ISO 27001 checklist for audit

Author: Marçal Santos, vCISO | +20 Years Cybersecurity Experience

A CTO I spoke with last month had a Stage 1 ISO 27001 audit booked in 30 days. Contracts were hinging on it. He’d bought the tooling, uploaded policies, and felt “80% done.” But two big gaps were hiding in plain sight: no internal audit and no management review. That would have turned into a $10k reschedule fee and a two-month sales stall. We turned it around in three weeks—but only because we worked the right checklist, in the right order.

If that pressure feels familiar, this guide is for you.

Why ISO 27001 trips up good teams

ISO 27001 isn’t a box-checking exercise—it’s an operating system for how your company manages security risk.

Most teams stumble because:

• They treat it like “documentation, then audit,” but auditors want to see a working management system in motion.
• Tools make it look “green” while the fundamentals—scope, risk, SoA, internal audit, management review—are weak.
• They compress timelines and forget auditors need evidence of consistent operation (typically 3+ months for initial certification).

Here’s the good news: there is a clean, founder-friendly way to get audit-ready without derailing your roadmap.

I teach ISO like a flywheel. Do these five things well, and the audit becomes a formality.

1. Scope: define what’s in, what’s out, and why.
2. Risk: agree on how you measure and treat risk.
3. Controls: map Annex A controls to your risks and reality (Statement of Applicability).
4. Prove: run the program and collect evidence like an adult company.
5. Pass: stage your audit correctly and avoid last-minute surprises.

Let’s turn that into a concrete, step-by-step checklist you can run.

The ISO 27001 audit checklist: what to have before an auditor shows up

Scope and context (Clause 4)

• ISMS scope statement: written, approved, precise. Include customer-facing product(s), hosting/cloud boundary, offices with impact, and key third parties. Exclude what truly doesn’t touch information security.
• Interfaces and dependencies: clearly describe how engineering, support, finance, legal, and cloud providers interact.
• Interested parties and requirements: list stakeholders (customers, employees, regulators) and their needs (SLAs, data residency, breach notification).

Risk engine (Clause 6)

• Risk assessment methodology: simple, documented, and repeatable. Define likelihood/impact scales and acceptance criteria.
• Current risk register: filled with real threats (e.g., S3 bucket misconfig, insider data access, build pipeline compromise) and owners.
• Risk treatment plan: chosen treatments (mitigate, transfer, avoid, accept) with timelines and control references.
• Residual risk acceptance: who can accept risk and how it’s documented.

Controls and Statement of Applicability (SoA)

• Annex A mapping: for ISO 27001:2022, address all 93 controls. For each, mark implemented/not applicable and justify.
• Tailoring notes: explain the “why” behind any non-applicability (e.g., “No on-prem equipment—A.7.12 Storage media disposal limited to laptops, asset wipe process applied.”)
• Policy and procedure set: approved, versioned. Keep it lightweight but real. The auditor will test what you wrote.

Evidence machine (documentation and records)

• Document control: a simple system with versioning, owners, approval dates, and distribution (Google Drive/Confluence is fine if disciplined).
• Training: security awareness completion rate, role-based training for engineers, new hire onboarding.
• HR security: background checks where lawful, signed confidentiality agreements, offboarding checklist.
• Asset inventory: laptops, servers, cloud resources; owners; protection measures (disk encryption, MDM).
• Access control: RBAC documented, joiner/mover/leaver tickets, periodic access reviews, MFA enforced everywhere feasible.
• Secure development: SDLC policy, code review samples, dependency scanning, static/dynamic analysis where appropriate, secrets management.
• Change management: tickets or PR logs showing reviews, approvals, and tested deployments.
• Vulnerability management: scanning cadence, remediation SLAs, sample tickets showing fix timelines; penetration test report and remediation (your enterprise buyers expect one annually).
• Logging and monitoring: what you log, how you alert, who triages; sample incident tickets.
• Incident management: incident response plan, at least one tabletop or simulated incident with lessons learned.
• Backup and recovery: backup schedule, encryption, restore test evidence (screenshots, logs).
• Business continuity/ICT readiness: continuity objectives, scenario exercise or DR tabletop for your SaaS; restoration time evidence if applicable.
• Supplier management: vendor inventory, risk ratings, DPAs/security terms, SOC 2/ISO reports collected and reviewed.
• Cryptography: what is encrypted at rest/in transit, key management approach, cloud KMS usage.
• Mobile and remote work: MDM controls, screen lock, disk encryption, BYOD rules if allowed.
• Physical security: office controls (badges, visitors), server room (if any) photos or logs.

