3 common pitfalls in getting ISO 27001 compliant
Many cloud-native companies fall into pitfalls on their way to ISO 27001 certification, which leads to unnecessary costs, time delays, and employee frustrations.
For example:
Meet our CEO and Founder, Fabian Weber (B.Sc.). He is an internationally recognized ISO 27001 expert. Over 28,000 IT-Security-Experts follow and trust Fabian Weber on LinkedIn.
ISO 27001 CAREFREE-PACKAGE
WHYSEC ISMS as a Service
We provide an ISO 27001 expert who knows your industry and who manages your security processes as “ISMS as a Service.”
This managed service consists of 4 main pillars:
| 1) EXPERT CONSULTANCY | 2) ISMS STRATEGY | 3) BUILDING UP AN ISMS WITH AUTOMATION | 4) AUDIT SERVICES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our expert manages your ISMS | Creating an infosec strategy that fits to your business | One central compliance operations center | Carrying out internal audits to measure your infosec status |
| We provide a clear project roadmap | Understanding the business mission and aligning infosec smart | Integration of your cloud services | Hand holding support during external audits |
| Branche-specific expert consultancy (for cloud native companies) | Always up to date with regulatory requirements and technology | Automated evidence collection and monitoring | Reducing audit workloads and preparation |
| future-oriented and sustainable | No additional infrastructure needed | Risk management and monitoring | Keep your certification status pain-free |
| Competitive advantage and trust | Prebuilt policies & procedures | Easily add further frameworks through cross-referencing (e.g. GDPR, NIST) |
| 1) EXPERT CONSULTANCY |
|---|
| Our expert manages your ISMS |
| We provide a clear project roadmap |
| Branche-specific expert consultancy (for cloud native companies) |
| future-oriented and sustainable |
| 2) ISMS STRATEGY |
|---|
| Creating an infosec strategy that fits to your business |
| Understanding the business mission and aligning infosec smart |
| Always up to date with regulatory requirements and technology |
| No additional infrastructure needed |
| Competitive advantage and trust |
| 3) BUILDING UP AN ISMS WITH AUTOMATION |
|---|
| One central compliance operations center |
| Integration of your cloud services |
| Automated evidence collection and monitoring |
| Risk management and monitoring |
| Prebuilt policies & procedures |
| 4) AUDIT SERVICES |
|---|
| Carrying out internal audits to measure your infosec status |
| Hand holding support during external audits |
| Reducing audit workloads and preparation |
| Keep your certification status painfree |
| Easily add further frameworks through cross-referencing (e.g. GDPR, NIST) |
SNEAK PEEK
WHYSEC ISMS Tool for Compliance Automation
YOUR RESULT WITH WHYSEC
ISO 27001 certified in less than 6 months
We are specialized in digital and technology companies with cloud-based infrastructure (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP). These companies get ISO 27001 certified in less than 6 months and pass their external audit on the first try – 100% guaranteed or money back!
SERVICES
Accelerate your ISO 27001 timeline
We support over 25+ frameworks (e.g. TISAX, GDPR, NIST).
HOW IT WORKS
Step by step to ISO 27001
- 1
Free Scoping Call (20 minutes)
We check if we fit together. You book a free meeting, we understand your requirements and ensure that we are the right partner for your business. (Schedule Your Free Scoping Call Now!) - 2
Free Strategy & Demo Call (45 minutes)
We show you the next steps, ensuring that everything is in line with your business strategy. We also show you our ISMS tool, answer your questions and give you an estimate of the costs and internal effort. Finally, we jointly decide if we move on together. - 3
Kickoff
We provide you access to the software solution, set up the first integrations, and give you a walkthrough. In this step, you also meet your consultant (or vCISO). - 4
ISO 27001 Gap Assessment
We conduct a full assessment of your current information security status with the support of our tool. The output is a detailed maturity rating that leads to the plan of action for your company. This easy-to-follow roadmap shows what to do till the certification. - 5
Simplified ISMS Implementation
The ISMS implementation phase covers the initiation of mandatory procedures and policies, as well as the assessment of risks. We provide a preloaded risk register. Within the implementation phase, we also implement technical and organizational controls at your organization to remediate identified gaps or risks. With over audit-ready templates for all steps, you conduct a quick start. - 6
Selection of an ISO 27001 certification body
With our help, you select a perfectly fitting certification body for your organization’s external certification audit. You have the chance to meet your auditor in advance and decide if it’s a match. - 7
ISO 27001 Internal audit
The planning and conduction of internal audits is a mandatory step within an ISMS and important to understand where you are at. With our tool, you have a real-time view of your information security status. This allows us to conduct pain-free and insightful internal audits. The internal audit prepares you in a perfect way to succeed in your external audit. - 8ISO 27001 External Certification Audit
Your employees are perfectly prepared and briefed for the external audit. We provide hand-holding support during the ISO 27001 certification, and you pass the audit on the first try with ease – a 100% passing rate is guaranteed. - 9Pain-free Growth & Improvement
The continuous improvement and maintenance of information security (e.g. monitoring of 30+ systems such as AWS, Azure, M365) is guaranteed by our managed service. We help to consider that organizational changes are integrated securely (e.g. new services, products, departments). The same applies to adding new frameworks (e.g. NIST, TISAX, GDPR, CIS). Therefore, we ensure secure growth for dynamic tech companies. - 10
Monitoring and compliance through one platform
Your company stays compliant and secure as you monitor all relevant activities in one single pane of glass. You create transparency by sharing your security posture with your customers via our tool-based “trust portal”.
