How to find the right information security standards?

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As cyber threats continue to evolve, organisations are facing a more complex security environment shaped by artificial intelligence, geopolitical instability, and increasing demands for digital resilience. Among these challenges, ransomware continues to be a key priority for cybersecurity leaders.

World Economic Forum Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026🡭 highlights that ransomware remains the leading cybersecurity concern among CISOs, reflecting the continued challenge of protecting critical systems and maintaining operational resilience.

Building cyber resilience

To tackle these cybersecurity challenges, organisations need to strengthen their ability to bounce back from attacks and take steps to reduce cyber threats. The goal of any cybersecurity plan is to safeguard critical assets. Rather than trying to protect everything equally, it's essential to pinpoint what's valuable, assess vulnerabilities and prioritise protection. This involves building layers of defence to ensure business operations can continue smoothly.

An effective cybersecurity approach combines both horizontal and vertical standards. Horizontal standards provide broad, adaptable guidance, while vertical standards address sector-specific requirements.

ISO/IEC 27000 family

The ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards is crucial for safeguarding IT systems and enabling the smooth exchange of data online. It offers a robust, broad framework for comparing and adopting best practices in establishing, maintaining and enhancing controls.

ISO/IEC 27001 is widely recognised as the leading international standard for information security management systems (ISMS) and their requirements. It helps organisations establish a culture of security and reduce information security risks, including risks related to ransomware attacks.

How can ISO/IEC 27001 benefit your organisation?

— Secure information in all forms, including paper-based, cloud-based and digital data,
— Protect the integrity, confidentiality and availability of data,
— Increase resilience to cyber-attacks,
— Respond to evolving security threats.

More than a dozen ISO/IEC 27000 standards cover further best practices in data protection and enhancing cyber resilience.

These standards enable organisations of all sectors and sizes to manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee data and information entrusted by third parties.

Other security standards

In addition to horizontal standards, customised solutions are developed to safeguard particular domains and ensure the safety of industry and critical infrastructure assets. For instance, vertical standards address the unique security requirements of sectors such as the nuclear industry, industrial automation, healthcare, and the maritime industry, among others.

For example, IEC 62443 is a vital series of standards that establishes precise security guidelines and specifications applicable to various industries and critical infrastructure environments. It is designed to keep OT systems running in the physical world.

How to find the right cybersecurity standards?

Recognising that different organisations have unique needs, it's important to understand that one standard cannot address all requirements. IEC has developed a standards mapping tool🡭 which helps organisations identify the standards that best align with their requirements. 

International standards are key tools in the fight against cybercrime as they contain extensive security measures based on best practices from experts worldwide. All of these standards can be bought from our e-shop.

Cyber security: 2018-09 (en). IEC