Governance loop (the “prove it’s real” part)

• Internal audit completed: audit plan, scope, checklist, findings, and corrective actions. Don’t fake it—do a real one.
• Management review minutes: agenda covering performance, objectives, incidents, audit results, metrics, resources, and improvements. Attendees should include the CEO/CTO.
• Objectives and KPIs: a handful of security objectives (e.g., “Close high vulns in 14 days”) with current performance.
• Corrective actions: logged issues with owners and due dates, showing improvement over time.

Your 90-day path to audit readiness

Caveat: for an initial certification, auditors typically expect 3 months of operating evidence. If you’re at zero today, plan accordingly. If you’ve been informally doing many of these, you can compress.

Weeks 0–2: foundation and scope

• Publish the top-level ISMS policy and assign roles (owner, risk manager, control owners).
• Choose risk methodology and start your risk register with top 10 risks.
• Stand up document control and a shared “ISMS” workspace.
• Inventory assets, suppliers, and data flows.
• Select your auditor and book Stage 1/2 dates with enough runway.

Weeks 3–6: controls and SoA

• Draft and approve core policies (access, acceptable use, SDLC, incident, vendor, backup, vulnerability, logging/monitoring, business continuity, cryptography).
• Complete your Statement of Applicability.
• Implement quick wins: MFA everywhere, MDM, password managers, SSO, access reviews, auto-patching baselines, vulnerability scanning, backup verification.
• Kick off security awareness training.
• Run a basic tabletop for incident response.

Weeks 7–10: operate and collect evidence

• Run a full risk assessment and finalize the treatment plan.
• Execute a penetration test and start remediation.
• Do your internal audit against ISO clauses and Annex A.
• Close corrective actions from internal audit.
• Capture evidence: tickets, scans, screenshots, review notes.

Weeks 11–12+: governance and Stage 1

• Hold the management review meeting and record minutes and decisions.
• Freeze policy versions; make sure owners and revision dates are clear.
• Run a readiness check: trace each control in the SoA to evidence.
• Stage 1 audit: expect a document review and gaps list—fix them before Stage 2.

What auditors actually ask for (Stage 1 vs. Stage 2)

Stage 1: document readiness

• ISMS scope, policy, objectives
• Risk methodology, risk register, treatment plan
• Statement of Applicability
• Core policies/procedures
• Internal audit report and corrective actions
• Management review minutes
• Evidence you’re collecting operational records

Stage 2: implementation and effectiveness
Sampling is the name of the game. Be ready to show:

• Access reviews and sample user lifecycle tickets
• Change tickets/PRs with approvals
• Vulnerability scans and remediation timelines
• Pen test report and fixes
• Incident tickets and a tabletop report
• Backup restore test results
• Logs/alerts and how you responded
• Supplier risk reviews and contracts with security terms
• HR screening, NDAs, security training completion
• Asset inventory and device encryption
• For cloud: configuration baselines, network controls, key management

Mini-checklist by control theme (ISO 27001:2022)

Organizational controls (A.5)

• Policies approved and communicated
• Roles and responsibilities defined
• Segregation of duties documented
• Supplier management program in place
• Threat intelligence and vulnerability management processes evident
• Information classification and handling rules applied
• Secure development and change management defined

People controls (A.6)

• Background checks as lawful; confidentiality agreements signed
• Security awareness and role-based training tracked
• Disciplinary process defined for policy violations

Physical controls (A.7)

• Office access control and visitor procedures
• Equipment secure disposal/wipe process
• Clear desk/screen expectations and remote work guidance

