# ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.33 — Protection of records - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-33-protection-of-records - Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022) › Organizational controls - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **ISO/IEC 27001:2022**·Annex A `A.5.33`·medium·Component: **Organizational controls** ## What this control requires > Records shall be protected from loss, destruction, falsification, unauthorized access and unauthorized release. > > — ISO/IEC 27001:2022, Annex A A.5.33 ### In plain English Records shall be protected from loss, destruction, falsification, unauthorized access and unauthorized release. In practice, this means you can prove you management management-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. ## 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.5.33) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement 1. Write a short policy stating intent, scope and named owner. 2. Encode it as a platform guardrail — SCP, Azure Policy initiative, Organisation Policy, or repository policy. 3. Wire a monitoring signal that catches drift (CSPM rule, SIEM rule, scheduled query, Workspace alert) and ticket it. 4. Review on a documented cadence and capture the review in the risk register or compliance tracker. ### Operational checklist - **Management.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Identity.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Access.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, records. ## Evidence to collect - **Identity Scan.** IAM / IdP exports — Entra ID, Okta, IAM Identity Center, Workspace directory — showing accounts, roles, MFA state and last sign-in. Identity analytics (Okta, SailPoint, Access Analyzer) demonstrates least-privilege. Focus: Protection of records. ## 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. - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC1.5** — Accountability for Internal Control Responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc1-5-accountability-for-internal-control-responsibilities) - [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.4** — Information in Shared System Resources](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-13-4-information-in-shared-system-resources) - [**CIS Controls v8 9.2** — Use DNS Filtering Services](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/9-2-use-dns-filtering-services) - [**ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.8** — Identity management](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-8-identity-management) - [**BSI C5:2020 AM-05** — Commitment to Permissible Use, Safe Handling and Return of Assets](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/am-05-commitment-to-permissible-use-safe-handling-and-return-of-assets) ## Related controls in ISO/IEC 27001:2022 - [**Annex A A.5.16** — Identity management](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-16-identity-management) - [**Annex A A.5.2** — Information security roles and responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-2-information-security-roles-and-responsibilities) - [**Annex A A.8.23** — Web filtering](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-8-23-web-filtering) - [**Annex A A.5.15** — Access control](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-15-access-control) - [**Annex A A.5.18** — Access rights](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-18-access-rights) - [**Annex A A.6.1** — Screening](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-6-1-screening) ## References - [ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 — ISO/IEC 27001:2022](https://www.iso.org/standard/27001) - Catalogue identifier: `Annex A A.5.33` Topics: identity accessidentity managementaccess reviewprivileged access ## Related compliance guidance - [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): Start with the full ISO 27001 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs. - [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most companies that hold ISO 27001 also need a SOC 2 report for North American customers, and the two share most of their technical controls.