How can ISO 27001 help in achieving GDPR compliance?

What is GDPR compliance

The European Parliament adopted the GDPR in April 2016, replacing an outdated data protection directive from 1995. It carries provisions that require businesses to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens for transactions that occur within EU member states. The GDPR also regulates the exportation of personal data outside the EU.

Companies that collect data on citizens in European Union (EU) countries need to comply with strict new rules around protecting customer data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets a new standard for consumer rights regarding their data, but companies will be challenged as they put systems and processes in place to maintain compliance.

Compliance will cause some concerns and new expectations of security teams. For example, the GDPR takes a wide view of what constitutes personal identification information. Companies will need the same level of protection for things like an individual’s IP address or cookie data as they do for name, address and Social Security number.

Why ISO 27000 is important for Business

Hosting is at the core of any business. Whether your company stores its own information or customer data – or maybe even both – with a hosting provider, we can consider the information within this internet infrastructure as being essential to your company’s business processes. From single websites, membership sites, and e-commerce webshops on the one hand, to data from employees or customers on the other hand – all kind of relevant data will be stored by your hosting partner.

While it is convenient and economically reasonable to keep relevant data in the cloud, regulatory requirements, for instance, by governments, also have to be met.

Use of ISO 27001 Certification For Hosting Provider in achieving GDPR compliance?

Awareness:

An ISO 27001 hosting provider, at some point, proved that the company believes and works according to an information security guideline. The awareness of the employees regarding information security should be noticeably higher compared to other hosting providers. Standards, such as for testing software or components, backing up systems, and firewall structures to mention only a few, should be in place and in action.

Independent audits: 

By choosing an ISO 27001-certified hosting provider, chances are good that your data is safe. Any company certified according to ISO 27001 has to undergo audits and prove that an Information Security Management System is in place. Unless you want to audit your hosting provider yourself, it’s a good idea to choose a hosting partner that was audited and certified.

Complying with regulations:

By choosing an ISO 27001 hosting partner, you also show interested parties, like the government, that you comply with regulations. You demonstrate that you take your responsibilities seriously and work according to best practice yourself. This is also useful for prospective clients.

Competitive advantage:

Even if your company is not certified according to ISO 27001, some of the benefits of your ISO 27001 hosting partner rub off. Your company will automatically gain trust. Going for ISO 27001 hosting can even prove to be a competitive advantage, which takes us to the next point.

Gain trust – win new customers:

Whenever you can tell your customers that your (and their) data is safe, you gain trust – and new customers. Customers tend to choose reliable partners. Let prospective buyers know you are working with an ISO 27001 hosting provider, and that their data is safe with you and your service partners.

Demonstrate responsibility: 

And what if something happens anyway? Let’s say an incident happened. On the one hand, you – and especially your hosting partner – can solve the problem (and make sure it does not happen again). The ISO 27001 Certification standard actually provides a guideline for your hosting partner on how to handle incidents. By working according to the ISO 27001 Certification standard, continuous improvement will lead toward growing awareness and preventing further incidents similar to the one that happened. On the other hand, you can still demonstrate what you did beforehand. Not all risks can be predicted and prevented. But when you – and your hosting partner – did the best possible job, responsible authorities tend to be more lenient and cooperative toward your efforts.

Better incident recovery: 

Not only will your company look better in case of an incident (at least you tried your best to prevent one), but also, an ISO 27001-certified hosting partner will recover faster from an incident. Your company will be back up and running more quickly, too. Moreover, according to ISO 27001, your hosting provider will also assess the incident and take precautions against any related or similar incidents. An important part of any ISO 27001 certification is continual improvement.

Less downtime less hustle: 

Any ISO 27001 hosting partner should deliver outstanding security measures. Downtime – as one bonus – should be minimal. As a result, an ISO 27001 certification goes beyond any service level agreement. In general, working with an ISO 27001 hosting company should save your company money – at least in the long run. Less downtime and less hustle let your company work more efficiently, too.

Think globally: 

All the above-mentioned benefits also work in global environments. ISO 27001 from the ISO 27001 Certification Body is a recognized standard all over the world. So, whenever you handle data globally and have to meet regulatory requirements in different parts of the world, working with an ISO 27001 hosting company makes your work easier.

Benefits

1. Compliance

It might seem odd to list this as the first benefit, but it often shows the quickest “return on investment” – if an organization must comply to various regulations regarding data protection, privacy and IT governance (particularly if it is a financial, health or government organization), then ISO 27001 can bring in the methodology which enables to do it in the most efficient way.

2. Marketing edge

In a market which is more and more competitive, it is sometimes very difficult to find something that will differentiate you in the eyes of your customers. ISO 27001 Certification Services could be indeed a unique selling point, especially if you handle clients’ sensitive information.

3. Lowering the expenses

Information security is usually considered as a cost with no obvious financial gain. However, there is a financial gain if you lower your expenses caused by incidents. You probably do have an interruption in service, or occasional data leakage, or disgruntled employees. Or disgruntled former employees.

The truth is, there is still no methodology and/or technology to calculate how much money you could save if you prevented such incidents. But it always sounds good if you bring such cases to management’s attention.

4. Putting your business in order

This one is probably the most underrated – if you are a company which has been growing sharply for the last few years, you might experience problems like – who has to decide what, who is responsible for certain information assets, who has to authorize access to information systems etc.

ISO 27001 is particularly good in sorting these things out – it will force you to define very precisely both the responsibilities and duties, and therefore strengthen your internal organization.

To conclude – ISO 27001 could bring in many benefits besides being just another certificate on your wall. In most cases, if you present those benefits in a clear way, the management will start listening to you.

Check out these some frequently asked Questions.

After reading that you have a question in Mind that how to get ISO Certification for that there are many ISO 27001 certification Body to fulfill that. ISO 27001 Certification Services helps to check out the ISO procedure.   

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