ABOUT
The WHYSEC team consists of Infosec specialists, specialized digital and tech SMEs.
WHYSEC’s goal is to simplify the security challenges of innovative digital- and tech, cloud-only SMEs within Europe. Our main services focus on ISMSaaS including the provision of a vCISO and security assessments (e.g. M365 and Azure AD).
SERVICES
We manage and automate your information security, you can focus on your business:
– ISO 27001 & TISAX (ISMSaaS)
– Audit & Assessment (internal/external)
– Cloud & IT Security
– Virtual CISO (external CISO)
Trusted by partners and customers around the globe
FAQ
WHYSEC provides the tools and resources necessary to comply with 35+ in-demand security frameworks. Now, you can easily show your commitment to cybersecurity, reduce your sales cycle time, and expedite your compliance journey.
Supported Compliance Standards:
– SOC 2 Type 1 & 2
– ISO 27001
– NIST CSF
– CMMC
– CSA CCM
– COBIT 2019
– HIPAA
– GDPR
– FedRAMP
– CCPA
– CIS Controls
– PCI DSS
– MARS
– TX-RAMP
– ISO/IEC 27018:2019
– SCF
– ISO 27701
– Microsoft DPR
– TISAX
– UK ICO
and many more.
The following screenshots show parts of the platform from a sample environment.
1.Dashboard
2. Assessment
3.Frameworks
4.Controls
5.Vendor management
6.Risk management
7. Integrations 
8. Trustpage
A cloud-native company embraces the cloud as a core part of its business model, leveraging its advantages to deliver scalable, resilient, and efficient applications and services. That means you do not operate your own data center (servers and storage). Our services work through fetching information from the API endpoints of hyperscalers (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP) and other SaaS platforms, to automatically check and monitor the configuration.
Before your official contract start, we already begin to prepare you for a smooth launch. This includes scheduling your project kick-off at an early stage. You will receive more detailed information from us about 10 days before the start of the contract. Here you will also find further details on the project process and the first important steps. The platform access is created with the start of the contract.
- Better be prepared than reactive – no matter if you are waiting for your customers or VCs to request you to prove your security status or you want to be prepared against cyber-attacks.
- A proper implementation protects you from GDPR fines (which can be up to 4% of your annual turnover).
- Data losses not only lead to contractual penalties but also implicate loss of reputation, loss of sales, or complete discontinuation of business operations.
- Easy integration – for startups an ISMS can be easily integrated into these young companies as they are more flexible in their growing phase.
- Transparency and improvement – within the ISO implementation project organizations understand that they have not been protected in the right way in the past.
- Follow a comprehensive security framework – ISO provides clear guidance and improves the maturity of security-relevant processes right from the beginning.
- Better sales – young companies have a competitive advantage compared to non-certification holders.
- Show what you got – the standard provides a simplified assurance and is used as international proof for information security.
- Clean up and enable – young companies are often less regulated, e.g. employees use different private notebooks, cloud tools of choice, and other shadow IT for business-relevant activities. The standard helps you to identify, evaluate and reduce risks without restricting the dynamics of the company.
- Get your investment – Investors take a look at the Due Diligence (and the information security strategy) of startups. ISO proactively enables and helps to fulfill these high requirements.
- Learn from the best – feedback from industry experts (e.g., auditors) allows you to discuss best practices and your current challenges.
- Save money – cost savings are measurable, e.g. for incident cases.
- Enhanced Information Security: ISO 27001 helps organizations improve their information security posture by implementing a systematic approach to managing risks, protecting sensitive data, and preventing security incidents. This reduces the likelihood of data breaches, unauthorized access, and disruptions to business operations.
- Increased Customer Trust: Achieving ISO 27001 certification demonstrates a commitment to information security and provides assurance to customers that their data is protected. It enhances trust, credibility, and competitiveness in the marketplace, giving organizations a competitive advantage over non-certified competitors.
