ISO 27001 integration

Overview

ISO/IEC 27001 is the leading international standard for information security management systems (ISMS). It isn't AI-specific, but it provides the security foundations that AI governance builds on. If you already have ISO 27001 certification, you can extend your ISMS to cover AI-specific security concerns.

AI systems bring security challenges that traditional information security may not fully cover. Training data can be poisoned, models can be stolen or reverse-engineered and adversarial attacks can manipulate AI outputs. Integrating AI governance with ISO 27001 makes sure these risks get proper attention within your security framework.

Why integrate AI governance with ISO 27001?

• Build on existing work: Extend your ISMS rather than creating parallel governance structures
• Unified security approach: Manage AI security alongside other information security risks
• Regulatory alignment: Both EU AI Act and ISO 42001 reference information security requirements
• Audit efficiency: Combined audits reduce effort and show integrated governance
• Consistent risk treatment: Apply proven security controls to AI-specific threats

AI-specific security risks

AI systems introduce security considerations that should be addressed within your ISMS:

Relevant ISO 27001 controls

Several ISO 27001 Annex A controls are particularly relevant to AI security:

• A.5 - Organizational controls for AI governance policies
• A.6 - People controls for AI training and awareness
• A.7 - Physical controls for AI infrastructure protection
• A.8 - Technological controls for AI system security

Extending controls for AI

Consider how existing controls apply to AI-specific scenarios:

• Access control: Extend to cover access to AI models, training pipelines and inference APIs
• Cryptography: Apply to model encryption, secure model serving and federated learning
• Supplier management: Include AI vendors, model providers and training data suppliers
• Change management: Cover model updates, retraining and version management
• Incident management: Address AI-specific incidents like model failures or adversarial attacks

How VerifyWise supports integration

VerifyWise helps you extend your ISO 27001 ISMS to cover AI systems:

• Control mapping: Map AI governance controls to ISO 27001 requirements
• Risk register integration: Track AI security risks alongside other information security risks
• Evidence collection: Gather AI-specific security evidence for integrated audits
• Vendor assessment: Evaluate AI vendors against security requirements
• Incident tracking: Document AI security incidents within your ISMS incident process

Implementation approach

To integrate AI governance with your ISO 27001 ISMS:

1. Review your current ISMS scope and determine how AI systems fit
2. Identify AI-specific assets (models, training data, inference systems)
3. Conduct AI-specific risk assessment within your ISMS framework
4. Extend existing controls or add new controls for AI-specific risks
5. Update documentation to reflect AI considerations
6. Train security personnel on AI-specific threats and controls
7. Include AI systems in internal audits and surveillance activities