How to Perform Background Check for ISO 27001 Certification?

by Isabel Blamey Professional writer

Business experts agree that “the human factor is the weakest link in the security”. This situation can be altered if organizations help their employees and contractors become aware of information security. It is important to teach employees how to deal with attempted attacks and incidents. The International Organization for Standardization or ISO has introduced ISO 27001 certification to help the companies deal with information security.

There are many important aspects related to ISO 27001 Standard, and; covering all of them in one single article is not possible. Therefore, we are going to discuss one vital aspect in this article. Here, you will learn how an organization should perform background checking.

First, let us explain why you should check a potential employee’s background before hiring:

An organization needs to implement a secure network. Whenever an organization hires a person, it is expected that the person will have a sound knowledge and experience in his/her domain. Therefore, before employing the person, the organization should cross check that all the claims made by the person are right.

Now you might be thinking, what does ISO 27001 Standard have to do with background checking? Because most companies are implementing ISO 27001 Standard, they must be aware of the Standard Guidelines. In order to implement and maintain the Standard, an organization must perform a background check as stated in the standard.

To maintain ISO 27001 guidelines, a business should consider these facts:

• Verifying the accuracy of an applicant’s updated curriculum vitae

• Verifying the references (both personal and professional details including courses and certification, education, etc.)

• Assurance of the claimed qualifications, both academic and professional

• Verifying the person’s identification as mentioned in the application form

Whenever performing background checks, always consider these two aspects:

A. Only specific and authorized people are allowed to perform the background check, and they must be acquainted with the rules and regulations that define how the process should be carried out.)

B. Background checking is important for new and seasoned employees. ISO 27001 Standard wants an organization to crosscheck the records and details of its existing employees when a promotion or transfer is in the cards.

Hiring loyal and potential employees is beneficial for your quality business management system as well. Hence, you should never overlook the importance of a background check.

How to Perform the Background Check?

If you want to perform a background check as per ISO 27001 Standard, you need to fully understand the standard. These days, most businesses opt for third-party services to implement the standard inside the organization. If you want to hire such a service to crosscheck the background of your employees, you need to consider a couple of things:

• Experience

• Industry knowledge

• Ability to interpret risk factors

It would be better if you can set up a policy for background checks while implementing the Information Security Standard for gaining ISO 27001 certification. It will help your management follow a specific way to recruit new employees and deal with the current employees.

A Final Takeaway

Though a background check is an integral part of the ISO 27001 Standard, it is not enough. Along with a background check, you need to look at some other aspects. Since information security is a very critical issue, you must make sure your employees know how to maintain data security. You should introduce them to your ISO 27001-based information security policy, as employee contribution to information security management is significant. Therefore, you should take every aspect of employment very seriously, be it recruitment or training the current employees about maintaining the Information Security Service Management.