# ISO 27001 Leadership Responsibilities

*Note that I asked a follow-up to list the responsibilities exclusive to "Top Management vs. other unspecified management layers" – the response can be found [here](ISO%2027001%20Top%20Management%20responsibilities.md).*

ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 place the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the Information Security Management System (ISMS) on **Top Management**. This is codified primarily in **Clause 5** of ISO 27001 and supported by **Control 5.4** in ISO 27002.

The standards outline the responsibilities of leadership as follows:
### 1. Leadership and Commitment (ISO 27001)

Top management must demonstrate leadership and commitment to the ISMS. They are explicitly accountable for the effectiveness of the system. Their specific responsibilities include:

- **Strategic Alignment:** Ensuring the information security policy and objectives are established and compatible with the strategic direction of the organization.
- **Integration:** Ensuring that ISMS requirements are integrated into the organization’s processes.
- **Resourcing:** Ensuring that the resources needed for the ISMS are available.
- **Communication:** Communicating the importance of effective information security management and conforming to ISMS requirements.
- **Outcomes:** Ensuring the ISMS achieves its intended outcomes.
- **Support:** Directing and supporting persons to contribute to the effectiveness of the ISMS and supporting other relevant management roles to demonstrate leadership in their specific areas.
- **Improvement:** Promoting continual improvement.

This is all described in [Clause 5.1](../../MoCs/ISO_27001_2022_5.1_MoC%20Leadership%20and%20commitment.md).
### 2. Policy Establishment (ISO 27001 & ISO 27002)

Top management is responsible for establishing an information security policy that is appropriate to the purpose of the organization.

- **Approval:** The policy must be formally approved by top management.
- **Changes:** Any changes to the policy must be approved by top management.

This is described in [Clause 5.2](../../MoCs/ISO_27001_2022_5.2_MoC%20Policy.md) and [Control 5.1](legacy/iso27DIY%20mk%20I/ISO_27002_2022_5.1_MoC%20Policies%20for%20information%20security.md).
### 3. Organizational Roles and Authorities (ISO 27001)

Top management must ensure that responsibilities and authorities for roles relevant to information security are assigned and communicated within the organization. specifically, they must assign the responsibility and authority for:

- Ensuring the ISMS conforms to the requirements of the standard.
- Reporting on the performance of the ISMS to top management.

This is described in Clauses [5.2](../../MoCs/ISO_27001_2022_5.2_MoC%20Policy.md) and [5.3](../../MoCs/ISO_27001_2022_5.3_MoC%20Organizational%20roles,%20responsibilities%20and%20authorities.md).
### 4. Management Responsibilities regarding Personnel (ISO 27002)

**[Control 5.4](../../MoCs/ISO_27002_2022_5.4_MoC%20Management%20responsibilities.md) (Management responsibilities)** specifies that management should require all personnel to apply information security in accordance with the established policies and procedures.

To fulfill this, management should ensure that personnel:

- Are properly briefed on their roles and responsibilities before being granted access to information.
- Are provided with guidelines stating information security expectations.
- Are mandated to fulfill the information security policy.
- Achieve a level of awareness relevant to their roles.
- Are provided with a confidential channel for reporting violations ("whistleblowing") where practicable.
- Are provided with adequate resources and project planning time for implementing security processes.

### 5. Oversight and Review

- **Management Review:** Top management is required to review the organization's ISMS at planned intervals to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. This review includes making decisions related to continual improvement and resource needs.
- **Independent Review:** The results of independent reviews of the ISMS should be reported to the management who initiated the review and, if appropriate, to top management. If the review identifies that the approach to managing information security is inadequate, management must initiate corrective actions.

Described in [Clause 9.3](../../MoCs/ISO_27001_2022_9.3_MoC%20Management%20review.md) and [Control 5.35](../../MoCs/ISO_27002_2022_5.35_MoC%20Independent%20review%20of%20information%20security.md).