Technological controls (A.8)

• Identity and access management with MFA and least privilege
• Privileged access controls and logging
• Network security, segmentation where applicable
• Endpoint protection and configuration baselines
• Logging, monitoring, and anomaly detection
• Data at rest/in transit encryption; key management
• Backup and recovery with restore tests
• Secure development lifecycle and dependency management
• Cloud service management: configuration, shared responsibility, posture checks
• Data masking/ DLP as appropriate for your data risk
• Web/application hardening and API security

Audit-ready folder structure (steal this)

• 00 Governance: ISMS Policy, Scope, Objectives, Org Chart
• 01 Risk: Methodology, Risk Register, Treatment Plan, Residual Risk Acceptances
• 02 SoA: Statement of Applicability 
• 03 Policies: All approved policies and procedures
• 04 Ops Evidence:
  • Access: JML tickets, Access Reviews, MFA reports
  • SDLC/Change: PR samples, approvals, deployment logs
  • Vuln Mgmt: Scan reports, remediation tickets
  • Logging/Monitoring: Alert examples, runbooks
  • Incident Mgmt: Tabletop report, incident tickets
  • Backups/DR: Schedules, restore test proof
  • Supplier: Vendor inventory, DPAs, SOC 2/ISO reports
  • Training/HR: Completion reports, NDAs, screening
  • Assets: Inventory, encryption proof, MDM
• 05 Internal Audit: Plan, Checklist, Report, Corrective Actions
• 06 Management Review: Agenda, Minutes, Decisions
• 07 Pen Test: Report, remediation plan, evidence of fixes
• 08 Stage 1/2: Auditor comms, schedules, findings, closures

Common pitfalls that cost time and money

1. Copy-paste compliance
   Policies that don’t match how you work are auditor magnets. If your policy says “quarterly access reviews” and you did them annually, you’ve created a finding you didn’t need. Write lean, accurate policies you can actually follow.
2. Bad scoping
   Including every corner of the business “just to be safe” creates scope you can’t control and evidence you can’t produce. Scope to the product(s) and functions that impact customer data and commitments. Be explicit about what’s out.
3. Skipping the governance loop
   Internal audit and management review are non-negotiable. If you leave them until the week before Stage 1, you’ll produce minutes no one believes and an audit that slips. Do the internal audit first, fix what you find, then hold a real management review.

Optional fourth if space permits:

4) Tool worship
Automation tools are helpful, but they don’t think for you. They won’t decide if A.5.7 threat intelligence is applicable or write a defensible risk acceptance. Use them to collect evidence, not to substitute judgment.

How to choose and manage your auditor (in 5 bullets)

• Pick an accredited certification body with SaaS experience; ask for sample client names in your industry and size.
• Align on ISO 27001:2022 and clarify evidence expectations (e.g., minimum months of operation).
• Lock dates early and plan Stage 1 at least 4–6 weeks before Stage 2.
• Request their sampling approach and evidence list so you can pre-stage artifacts.
• Nominate a single audit liaison and keep answers crisp; don’t volunteer hypotheticals.

Secureleap provide best auditors at reasonable price. Contact us today for quotation.

Reality check on timing and costs

• From zero to Stage 2 with clean evidence typically takes 3–4 months of operations plus scheduling buffer. Faster is possible if you already operate mature controls and just need to formalize.
• Budget not just for the auditor, but for pen testing, vulnerability management fixes, and the time of your managers. The cheapest audit becomes expensive if your team has to drop everything to scramble for evidence.

Strategic takeaway

Ultimately, ISO 27001 isn’t about passing an audit; it’s about proving to enterprise buyers that your security program runs like your product—predictable, measured, and improving. When you anchor on scope, risk, controls, and the governance loop, you create a durable security narrative that shortens security questionnaires and accelerates enterprise deals. The certificate is the byproduct; trust is the asset.

Founder-to-founder, here’s my last advice: make the auditor’s job easy. If they can trace every claim in your SoA to clean evidence and see that leadership is in the loop, your audit becomes a calm conversation—not a crucible.

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