At a time when more of us are connected and working remotely than ever before, it’s good to know that there are people like SC 27 keeping our online activities secure with ISO standards.
Consider that in 2005, the year that YouTube launched, there were around one billion Internet users globally. In 2020, the year that forced many of us to work and socialize from our own homes, the world’s online population sailed past four billion. It’s a year that has brought challenges to businesses and individuals, and opportunities to hackers and cybercriminals everywhere. With new ways of working come new vulnerabilities.
We all need to remain vigilant when it comes to the things that we can easily control, like choosing a strong password. After all, it’s usually human behaviour that’s the weakest link in the IT security chain. But we can breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to the secure daily working of IT itself, counting on International Standards and groups like JTC 1, ISO and the IEC’s joint technical committee on information technology. Within JTC 1, cutting-edge work in areas from data management to streaming videos is being standardized by more than 40 subcommittees. Some of these subcommittees, in areas like artificial intelligence, are just a few years old, while others have been around quite a bit longer.
For SC 27, the JTC 1 subcommittee that covers information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection, 2020 is a big year. As it turns 30, the subcommittee is celebrating its part in some of the most significant developments in standards making and looking forward to the future. Over three decades, they’ve developed standards that have helped people, businesses and governments around the world to protect their information assets. During that time, SC 27 has also supported security technology for online transactions, as well as standards for the testing and evaluation of security technologies and standards for business continuity for information and communication technologies.
On a planet that continues to digitalize, SC 27 will continue to allow us all to benefit from the opportunities of the digital world, while minimizing threats, loss and disruptions.
Amongst SC 27’s most substantial achievements is the development of the world’s three best-selling information security standards: ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27002 and ISO/IEC 27701. Recently developed, ISO/IEC 27701, Security techniques – Extension to ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002 for privacy information management – Requirements and guidelines, helps organizations reconcile privacy regulatory requirements. It also outlines a comprehensive set of operational controls that can be mapped to various regulations, including the GDPR 1. It is clear that SC 27 standards make life safer, easier and better for people, as consumers and citizens, at the same time as bringing considerable benefits to business and government. SC 27’s activities cover many areas from general methods to techniques and guidelines to address both information security and privacy aspects.
The hard work and dedication of everyone at SC 27 have contributed much to standardization and helped to protect our digital activities for 30 years. Responding to a greater need than ever, and with more than 80 standards in the pipeline, we can rest assured that SC 27 will keep our online activities safe, secure and private for many years to come.
Krystyna PassiaCommittee Manager, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 27