Data breaches and cyber attacks on e-commerce websites continue to rise year after year. In fact, World Economic Forum reports that cyber attacks are one of the top three risks to global stability. Yet we find that many companies still keep thousands of files unprotected, including customers personal information when making online transactions. With the average cost of a data breach to an affected company coming in around $3.86m , working towards continually improving overall information security is definitely something to put on every executives radar in 2019. Part of improving your information security management process should be ensuring your partners carry ISO 27001 certification, which is the internationally recognized standard for outlining best practices for information security management systems, including managing risks to the security of information and the key advantage being data security.
Understanding the Importance of ISO 27001
The ISO 27001 standard is issued by the ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission). These organizations have built a highly regarded reputation on issuing standards that govern a variety of disciplines in the field of information technology, including information security management systems. The ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards helps organizations keep information assets secure and the ISO/IEC 27001 is the best-known standard in the family providing requirements for an information security management system (ISMS).
What is ISMS? Information Security Management System; a systematic approach to managing company information so that it remains secure. ISMS includes people, processes, and technology systems by implementing a continuous risk management process. ISMS is beneficial to all size businesses in all sectors to keep their information assets secure.
Overview On What ISO 27001 Helps Accomplish
The ISO 27001 standard adopts a process based approach for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system. It helps the organization to:
- Protect Client and Employee information
- Manage risks to information security effectively
- Protect company’s brand image
Know that this isn’t a one time certification. Those who have the ISO 27001 certification must continually go through external review processes and recertification every three years in order to demonstrate their continual improvement of ISMS. If a new revision of the standard is put out by the ISO, companies must adopt the new version to maintain compliance.
Why Should Your Partners Have ISO 27001 Certification?
Working with a partner that carries the ISO 27001 certification ensures that you are working with a team that has established a formal set of policies, procedures, processes and systems in place to manage information risks for your digital and physical presence. When it comes to your partners in eCommerce, it is important they carry ISO 27001 certification because of the amount of sensitive data they will encounter throughout their relationship with your organization.
Partners that carry ISO 27001 certification demonstrate to their clients and fellow partners that they put the entire breath of security best practices into place. Beyond that, it denotes that they have a mature approach to information security management that envelopes risk, compliance and governance. In the practice of eCommerce, these are imperative pieces of the puzzle of your success as a brand and maintaining the trust of your customer base.
At Echidna, we do everything possible to assure our clients that we are committed to maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy of all their data, specifically customer data in this day and age. We consider it our obligation to our clients to secure their data now and in preparing for their future goals. Echidna is proud of our team for undergoing this rigorous certification process and to be ISO 27001 certified for our clients.
Download our Future-Readiness eCommerce Platform Report to learn:
- How to develop a foundation to support the future of eCommerce for your brand
- Insight to choose an a platform built for future-readiness, including examples
- Research tips when reviewing eCommerce platforms and eCommerce strategy
- Costs associated with eCommerce platforms
