ISO 27002:2022 – Control 8.7 – Protection Against Malware

Purpose of Control 8.7

Malware represents the single largest threat to business continuity and information security faced by businesses in the digital age.

The global commercial community faces innumerable daily threats from a broad range of attack vectors that seek to gain unauthorised access to sensitive systems and data, extract information and money, dupe unassuming employees and leverage ransomed data for extortionate sums of money.

An organisation’s approach to malware protection should be front and centre of any information security policy.

Control 8.7 contains an array of measures that helps organisations to educate their employees as to the dangers of malicious software, and implement meaningful practical measures that stop internal and external attacks before they have a chance to cause disruption and data loss.

Attributes Table of Control 8.7

Control 8.7 is a triple-purpose preventive, detective and corrective control that maintains risk by implementing policies and procedures that ensure an organisation’s information, data and assets are protected against malware.

Ownership of Control 8.7

Whilst malware protection involves practical steps that need to be taken by ICT admin staff and standard users, the topic itself is wide-ranging and encompasses multiple distinct business functions with differing levels of risk and numerous additional ISO controls. As such, ownership of Control 8.7 should reside with the Chief Information Security Officer, or organisational equivalent.

General Guidance on Compliance

Control 8.7 asks organisations to adopt an approach to malware protection that encompasses four key areas:

• Anti-malware software
• Organisational information security awareness (user training)
• Controlled systems and account access
• Change management

ISO categorically points out that it is a mistake to assume that anti malware software alone represents an adequate set of measures. Control 8.7 instead asks organisations to take an end-to-end approach to malware protection that begins with user education and ends with a tightly-controlled network that minimises the risk of intrusion across a variety of attack vectors.

To achieve this goal, organisations should implement controls that:

1. Prevent the use of unauthorised software (see Controls 8.19 and 8.32).
2. Block traffic to malicious or inappropriate websites.
3. Minimise the amount of vulnerabilities resident on their network that have the potential to be exploited by malware or malicious intent (see Controls 8.8 and 8.19).
4. Carry out regular software audits that scan the network for unauthorised software, system amendments and/or data.
5. Ensure that data and applications are obtained with minimal risk, either internally or as an external acquisition.
6. Establish a malware detection policy that includes regular and thorough scans of all relevant systems and files, based upon the unique risks of each area to be scanned. Organisations should adopt a ‘defence in depth’ approach that encompasses endpoint devices and gateway controls, and takes into consideration a broad range of attack vectors (e.g. ransomware).
7. Protect against intrusions that emanate from emergency procedures and protocols – especially during an incident or high-risk maintenance activities.
8. Draft a process that allows for technical staff to disable some or all anti malware efforts, especially when such activities are hampering the organisation’s ability to do business.
9. Implement a robust backup and disaster recovery (BUDR) plan that allows the organisation to resume operational activity as quickly as possible, following disruption (see Control 8.13). This should include procedures that deal with software which isn’t able to be covered by anti malware software (i.e. machinery software).
10. Partition off areas of the network and/or digital and virtual working environments that may cause catastrophic disruption in the event of an attack.
11. Provide all relevant employees with anti malware awareness training that educates users on a broad range of topics, including (but not limited to):
• Social engineering
• Email security
• Installing malicious software
12. Collect industry-related information about the latest developments in malware protection.
13. Ensure that notifications about potential malware attacks (particularly from software and hardware vendors) originate from a trusted source and are accurate.

Supporting Controls

• 8.13
• 8.19
• 8.32
• 8.8

Changes and Differences from ISO 27002:2013

ISO 27002:2022-8.7 replaces ISO 27002:2003-12.2.1 (Controls against malware).

27002:2022-8.7 contains the same basic guidance points as 27002:2003-12.2.1, and elevates some of the supplementary guidance to general guidance points, in line with their importance to an organisation’s anti malware efforts, notably:

• Protecting against malware during maintenance periods.

27002:2003-12.2.1 also asks organisations to consider using two separate anti malware platforms, whereas 27002:2022-8.7 is content with a single unified solution.

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