Management statement — a declaration by top management that it approves the ISMS and commits to its implementation and operation.
Statement of Applicability (SoA) — the list of the security controls selected on the basis of the risk assessment, together with the justification for their selection and for excluding any controls of Annex A of ISO/IEC 27001:2022; it is a mandatory output of the ISMS.
Procedure for the design and implementation of the ISMS — determining the scope of the ISMS, the ISMS policy, the risk assessment, the Statement of Applicability, and the implementation of the selected measures.
Feedback enabling continual improvement of the ISMS — the results of monitoring, internal audits, and the evaluation of effectiveness are fed back into the next Plan phase.
The build-up of the ISMS is the Plan—Do—Check—Act cycle applied to the whole management system: each pass through the loop widens the scope and improves the set of measures.
Fundamental objective of the ISMS — keeping the security attributes of information at a defined level.
| Security attribute | What is maintained |
|---|---|
Confidentiality | information is not disclosed to unauthorized subjects (the CIA triad is defined in module 01) |
Integrity | information is accurate, complete, and protected against unauthorized modification |
Availability | information and related services are accessible to authorized subjects when required |
Authenticity | the origin of the information is genuine and verifiable |
Reliability | the information and the processing that produced it are trustworthy and consistent |
Provability of origin | it can be proven who created and sent the information (non-repudiation of origin) |
Provability of receipt | it can be proven that the information was delivered and received (non-repudiation of receipt) |
Information must be protected in the context of the fundamental security objectives at a defined level.
| S - Specific | as precise as possible to make it clear what is meant by the objective. |
| M - Measurable | to assess the extent to which the objective has been met. |
| A - Accepted | accepted by the responsible person. |
| R - Realistic | realistic so that it can be achieved in real time. |
| T - Timed | timed to make it clear when the goal is to be met. |
Percentage reduction in the number of workstation infections caused by the user (antivirus solutions on workstations, mail servers and user education).
Preventing information leakage (proper deployment of DLP (Data Loss Prevention).
Speeding up system recovery time after a failure (business continuity solutions).
Streamlining and accelerating the resolution of security incidents (deploying a security incident management environment).
Risk assessment,
Security policy making,
ISMS monitoring,
Change management,
Control and audit
Evaluating the effectiveness of the ISMS
Procedure for identifying potential security risks and determining their values
Example: cyber attack on a server Information Security Policy
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
Risk identification | Cyber-attack on Webserver |
Probability | 4 (high) |
Impact | 5 (very high) |
Total risk score | 20 =4*5 |
Countermeasures | setup advanced firewalls, regular updates |
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
Risks | Identification of risks |
Responsible person | IT security team |
Countermeasures | Design of countermeasures |
State | in progress |
Purpose and scope
Roles and responsibilities
Security measures
Incident Management
Monitoring and review
IT Security Policy (ISP) is the fundamental document of information security.
ISP is a set of technical and administrative measures and procedures, serving to maintain the defined level of security.
It is developed based on a risk analysis (RA).
Components of the IS covered by the ISP = assets:
Hardware (computers, servers, printers),
Software (operating systems, applications),
Telecommunication and network equipment (routers, switches, cabling, …)
employees including system and network administrators,
customers or clients,
business partners, etc.
workflows,
activities,
services, …
enterprise information in different stages of processing:
input reports, databases, transmitted data packets, output reports, …
Decree No. 409/2025 Coll., Sections 3(d) and 6 (management of the security policy and security documentation)
A set of principles and rules that determine how assets are protected (Section 2(d))
States the main principles, the objectives of the ISMS, the security needs and the rights and obligations related to information security management
Long-term, independent of current ICT, in line with the strategic direction of the organization
Detailed documentation for the individual security measures (Sections 3 to 27) — e.g. asset, risk, supplier, human resources, change and access management, incident handling, continuity, physical and network security, cryptography
Derived from the security policy, the security needs and the results of the risk assessment
Dynamic — reviewed regularly, kept up to date and reflected in operational documentation, rules and procedures
available in electronic or paper form,
brought to the attention of the persons concerned,
adequately accessible to them,
protected in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability, and
complete, legible, easily identifiable and searchable.
monitoring and auditing: continuous and subsequent monitoring of the effectiveness of the information security system,
the recovery plan and
the emergency plan.
