ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.21 — Managing information security in the ICT supply chain

What this control requires

Processes and procedures shall be defined and implemented to manage the information security risks associated with the ICT products and services supply chain.

In plain English

Processes and procedures shall be defined and implemented to manage the information security risks associated with the ICT products and services supply chain. In practice, this means you can prove you policy information security-level controls on a defined cadence.

Why it matters

ISO 27001 certification depends on showing each Annex A control is either implemented or explicitly justified for exclusion in the Statement of Applicability (SoA). Certification bodies sample controls during surveillance audits, and a missing SoA entry — or implementation that doesn't match the SoA wording — is a finding.

This control is rated high. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

What an auditor looks for

An ISO 27001 lead auditor looks for: (1) an SoA entry covering the control with justification, (2) a documented procedure or policy implementing it, (3) records that prove the procedure runs (logs, tickets, training records) and (4) management-review evidence that effectiveness is monitored.

Within Organizational controls, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Annex A A.5.21) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

Policy Management

Docs. Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

Operational checklist

• Policy. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Information. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Management. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Security. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: information security, management, services.

Evidence to collect

• Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Managing information security in the ICT supply chain.

Common pitfalls

• Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.17.2 — Acquisition Strategies, Tools, and Methods
• HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a)(5)(i) — Security Awareness and Training
• NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PM-4 — Plan Of Action And Milestones Process
• ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.3 — Information security policies
• SOC 2 (2017 TSC) C1.2 — Confidential Information Disposal

Related controls in ISO/IEC 27001:2022

• Annex A A.5.1 — Policies for information security
• Annex A A.5.4 — Management responsibilities
• Annex A A.5.12 — Classification of information
• Annex A A.5.29 — Information security during disruption
• Annex A A.5.31 — Legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements
• Annex A A.5.36 — Compliance with policies, rules and standards for information security

References

• ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 — ISO/IEC 27001:2022
• Catalogue identifier: Annex A A.5.21

Topics: governance riskpolicy managementsupply chain security