Working in a B2B startup, an ISO 27001 certification is often requested by our enterprise clients and partners. However, with a lean team and tight deadlines, traditional manual processes seemed daunting.
By leveraging GRC automation platforms, we were able to streamline our compliance journey and achieved certification in just six months, proving that even resource-constrained startups can prioritize security without sacrificing speed.
What's ISO 27001?
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 is an international standard for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Information Security Management System (ISMS). It helps organizations manage risks to information assets through a structured framework of controls. For startups handling sensitive data like ours, certification signals maturity and builds trust with partners.
Startup Challenges in Compliance
Startups often juggle limited budgets, small teams, and rapid scaling, making full compliance feel overwhelming. Manual documentation and audits can consume months. In our case, as a cloud-native firm, we dealt with dynamic environments like AWS and Kubernetes, complicating control implementation. Without automation, the process might have stretched to multiple years.
Luckily, compliance automation tools are getting more and more mature. They helped small companies like us address these pain points by automating evidence collection and integrations.
It's actually easier to achieve compliance when the company is still small, as everything starts from scratch without entrenched legacy processes or sprawling systems to overhaul. This clean slate allowed us to embed security controls from the ground up.
Why Vanta?
The compliance automation market offers many alternatives like Drata, Scrut, Sprinto, and others, each with strengths in areas such as pricing or specific frameworks.
We evaluated these options but picked Vanta for its proven track record, unmatched reliability, extensive library of automated test cases, and over 400 integrations that covered our entire tech stack. This depth of automation reduced manual work by at least 80%, making it ideal for our lean team.
6-Month Roadmap to Certification
Months 1: Preparation
We kicked off by securing executive buy-in and forming a cross-functional team of three: our lead engineer, CISO, and myself.
Vanta provides policy templates for reference, which we used to draft our initial information security policies. By the end of the month, we had all the necessary policies, procedures and standards drafted and waiting to be approved.
The Vanta dashboard gave us a great overview of our compliance status, displaying a real-time percentage of completion that allowed us to keep track of the progress. The percentage can be further broken down into Documents and Automated tests.
Month 2-3: ISMS Development and Risk Assessment
Using Vanta's automated assessment, we conducted a gap analysis against the controls in ISO 27001. This showed us the percentage of controls having passing evidence.
With the gaps in mind, we gradually worked towards full compliance using Vanta's built-in resources. We performed a formal risk assessment, identifying assets like customer data, and evaluating threats per ISO 27005 guidelines.
Vanta automated risk scoring and treatment plans, recommending controls such as MFA and regular vulnerability scans. We implemented around 70% of controls here. We then leverage Vanta integrations to monitor compliance continuously.
Plicies and documentations were centralized in Vanta. Employees' policy acceptance was also tracked under it. Vanta also helps with vendor management by automating third-party risk assessments.
Month 4: Internal Audit
For the internal audit requirement, we decided to outsource it to a third-party at a reasonable cost. This was the best option for us in terms of speed. Having someone professional to vet our works before the actual external audit, definitely gave us a peace in mind.
The deliverable of the outsourced internal audit is a list of potential non-conformities and observations. Our team would then try to resolve any major or minor non-conformities ASAP.
Month 5: Stage 1 Audit
We selected a certification body from Vanta's network of partner audit firms, which made the process seamless.
The Stage 1 audit was basically the documentation review. It involved the auditor examining our ISMS design, scope, and policies remotely via calls. Vanta's centralized dashboard provided instant access to our SoA, risk assessments, and policies, impressing the auditor with our preparedness. They identified no major gaps, only suggesting refinements in our risk treatment process, which we addressed pre-Stage 2 audit.
This stage confirmed that our ISMS aligned with ISO 27001 requirements, validating our automated approach.
Month 6: Stage 2 Audit and Certification
Stage 2 focused on verifying implementation through interviews, evidence review, and on-site checks. Over a week, auditors reviewed our automated test cases on Vanta. Vanta's real-time evidence collection from our tech stacks like AWS, Entra ID, Snyk, etc. saved us weeks of manual work.
We resolved a few observations, such as formalizing HR onboarding, within the audit window. By month's end, we received certification, valid for three years, with annual surveillance audits planned. The partner auditor network ensured smooth coordination, avoiding common delays in finding qualified firms.
Key Benefits and Lessons Learnt
- Achieving ISO 27001 boosted our credibility, helping us secure a major client in the crypto industry.
- Costs stayed manageable, including Vanta's subscription and audit fees, far below manual alternatives.
- Automation not only sped up the process but embedded security into our DevSecOps pipeline.
For fellow cybersecurity professionals, the takeaway is clear:
- Compliance automation tools transform ISO 27001 from a burden into a strategic advantage, especially when starting small.
- Prioritize platforms with strong integrations and track records.
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