- Legal and Regulatory Compliance: ISO 27001 helps organizations meet legal and regulatory requirements related to information security. By implementing the standard’s controls and best practices, businesses can ensure compliance with data protection laws, industry regulations, and contractual obligations.
- Risk Management: ISO 27001 promotes a risk-based approach to information security. It helps organizations identify and assess information security risks, implement appropriate controls to mitigate those risks, and establish processes for monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of security measures. This proactive risk management approach reduces the likelihood and impact of security incidents.
- Improved Business Processes: ISO 27001 encourages organizations to evaluate and improve their business processes from an information security perspective. By aligning security objectives with business goals, organizations can identify inefficiencies, optimize processes, and enhance overall operational performance.
- Incident Response and Business Continuity: ISO 27001 requires organizations to develop incident response plans and business continuity strategies. This enables them to respond effectively to security incidents, minimize the impact of disruptions, and ensure the continuity of critical business operations. It enhances resilience and minimizes financial and reputational damage caused by incidents.
- Employee Awareness and Engagement: Implementing ISO 27001 involves creating a security-conscious culture within the organization. It raises employee awareness about information security risks, their responsibilities in safeguarding data, and the importance of following security policies and procedures. Engaged and well-informed employees become an integral part of an organization’s security strategy.
- Continuous Improvement: ISO 27001 promotes a culture of continual improvement in information security management. Through regular audits, reviews, and updates to security controls, organizations can adapt to evolving threats, technologies, and business requirements. This ensures that information security practices remain effective and aligned with the changing risk landscape.
Overall, ISO 27001 helps organizations establish a robust information security framework, protect sensitive information, meet compliance requirements, and gain a competitive edge in the market, while instilling confidence and trust among customers and stakeholders.
A virtual CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) is an outsourced information security professional who provides strategic guidance and oversight of an organization’s information security practices. A virtual CISO helps you to develop and implement effective security strategies, manage risks, and ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations. The virtual CISO is especially important if you do not have know-how or resources internally.
The provision of a Compliance Automation Platform means that WHYSEC offers a software solution to its clients that simplifies and enhances their compliance management efforts.
A Compliance Automation Platform is a software solution that helps organizations streamline and automate their compliance processes. It enables efficient management of regulatory requirements, standards, and certifications by centralizing data, automating tasks, facilitating collaboration, and providing real-time visibility into compliance status. Additionally, all standard requirements of the respective security framework (e.g. asset management, supplier management, risk management, policies, and evidence collection) are natively provided. The manual work gets reduced by up to 70%.
Cyprus serves as a global cybersecurity bridge. International players like Jetbrains are based locally and are driving digital development (source).
The European island nation, with a geographically convenient location in the Eastern Mediterranean as a gateway between continental Europe and the Middle East, provides an ideal base of operations for IT companies.
In addition, Cyprus offers us the following other strategic advantages:
– Many highly qualified multilingual professionals in the cybersecurity/information technology industry
– Home to various European cyber crime departments including Office for Combating Cybercrime (O.C.C.). in cooperation with Europol/EC3/AWF/ EMPACTS).
– The government actively promotes the implementation of modern technologies (e.g., blockchain, cryptocurrencies)
– Excellent telecommunications systems (nationwide high-speed and mobile connectivity).
– As a member of the European Union, Cypriot companies benefit from all EU agreements, regulations and directives, as well as the free movement of capital
– An effective and transparent regulatory and legal system
For WHYSEC, Cyprus is the optimal location to support the European market.
The time required to prepare for an ISO certification depends on various factors such as the organization’s size, complexity, existing security measures, and level of readiness. Typically, the preparation process can take several months to a year. It involves conducting a risk assessment, implementing security controls, documenting policies and procedures, and performing internal audits. With our methodology, SMEs need a maximum of 6 months cloud-native, with standard complexity and around 50 employees.
An ISMS, or Information Security Management System, is a set of policies, procedures, and controls designed to manage an organization’s information security risks. It encompasses the people, processes, and technology involved in protecting and securing sensitive information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction.
The initial audit consists of stage 1 (document and readiness check) and stage 2 (main assessment) audit which is split up into two phases. After the audit a report is created and you pay a fee for the certificate license. After the initial audit and certification, a surveillance audit is conducted annually which is shorter in duration and cheaper. After a three-year period, you start with the so-called recertification audit.
The costs of certification mainly depend on the number of people (FTE) working in the scope of the ISMS, the complexity of the organizations’ processes, as well as their IT landscape, and the industry. Note that these pricing ranges are approximate and can vary based. To provide you with an accurate quote, it is needed to gather more details about your requirements.
If you have any further questions or would like to discuss your specific needs, please feel free to contact us directly.
