An internal ISMS audit should give management a reliable basis for decisions on corrective action and further review. Plan an audit, assess different evidence and write findings. Build your audit programme, audit plan and template for the management report.
Plan an internal audit of a selected ISMS process. Define the assignment, criteria and sample, and consider who can audit independently. Work through an audit file, write findings and prepare a report for management.
The case file contains a current approval list and an access-removal procedure. Two former employees’ accounts remained active after the deadline. You substantiate a finding for those cases and specify a further sample. The two cases do not establish how often the problem occurs across the process.
A tool is planned for the course to record criteria, evidence and findings. Use these to produce your own audit file and report. Keep the completed data for future audits.
What you will work on
Draft a risk-based audit programme and an audit plan
Evaluate evidence against defined audit criteria
Compare departure and account-removal times and write a finding limited to the evidence.
Who it is for
Internal ISMS auditors
Information security officers
Internal assurance leads
Topics
Audit assignments, independence and scope
Risk-based programme planning
Sampling and evidence quality
Interview preparation and follow-up questions
Findings, reporting and action follow-up
Your result
Take away an audit file with criteria, a sample and supported findings, together with an audit plan and draft report. Open questions identify where further evidence is needed.
Prerequisites
Basic ISMS knowledge and authorised access to process documentation and audit criteria. An audit file from a course case can replace confidential information.
Format and approach
Planned as 12–16 hours of self-paced study with document review and written case work. Annotated examples support your self-checks.
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