Regular auditing
Incident tracking
Control of recovery plans
Tracking changes
Employee education and awareness
Risk analysis
may have an impact on cyber security
poses a high risk regardless of the measures already in place
E.g. change of configuration, functionality, major supplier
Significant changes need to be managed.
a tool to ensure effective improvement of the established ISMS
highlighting any deviations from best practice
Assessment of the status of the ISMS, including a review of the risk assessment,
assessing the results of audits performed and the impact of cyber security incidents on the defined scope of the ISMS.
Based on the results of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the ISMS, the findings of audits and in connection with significant changes, the ISMS and the relevant documentation must be updated.
Information security objectives and principles
Legislative framework
Scope of the information management system
CS committee,
CS manager,
CS architect,
CS auditor,
asset guarantor,
RACI matrix
asset classification and management, asset evaluation criteria, human resource management, physical security management, preventive and corrective action management, communications and operations security management, access management, systems development and maintenance, business continuity management, information security compliance, information security responsibilities, reviews and audits
What can happen? (Risk identification – identifying potential events or threats)
What is the likelihood that it will happen? (Risk analysis – estimating probability/likelihood)
What are the consequences if it happens? (Risk analysis – estimating impact/consequences)
What can we do about it? (Risk treatment – selecting and implementing measures)
What are the costs, benefits, and risks of each option? (Risk evaluation – comparing options and making decisions)
| Asset | anything that has value for the company and should be protected accordingly |
| Threat | any event that could cause a breach of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an asset |
| Vulnerability | a property of an asset or a weakness in physical, logical, or administrative security that could be exploited by a threat. |
| Risk | the probability that a threat will exploit a vulnerability and cause a breach of confidentiality, integrity, or availability. |
| Countermeasure | a measure at the physical, logical, or administrative security level that reduces vulnerability and protects an asset from a given threat |
| Physical |
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| Software |
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| People Internal |
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Risk Analysis is a key step in building an ISMS.
What will happen if the information is not protected? (impact on IS)
How can information security be compromised? (possibility of exploiting a vulnerability by a threat — carrying out an attack)
What is the probability of this happening? (degree of risk)
Vulnerability is a property of an IS (imperfection of the IS or its components).
Principle: there is no IS without vulnerabilities.
HW
SW
Operating environment
People (employees and other authorized users)
to identify vulnerabilities
to determine the acceptable level of risk resulting from the existence of vulnerabilities
to determine how to keep risks at an acceptable level
Inadequate maintenance of the information and communication system,
obsolescence of the information and communication system,
inadequate protection of the external perimeter,
inadequate security awareness of users and administrators,
Inappropriate access rights settings,
Inadequate procedures for identifying and detecting negative security phenomena, cyber security events and cyber security incidents.
(primary, non-derived phenomenon) creates the possibility of exploiting a vulnerability
is the probability of exploiting a vulnerability (probability of a threat occurring)
(security incident) is the exploitation of a vulnerability.
Intentional attack (subjective attack)
Unintentional attack (objective attack)
| Interruption | against availability |
| Eavesdropping | against confidentiality |
| Change | against integrity |
| Forgery (falsification) | against authenticity |
Possibility of exploiting vulnerability
Creates a risk of attack
arises from the environment
natural, physical
physical
technical, logical
arises from human action
intentional
unintentional
criticality of application (for both objective and subjective threats)
abilities, financial resources, time resources of the potential attacker (for subjective threats)
employee with malicious intent, employee unintentionally performing malicious activities, external attacker: former employee, hacker, layman, "script kiddy", hired professional, competitor, psychopath, etc.
