Training module
Operational Control in Information Security
Plan, implement and operate information security controls consistently in day-to-day activities in line with ISO/IEC 27001
Make your information security controls work in real operations
Turn SoA and risk-treatment decisions into owned routines, evidence, monitoring and review triggers that hold up under daily delivery pressure.
Overview
What this module is about
Selected information security controls often look complete in the Statement of Applicability, treatment plan or policy set before they are ready to survive daily operations.
This module develops the practical judgement needed to make ISO/IEC 27001 controls operationally real. Participants work through the evolving Northstar case to turn selected controls into owned routines, clear handovers, proportionate evidence, monitored execution, controlled exceptions, supplier interfaces and review triggers.
The focus is management-system implementation, not technical security operations. Scope, SoA and risk-treatment decisions are used as inputs, while the live work concentrates on maintainable control operation, assurance-ready evidence and the decisions needed when controls drift, exceptions extend, suppliers change or incidents expose weak routines.
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…
work with ISMS implementation, control ownership, evidence, exceptions or customer assurance.
need selected controls to work reliably beyond policies, SoA entries and treatment plans.
see unclear handovers between control owners, IT operations, service teams, suppliers or assurance roles.
want routines, records and monitoring that keep control operation traceable over time.
are preparing to strengthen control evidence before certification, recertification, customer assurance or management review.
It may not be the best fit if you…
want a short overview of ISO/IEC 27001 clauses only.
are mainly looking for technical hardening, tool configuration, penetration testing or SIEM operation.
need full ISMS scope, SoA design or risk assessment as the main focus.
expect a control-by-control Annex A interpretation workshop.
already have clearly owned, maintained and evidence-backed ISMS controls that work consistently in practice.
What to bring
There are no formal prerequisites. The module is designed as a stand-alone entry point for practitioners with relevant professional context.
Helpful background includes:
General familiarity with information security, IT operations, service management or management-system work
Basic understanding of roles, responsibilities, records and documented information in practice
Prior exposure to ISMS scope, SoA, risk or control work is useful but not required
Agenda
What is taught
6 parts01Controls as operational handoffs
Use SoA and risk-treatment decisions as operating inputs
Identify the routines, evidence and review triggers each selected control needs
Spot weak handovers before controls drift in daily work
02Ownership, interfaces and responsibilities
Separate control owner, performer, evidence owner and assurance user
Map shared-platform, supplier and service-team interfaces
Define escalation points when ownership and operating authority diverge
03Operating routines and evidence
Specify triggers, cadence, population, criteria and records
Distinguish design, execution, review and exception evidence
Judge whether evidence supports the assurance claim being made
04Exceptions, incidents and change triggers
Handle temporary deviations without silent acceptance
Connect incidents, near misses and compensating measures to control review
Decide when change should trigger SoA, risk or routine updates
05Supplier-operated controls
Keep retained responsibility visible when controls are externally operated
Define evidence frequency, exception reporting and escalation routes
Use supplier evidence without overclaiming control effectiveness
06Monitoring, assurance and management review
Read overdue reviews, stale exceptions and evidence gaps as control signals
Prepare customer-safe assurance and management-review inputs
Use AI-supported review with source checks and overclaim safeguards
Outcomes
Learning outcomes
01
Turn selected controls into operational routines with clear ownership, cadence, evidence and review triggers
02
Define handovers between control owners, IT operations, service teams, suppliers and assurance roles
03
Judge whether control evidence supports implementation status, customer assurance and management-review decisions
Specify operating criteria, records and evidence expectations for selected information security controls
Handle exceptions, compensating measures, incidents and near misses without undermining control intent
Use supplier evidence, workflow signals and monitoring indicators to detect control drift
Use AI-assisted review safely to compare artefacts, summarise evidence and flag overclaim risks
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 Operational Control in Information Security 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-S-03
- Discipline
- Information Security
- Part of tracks
- Management System Manager
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.