Comply with ISO 27001 penetration testing requirements with Heyhack

ISO 27001 Penetration Test Requirements

ISO 27001 is a globally acknowledged standard for effective data protection. It incorporates penetration testing to detect IT system vulnerabilities. Achieving this certification can lead to improved data security, increased customer confidence, and better business operations.

What is ISO 27001?

ISO 27001 is an international standard for an information security management system (ISMS). Developed by the International Organization for Standardization, it provides a framework for all businesses to secure sensitive data. Attaining ISO 27001 certification confirms an organization's commitment to best-practice security protocols, enhancing trust with stakeholders such as customers, partners, and suppliers.

The standard comprises two parts: the main body outlining ISMS requirements, and Annex A detailing potential security controls. While ISO 27001 doesn't prescribe specific tools, it acts as a checklist for compliance, allowing organizations to customize controls based on their specific needs.

Part of the wider ISO/IEC 27000 information security standards family, ISO 27001 certification involves a rigorous two-stage audit by an accredited body. Achieving this certification underscores a firm's dedication to information security, bolstering its industry reputation, and helping manage security risks more effectively.

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What is required by ISO 27001?

The ISO 27001 standard includes requirements for conducting regular information security risk assessments and managing identified risks. These requirements are relevant because penetration testing is commonly used as a method of identifying and managing information security risks.

In the Annex A of ISO 27001, section A.12.6 (Technical Vulnerability Management) recommends routine evaluations of technical vulnerabilities and their timely remediation. Although penetration testing isn't directly mentioned, it's largely recognized as an effective method for detecting technical vulnerabilities. Hence, organizations adhering to ISO 27001 often incorporate penetration testing in their vulnerability management strategy.

Additionally, Annex A section A.18 (Compliance with Legal and Contractual Requirements) includes controls for ensuring an organization's ISMS compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and contractual obligations. Penetration testing can play a key role in achieving this compliance, particularly when legal or contractual agreements mandate such testing. Ultimately, the decision to conduct penetration testing and its implementation is largely based on an organization's risk assessment and risk treatment plan, core elements of the ISO 27001 standard.

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Solve ISO 27001 requirements for penetration testing

ISO 27001 requires routine evaluations of technical vulnerabilities and their timely remediation. Heyhack solves exactly that requirement with Heyhack Scan—a fully automated penetration testing platform for web applications.

If you or your organization develops one or more web applications, you can use Heyhack to continuously crawl, test, and find vulnerabilities in your apps. With Heyhack's management features, you can easily mark found issues as either accepted, rejected, or resolved directly in your penetration test report.

Heyhack uniquely identifies each found issue with a hash that lets you track issues over time and across separate penetration tests. This lets Heyhack compute the lifetime of the given issue and helps you and your team prioritize found issues from a remediation perspective.

Benefits of automated penetration testing for ISO 27001 compliance

ISO 27001 requires organizations to both evaluate their infrastructure for technical vulnerabilities and remediate found issues in a timely manner. Heyhack's features help you solve this requirement in a matter of minutes.

Evaluation of technical vulnerabilities

Continuously evaluating potential technical vulnerabilities in your infrastructure or software can be a daunting task. Leverage Heyhack to help you solve this requirement fully automatically.

Timely remediation of found issues

Heyhack's unique tracking of issues helps you assess the lifetime of every found issue and prioritize the resources require to fix issues in a timely manner, complying with ISO 27001.

Documentation for ISO 27001

Heyhack's automatic documentation generation feature complies with the requirements of ISO 27001 and standards expected by ISO 27001 auditors all around the world.

Using a trust automation platform for ISO 27001

You can save time and money by making use of a trust automation platform to help you become compliant with ISO 27001. Some of the most popular products are Vanta, Drata, Accountable, Secureframe, Sprinto, Tugboat Logic, and Laika. If you would like to learn more about each of their pros and cons, we recommend checking out Nira's excellent blog post.

Heyhack integrates with many of the leading platforms, making it easy for you to automatically export penetration test results and details on found vulnerabilities directly to the trust automation platform of your choice.

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“Heyhack helps us gain a complete overview of the security of our application and patch vulnerabilities early.”

Søren Viuff

CPO of Openli