Violation of the security policy, execution of unauthorized activities, misuse of privileges by users or administrators
Damage to or failure of technical or software equipment
Identity misuse
Use of software contrary to license conditions
Malicious code (e.g. viruses, spyware, trojans)
Breach of physical security
Interruption of electronic communication services or electricity supply
Misuse or unauthorized modification of data
An attack is the realization of a threat.
Security incident
IS failure (objective causes)
IS compromise (result of a subjective threat)
ISO/IEC 27005:2022 — definitions of threat, event, incident.
ISO/IEC 27032:2012 (Cybersecurity — Guidelines) — defines cyberattack explicitly as “an attempt to destroy, expose, alter, disable, steal or gain unauthorized access to or make unauthorized use of an asset.”
ISO/IEC 27005:2022 (Information security risk management) — threat sources, threat events, and their relationship to risks and incidents.
Strength and impact level (weak, medium, strong)
Target (data, hardware, software)
Source (internal, external)
Activity (active — data are modified, passive — data are not modified)
Intention (intentional — deliberate, unintentional — accidental)
Motivation
Type of impact (loss of confidentiality, availability, integrity, authenticity)
leading to the collapse of the organization or to its criminal liability
causing serious damage to the organization
causing minor or negligible damage
The strength of the attack is related to the level of time, money, knowledge, etc. invested:
amateur, accidental, script kiddie, etc.
hackers with knowledge and time, usually without significant financial resources
professionals (industrial espionage, intelligence services, etc.)
eavesdropping, sniffing, wiretapping
altering data in transit, man-in-the-middle (MITM)
injecting false messages, spoofing, replay attacks
denial of service (DoS), jamming, cutting communication links
Determination of the scope of the risk analysis (RA) Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 6 — Context establishment
Identification and valuation of assets Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 7.2 — Risk identification (assets)
Identification of vulnerabilities — critical areas Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 7.2 — Risk identification (vulnerabilities)
Risk estimation Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 7.3 — Risk analysis
Determination of unacceptable and acceptable risks Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 7.4 — Risk evaluation
Determination of expected annual losses Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, Annex A — Risk assessment techniques (e.g. ALE)
Identification of applicable security measures (SM) to reduce risks to an acceptable level Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 8.2 — Risk treatment options
Estimation of annual savings after implementing security measures into the IS Reference: ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 8.6 — Risk treatment plan, cost-benefit analysis
Description of the asset being assessed.
Assessment of the impact that exploitation of this asset would have.
Likelihood that a threat will affect this asset.
Likelihood that a vulnerability will be exploited.
Calculation of the risk score as the product of the impact value, the threat value, and the vulnerability value. Risk = impact × threat × vulnerability
Proposed measures to reduce the risk.
| Term (CZ) | Term (EN) | ISO/IEC Reference |
|---|---|---|
Aktivum | Asset | ISO/IEC 27002:2022, 3.1.2 - asset |
Dopadová hodnota (1-5) | Impact value (1-5) | ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 3.1.14 - consequence |
Hodnota hrozby (1-5) | Threat value (1-5) | ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 3.1.13 - likelihood of threat occurrence |
Hodnota zranitelnosti (1-5) | Vulnerability value (1-5) | ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 3.1.13 - likelihood of vulnerability exploitation |
| Term (CZ) | Term (EN) | ISO/IEC Reference |
|---|---|---|
Celkové rizikové skóre | Overall risk score | ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 7.3.4 — determining the levels of risk (semi-quantitative scoring method) |
Riziko = dopad × hrozba × zranitelnost | Risk = impact × threat × vulnerability | ISO/IEC 27005:2022, Annex A — examples of risk assessment techniques |
Opatření | Control / Risk treatment measure | ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 8.2 — risk treatment options; ISO/IEC 27005:2022, 3.1.16 — control |
The fictional company WEB-SHOP sells goods online. It has its own office, from which the company is managed, and a warehouse for the goods sold, which is located at a different site than the office. The example below goes through the whole calculation: asset valuation, threat and vulnerability assessment, the risk value, the risk level, and the proposed controls.
