Password security and ISO 27001

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Answer: ISO 27001 does not prescribe any solution to be applied for security controls in Annex A, only objectives to be achieved. This gives organizations freedom to implement the most adequate solutions according to their context. For guidelines and recommendations about what to consider in the implementation of security controls, you should consider the ISO 27002 standard.

That said, regarding security of system passwords, service passwords, and application passwords, including passwords at administrator level, you should consider ISO 27002 recommendations for the following controls:
- Control A.9.2.3 (Management of privileged access rights): for shared administration user IDs, you should consider practices like changing passwords frequently and as soon as possible when a privileged one user of these shared IDs leaves or changes job, and communicating these passwords to administrators through secure mechanisms. Besides that, all other recommendations from control A.9.3.1 (Use of secret authentication information), aimed for general users, should also be applicable to administrators.
- Control A.9.3.1 (Use of secret authentication information): when passwords need to be part of automated log on procedures they must be properly protected (e.g., do not store password on plain text)
- Control 9.4.3 (Password management system): when stored, password should be kept on files separated from application system data.

This article will provide you further explanation about use of passwords:- How to handle access control according to ISO 27001 https://advisera.com/27001academy/blog/2015/07/27/how-to-handle-access-control-according-to-iso-27001/

These materials will also help you regarding use of passwords:
- ISO 27001 Annex A Controls in Plain English https://advisera.com/books/iso-27001-annex-controls-plain-english/
- Free online training ISO 27001 Foundations Course https://advisera.com/training/iso-27001-foundations-course/