Achieving ISO 27001 Compliance: Key Challenges and Best Practices

ISO 27001 sends a powerful message: this organization takes security seriously. But behind every certification is a grind few outsiders see. It’s not just paperwork or policies. It’s the daily work of identifying risks, coordinating across teams, and embedding security into fast-moving development cycles.

And that’s where it gets tough. Today’s environments are built for speed. Codebases change constantly. Teams rely on open source and AI tooling to move faster. The result? More complexity, more risk, and a much harder time proving you’re in control.

With the right strategies to help security and development teams work together, your organization can meet the standard without slowing down.

What is ISO 27001? 

ISO/IEC 27001 is an international standard that helps organizations manage and reduce information security risks. It provides a framework for building an Information Security Management System (ISMS), a set of policies, processes, and controls designed to protect data across people, systems, and workflows.

Here’s how it works in practice:

• Risk assessments: Identify your assets, code, infrastructure, people, and data, and evaluate potential threats so you can decide whether to mitigate, transfer, accept, or avoid them. 

• Operational security: Embed key controls into daily routines. That includes setting measurable objectives and applying continuous improvement models like the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle to evolve.

• Annex A controls: ISO 27001 includes 93 security controls across areas like access management, cryptography, incident response, and third-party risk. These aren’t one-size-fits-all. They’re designed to be tailored to your unique risk profile.

Certification isn’t a one-time stamp of approval. It starts with a full audit, followed by annual check-ins and recertification every three years. While it brings significant benefits, such as better security posture, stakeholder trust, and more transparent processes, it also demands consistency and adaptability in environments that never stop changing.

Key challenges in achieving ISO 27001 compliance

Getting ISO 27001 certified proves your security practices are consistent, auditable, and resilient. That’s a tall order for organizations building modern apps with fast-moving codebases, distributed teams, and growing stacks of open source and AI-generated components.

Security teams are expected to keep pace with constant change while ensuring that policies, controls, and evidence all line up. Here’s where it gets especially challenging:

Identifying vulnerabilities 

Fast development depends on open source, and most teams rely heavily on it. In fact, 77% of codebases include open source components. But with that speed comes risk. Each third-party dependency introduces potential vulnerabilities, and it’s up to your team to catch them before attackers do.

ISO 27001 doesn’t just recommend vulnerability management. It requires it. That means scanning codebases early and often, flagging risky libraries, and replacing or patching vulnerable components before they become a liability. Without automation and visibility, this process quickly becomes unscalable.

Gaining visibility 

Visibility is at the core of ISO 27001. You need to know what’s happening in your systems, not just during an audit but continuously. That means monitoring risks, tracking incidents, and detecting threats in real-time.

But in practice, that’s a mess. Most teams juggle three or more tools to understand what’s at risk, what’s misconfigured, and what needs fixing first. Fragmented data, siloed alerts, and competing dashboards make it harder to see the whole picture, let alone respond quickly.

Balancing priorities 

ISO 27001 expects security to be built into software development, not bolted on after the fact. But that’s easier said than done. Security teams are under pressure to enforce controls, while developers are racing to ship features. Tension builds when secure practices slow things down or, worse, feel disconnected from how real work gets done.

The key isn’t to choose between speed and security. It’s to give both teams shared tools and workflows that make secure development the path of least resistance.

Best practices for achieving ISO 27001 compliance

ISO 27001 isn’t a checklist you complete once and forget. It’s a living standard that requires teams to adapt, improve, and respond as new risks emerge. That means security can’t live on the sidelines. It must be part of how software is built, tested, and shipped daily.

From smarter testing to automation and team alignment, here’s how high-performing teams stay compliant without slowing down. 

Building a security culture 

ISO 27001 compliance starts with the process, but only works if people follow through. That means creating a culture where security isn’t just a checklist. It’s part of how teams think, build, and collaborate.

For developers, that doesn’t happen through policies alone but through a culture shift. It takes ongoing engagement, real context for why controls matter, and tools that make secure choices the easy ones. When teams feel empowered, not just obligated, compliance becomes a shared goal, not a separate function.

Aligning security testing with ISO 27001 controls  

ISO 27001 isn’t a one-and-done milestone. It’s a framework for evolving with your environment. As systems grow and threats shift, your security controls need to adapt just as quickly.

Staying compliant means regularly reassessing risks, refining processes, and acting on new findings during audits and as part of your day-to-day development cycle. By integrating tools like Snyk into the software lifecycle, teams can automatically detect new issues, apply fixes early, and track progress over time, keeping security aligned with how the product evolves.

Practicing continuous improvement 

Compliance with ISO 27001 means treating security as an ongoing process, not a box to check once and forget. As systems change and new threats emerge, teams must regularly revisit risk assessments, update controls, and refine how they work.

Tools like Snyk API & Web make that process more manageable by embedding security into the development lifecycle. Automated scans surface new issues early, remediation workflows help teams act fast, and built-in tracking shows how your security posture improves over time.

The benefits of an integrated approach to compliance and security 

Managing ISO 27001 manually is a recipe for friction between teams, tools, and timelines. A more integrated approach brings everything together: faster feedback loops, clearer visibility, and built-in audit readiness.

With a platform like Snyk, teams can:

Simplify audit prep

Clear, trackable evidence is half the battle in any ISO 27001 audit. With built-in reporting and automatic SBOM generation, tools like Snyk give teams complete visibility into vulnerabilities, fixes, and dependencies across both open source and proprietary code.

Boost security resilience 

Resilience isn’t just about preventing issues. It’s about catching the right ones quickly. With automated scanning and policy-driven controls, teams can enforce ISO 27001-aligned standards while focusing on what matters most: critical vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and risky third-party code.

Scale processes

Continuous monitoring doesn’t work if it’s siloed. Real-time scanning and alerts need to be built into the same workflows your teams already use. Snyk supports that and goes further by helping developers build security skills through hands-on, in-context training that reinforces best practices where they matter most.

Turning compliance into a strategic advantage 

Earning ISO 27001 certification takes work, but it pays off in trust, credibility, and a stronger foundation for long-term growth. Integrating security into your workflows isn’t optional as development accelerates and risk surfaces shift. It’s essential.

The Snyk AI Trust Platform is built to work where your teams already do. By embedding security into code, pipelines, and configs, Snyk helps you catch issues early, stay audit-ready, and keep moving fast with confidence.

Want more practical tips? Download the ISO 27002 compliance cheat sheet.