Training module
Auditing Information Security Controls
Evaluate control applicability, implementation evidence and common failure patterns across ISO/IEC 27001 Annex A control themes
Does your audit move beyond control-checklist auditing to traceable assurance about how security actually operates?
Annex A audits fail when controls are treated as static statements rather than working mechanisms with clear applicability, ownership, and evidence. This module equips auditors to challenge the Statement of Applicability, follow high-leverage audit trails, and recognise systemic ISMS weaknesses.
Overview
What this module is about
Many organisations can describe their Annex A controls but struggle to demonstrate why each control applies, how it is implemented, and whether it consistently operates across sites, teams, and suppliers. The result is an audit pattern of “policy evidence” without operational proof, and repeated findings that are symptoms of deeper system weaknesses.
This standard-specific auditing module focuses on Annex A control applicability and rationale (via the Statement of Applicability), evidence expectations by control theme, and typical systemic ISMS failures. It assumes information security fundamentals are already covered elsewhere and does not re-teach generic audit craft; it applies audit judgement to ISO/IEC 27001’s control set for internal auditors and third-party auditors (e.g., certification bodies or independent assurance providers).
Audience
Who it is for
Management system implementers and coordinators
Executives and department heads accountable for management system performance
Those responsible for processes, policies, assets, risks and controls
Auditors seeking insight into management-side practice, not audit technique
Consultants working on management system design, governance or improvement
Decision supportIs this module for you?
It is a good fit if you…
aim to audit whether Annex A controls operate in practice, not just on paper.
want to test control applicability and rationale via the Statement of Applicability.
follow control claims end-to-end across policy, process, configuration, and records.
strengthen evidence-based judgement across different control themes.
seek audit findings that highlight systemic weaknesses, not checklist gaps.
It may not be the best fit if you…
primarily want to design, implement, or improve security controls.
expect control theory or technical implementation guidance.
prefer audits limited to documentation or policy consistency checks.
avoid challenging formally correct but weak control claims.
What to bring
This module assumes:
Auditor-level understanding of evidence, professional judgement, and findings discipline (audit craft is not re-taught here)
Working familiarity with ISO/IEC 27001 structure, including the role of the Statement of Applicability and Annex A controls
Information security fundamentals (e.g., access control, logging, change management, incident handling concepts) as baseline literacy
Agenda
What is taught
6 parts01Annex A in an audit context
Clarifies how Annex A controls are used to test assurance and operation, not as a checklist for document presence.
02Control applicability and rationale
Tests the credibility of SoA inclusion, exclusion, and tailoring decisions, and how weak rationales surface as evidence gaps.
03Evidence expectations by control theme (ISO/IEC 27001:2022)
Covers organisational controls (governance, ownership, routines), people controls (competence, JML, behavioural enforcement), and technological controls (configuration, access, logging, change), with focus on high-leverage audit signals.
04Physical controls in real environments
Assesses site realities, shared spaces, visitor handling, and asset movement, including where physical and technical controls interact or fail.
05Tracing one control end-to-end
Follows a single control claim through policy, process, configuration, and records, including interfaces with IT, HR, Facilities, suppliers, and shared platforms.
06Paper control sets and drift patterns
Identifies declared controls without operational ownership, fragmented implementation across sites or tools, and risk-treatment drift where SoA and reality diverge over time.
Outcomes
Learning outcomes
01
Challenge Annex A control applicability decisions using consistent tests for rationale quality and scope fit
02
Distinguish control statement, implementation, and operation evidence, and identify which is missing
03
Identify expected evidence types by Annex A control theme
Build practical, traceable audit trails from control intent to operational proof across functions and suppliers
Recognise recurring systemic ISMS failure patterns behind repeated control weaknesses
Apply Annex A auditing judgement in both internal audits and third-party assurance contexts without reverting to checklist auditing
Materials
The content and the assessment
Written module
The full content in writing, complete in itself. Videos are recorded for parts of it as an alternative way through, and the written module always carries everything.
Exercises
Graded work on the case organisation's own registers: structured answers checked against the encoded case, written answers scored against a rubric traced to it, with a trainer holding the final word on every assessed item.
On completion
The assessed exercises must be passed before the certificate is issued.
Scheduling
No public run of Auditing Information Security Controls is scheduled at the moment. Tell us you are interested and we will let you know when the next one opens, or discuss running it in-house.
Module facts
- Module ID
- HAM-IS-A-02
- Discipline
- Information Security
- Part of tracks
- Management System Auditor
Case organisation
All modules share one company
Each module enters the company at a particular point in its history and finds it as that history has left it.
Northstar Integrated Services AG is a group headquartered in Zurich, operating in six European countries, with about 1,350 employees at the end of 2025. It provides digital operations platforms and managed operational services to regulated organisations in healthcare, the public sector and industrial services. Founded in 2008 as a field-operations firm serving business customers, it had about twenty-five employees when its first regulated customer, a hospital group, required documented decisions, named accountability and evidence on request. It moved into the platform business in 2016 and in 2024 acquired an operating business in Poland and the Czech Republic, whose legal entity continues inside the group.
Linked registers
Organisation and people, roles, risks, objectives, policies, documents and records, communications, findings, audits and reviews, interested parties, processes
Records, not summaries
The evidence sits in the registers and documents where a real organisation would keep it.
A history
The company has a timeline from 2008, so a structure can be examined before and after it changed.
More than one legal entity
A Swiss parent company and an acquired subsidiary in Poland and the Czech Republic, with customers in several jurisdictions
Why it matters
Judgement develops on material that is incomplete and partly contradictory, as it is in practice. Northstar is built that way on purpose. Because modules enter its history at different points, a governance structure can be seen while it is built, when it is outgrown and when it is rebuilt.
Delivery & dates
How this module reaches you
Delivered live online, combining conceptual framing, discussion, case work and direct interaction with the trainer. In-house and contextualised delivery is available on request.
No public run is scheduled at the moment. Most modules run on request as well as on the public calendar, so tell us the timing you need.
Want this module scheduled?
We will tell you when the next run is scheduled, or run this module in-house with your own case material.
Not sure it is the right module?
Describe your context in a short message and we will tell you honestly.