ISO 27001 Penetration Testing – A Comprehensive Guide

Security Areas Covered by ISO 27001

ISO 27001:2022 standard has 14 domains, and the previous version had 11. These domains typically cover six security areas.

The names of the six security areas and 14 domains of ISO 27001 are mentioned below in the table:

Security Areas	Domains	Domains
Company Security Policy	Information security policies	8. Organisation of information security
Asset Management	2. Human resource security	9. Asset management
Physical and Environmental Security	3. Access control	10. Cryptography
Access Control	4. Physical and environmental security	11. Operations Security
Incident Management	5. Operations Security	12. System acquisition, development and maintenance
Regulatory Compliance	6. Supplier relationships	13. Information security incident management
	Information security aspects of business continuity management	14. Compliance

 

Requirements of ISO 27001 Penetration Testing

In ISO 27001 compliance, penetration testing is not a mandatory requirement. As a business owner, you might think that pentesting is an unnecessary process while trying to meet the compliance requirement with ISO 27001. However, penetration testing still plays a crucial role in meeting industry standards.

Organizations should perform it as a vital component of their internal analysis and security risk management process.

Let us take a look at ISO control A.12.6.1 Management of technical vulnerabilities and A.14.2.8 System security testing, to understand what it states:

• A.12.6.1 Management of technical vulnerabilities:

“Information about technical vulnerabilities of information systems being used shall be obtained in a timely fashion, the organization’s exposure to such vulnerabilities evaluated, and appropriate measures taken to address the associated risk.”

• A.14.2.8 System security testing:

“Testing of security functionality shall be carried out during development.”

Point to note here: ISO 27001:2022 merged A.14.2.8 and A.14.2.9 into a renewed technological control called A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance.

Hence, a modified ISO 27001 penetration testing fulfills both A.12.6.1 and A.8.29, delivering a pathway to demonstrate allegiance to compliance with technological vulnerability management, as summarised in Annex A.

So, only penetration testing and vulnerability assessment can provide a detailed analysis in terms of the security of the organizations. Your business cannot count on only vulnerability scanning when evaluating your organization’s exposure to a specific vulnerability. ISO 27001 penetration testing is employed to identify technical security differences and vulnerabilities and explain the potential impact of their likelihood. This penetration testing also gives an organization an additional layer of protection that they are rightfully and legally implementing information security controls within the organization’s infrastructure. Moreover, providing them with evidence of compliance whenever needed.

Scope of ISO 27001 Penetration Test

At the beginning of the penetration testing process, the team defines the scope by determining which digital assets to test, establishing priority areas, specifying exclusions, permitting the exploitation of specific security vulnerabilities, discussing the proximity of exploitation, and addressing other relevant considerations. This highly comprehensive process encompasses nearly all aspects of a potential penetration test before its execution on the organization’s systems, applications, software, and other digital assets. Also, the scope of ISO 27001 penetration testing for security networks and websites is structured beforehand to prevent confusion.

Generally, the ISO 27001 Penetration test scope includes:

1. Location information, data assets, employee information, and earlier practices and technologies.
2. Listing out the internal and external issues of a cybersecurity asset.
3. The organization’s objectives and requirements from the ISO 27001 penetration test.
4. If applicable, security testing of web applications, mobile applications, and others.
5.  Any administrative panel or back office supports the user-facing SaaS.
6. APIs and microservices.

Advantages of ISO 27001 Penetration Testing

Now that we have discussed the importance and requirement of the ISO 27001 penetration testing. It’s time to comprehend what benefits ISO 27001 provides to your organization.

1. By performing a penetration test and addressing the identified vulnerabilities, you successfully tackle one of the most challenging aspects of the ISO 27001 compliance audit.
2. Having an ISO 27001 certification not only advances trust with users, stakeholders, and potential future clients but has also directly influenced revenue generation.
3. By eliminating dangerous vulnerabilities during your preparations for the compliance audit, you create a mutually beneficial strategy, assuring a positive consequence for your organization.

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Average duration of ISO 27001 Penetration Testing

The average duration of ISO 27001 penetration testing is between 5 – 10 days; however, it depends on the size and scope of the company. If you have a large organization, you might have complex scopes and areas to cover that can last for multiple weeks. The penetration testing service provider will thoroughly test your systems and applications to find vulnerabilities by employing a comprehensive strategy: automated tools and manual testing, to assist you in achieving ISO 27001 compliance.

Once the penetration testing report is released by the pen testers involved in the cybersecurity audit, the identified vulnerabilities, as per their rated severity, will be resolved within 1-2 days.

Qualysec’s Assistance with Penetration Testing Compliance

Qualysec’s penetration testing services are structured to mark the security risks required to meet compliance regulations. They can help your organization with several cybersecurity standards, such as:

• PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
• ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management)
• SOC 2 Type I & Type II (Service Organization Control)

Qualysec has a team of professional pen testers who keep optimizing new tools and techniques that allow them to identify each security threat and vulnerability and provide measures of improvement that also deliver you real-time visibility of the compliance standards you pass or fail depending on the vulnerability scans from the pentest dashboard. This practical feature makes compliance reporting much simpler for the client’s organization.

Some fundamental features of Qualysec are:

• Over 3,000 tests to detect and root out all types of vulnerabilities.
• Capable of detecting business logic errors and gaps in security.
• Ensures zero false positives through manual pen testing.
• Several compliance-specific scans for SOC2, HIPAA, ISO27001, and other relevant industry standards.
• Provides in-call remediation assistance from security experts