The companies and organizations seek Information Communication and Technology (ICT) audits and certification to evaluate the ICT infrastructure, operations and policies. In this way, they, build trust of partners, comply legal requirements, improve global footprints system and decrease the probability of costly data breaches. Several different organizations have established ICT standards to provide the framework of polices and processes. The most familiar from them are ISO (International Organization of standardization) and IFGICT (International Federation of Global ICT).
Before implementation of the standards and comply the requirements, companies tend to consider factors such as timeframe, cost, resources and effectiveness. Unlike to ISO, IFGICT is a nonprofit federation which sets the standard for ICT and business technology.
In the light of above separate standards by IFGICT, company can observe the specific standard as per requirements. In ISO certification, information security and management system need to be implemented fully that requires documentation and observation on daily basis. So, documentation requirements are extensive for implementation, operation and ongoing certifications. IFGICT standards implementation are discrete in nature, scope will be specified accordingly. It means that still there is requirement of documentation but it would be less than ISO for fully implementation of Information Security Management System (ISMS) system.
Cost of standard implementation vary with size of organization, scope of standards implementation, internal resources and maturity of the company. Full execution of ISMS system will require more resources than specific execution of IFGICT standard. The more resources will lead to enhanced cost of standard.
ISO 27000 and IFGICT cyber security standard is similar in terms of auditing but at the end presentation of results are different. IFGICT cyber security standard provides more detailed technical process analysis, we can say straight to the point, identify the gaps risks and present results in terms of report in contrast with ISO, which provides only certificate with start, end dates and location of business in scope. The ISO report doesn’t include in-depth analysis of the system to identify and improve the gaps.
What is the best standard in terms of time frame and cost effective?
The time frame of IFGICT is quite less in comparison with ISO 27000 series. Whole process of implementation requires only 3-4 weeks in comparison with 6-12 months of ISO implementation. The lengthy process of audits leave gap for security breach which leads to insecurity of system. The long time to identify the risks and take corrective actions will make the system vulnerable for security breach.
The IFGICT cyber security standard provides the sophisticated standard and audit process which can be adopted in less time, with reduced resources, enhanced checks and efficiently. The quality of IFGICT system in terms of effectiveness and efficiency is more than ISO 27000.
If you have a necessary audit to conduct for your data center or organization, the ISO 27000 would takes effort in terms of documentations, management analysis, non-comprehensive technical checklist, a lot of trainings and would takes up to 6 months to complete your compliance, hackers won’t wait for you to complete the processes to figure out where are gaps in your data center, however IFGICT cyber security standard relay on cyber security a very strong checklist and tools along with of course analysis documentations for the organization and training but the audit itself will count of determine that real risky gaps in your data center and organization within 4 weeks, which gives you the ability to secure your data centers and fix the gap analysis issues.
IFGICT leads by setting green IT standard to ensure the environmentally sustainable computing system. This unique framework of policies helps organizations to reduce the carbon footprints, use of hazardous materials, promote the product life cycle and to conform the climate change laws. On the other hand, ISO standard doesn’t contain distinct set of policies on green IT. Same as green ICT standard, IFGICT delivers diverse set of ICT, cybersecurity, healthcare and artificial intelligence standards. Such a distinct policies framework doesn’t exist in ISO standard series.
Table below demonstrates a quick comparison between ISO 27000 standard and IFGICT cyber security standard