The most important assets are marked 5.
| Asset | Value (A) | Note |
|---|---|---|
Information (customers, orders, goods) | 5 | the core business data |
Server database | 5 | order and customer data |
Hardware — servers | 5 | the technical foundation of the e-shop |
Data in transit between the office and the warehouse | 5 | traffic over the public network |
Warehouse database | 4 | stock and logistics data |
Software — operating systems | 4 | |
Software — database systems | 4 | |
Services — server connection | 4 | availability of the e-shop |
Office and warehouse network | 3 | connectivity between the two sites |
| Threat | Vulnerability | Likelihood (T) | Vulnerability (V) |
|---|---|---|---|
Malware / ransomware | missing or obsolete antimalware, unpatched system | 4 | 4 |
Phishing / social engineering | insufficient security training of employees | 3 | 5 |
Unauthorized modification of data | weak access control, no logging | 3 | 4 |
Network intrusion / interception | unprotected public network connection | 3 | 5 |
Hardware failure | no redundancy of the critical servers | 2 | 3 |
Power outage | no UPS / backup power source | 3 | 4 |
Theft of a server | warehouse on a separate site with weak physical security | 1 | 3 |
The risk value is the product R = T × A × V, where T is the likelihood of the threat, A the value of the asset, and V its vulnerability (each on a 1—5 scale).
| Asset — threat | A | T | V | R = A × T × V | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Information — unauthorized modification | 5 | 3 | 4 | 60 | MRV |
Server database — malware / ransomware | 5 | 4 | 4 | 80 | HRV |
Data in transit — interception | 5 | 3 | 5 | 75 | HRV |
Hardware — servers — theft | 5 | 1 | 3 | 15 | LRV |
Operating systems — network intrusion | 4 | 3 | 4 | 48 | MRV |
Database systems — unauthorized modification | 4 | 3 | 3 | 36 | MRV |
Services — server connection — denial of service | 4 | 3 | 3 | 36 | MRV |
Warehouse database — power outage | 4 | 3 | 4 | 48 | MRV |
Employees — phishing | 4 | 3 | 5 | 60 | MRV |
For example, for the server database threatened by malware: R = A × T × V = 5 × 4 × 4 = 80, i.e. a high risk value (HRV). For theft of a server: R = 5 × 1 × 3 = 15, i.e. a low risk value (LRV).
Low likelihood (LL) — a likelihood below 33 %,
Medium likelihood (ML) — a likelihood of 33—66 %,
High likelihood (HL) — a likelihood above 66 %.
Minor adverse impact (MAI) — damages of up to 0.5 % of the total project value,
Medium adverse impact (MeAI) — damages of 0.51—19.5 % of the project value,
Major adverse impact (MjAI) — damages above 20 % of the project value, a threat to the project objective and deadline.
Low risk value (LRV) — R ≤ 20; the risk may occur at any time and will be mitigated or eliminated by the proposed control,
Medium risk value (MRV) — R = 21—60; the risk endangers the delay of a part of the project and is mitigated rather than eliminated, with an impact on resources and costs,
High risk value (HRV) — R > 60; the risk endangers the whole project; the controls can mitigate but not eliminate it.
| Risk (asset — threat) | Proposed control |
|---|---|
Information — unauthorized modification | role-based access control (RBAC), audit logging, encryption |
Server database — malware / ransomware | antivirus / EDR, patching, network segmentation, regular verified backups |
Data in transit — interception | TLS/VPN for the connection between the sites, PKI |
Hardware — servers — theft | mechanical barriers, electrical intrusion alarm, camera system |
Operating systems — network intrusion | firewall, IDS/IPS, hardening, secure network topology |
Database systems — unauthorized modification | RBAC, database audit |
Services — server connection — denial of service | redundancy, load balancing, DDoS protection |
Warehouse database — power outage | UPS, backup power source, regular verified backups |
Employees — phishing | security awareness training, e-mail filtering, multi-factor authentication |
The Fraud Detection System (FDS) and DLP (Data Loss Prevention) complement the controls above for the detection of fraudulent transactions and the prevention of data leakage.