ISO27001 – 900,000 certificates?

The most recent survey from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) reveals that there are now 898,000 ISO9001 certifications worldwide, a 16% increase on the previous year.

It also reveals that there are now 5,800 ISO/IEC 27001 certifications worldwide – only two years after the international standard was published.

In the information age, information security (think cybercrime, data protection, identity theft, cyberwar for starters) is probably more important than quality assurance – how long will it take until there are more ISO27001 certifications worldwide than for ISO9001? In answering this question, consider that ISO27001 is now a basic requirement for public sector contracts in Japan, is going that way in the UK, and provides an internationally recognized umbrella standard for meeting word-wide information-related compliance requirements as well as providing a practical, risk-based approach to managing information security in today’s world.