Acceptable use of information and other associated assets

What the control asks

Rules on how information and other associated assets may acceptably be used, together with procedures for handling them, are to be identified, written down and put into practice. Purpose: see that information and associated assets are used, handled and protected properly. Guidance: staff and external users with access should be told what security the organization expects when they use or handle its information and assets and are answerable for their own use of processing facilities. A topic-specific acceptable use policy, communicated to everyone who uses or handles the assets, should set out the behaviour expected and not tolerated, what uses are allowed and forbidden, and what monitoring the organization carries out. Handling procedures cover the whole information life cycle according to classification (5.12) and assessed risk, considering: access restrictions for each classification level; a record of authorized users; protection of temporary and permanent copies equal to the original; storing assets as their manufacturers specify (7.8); marking each copy of electronic or paper media clearly for whoever is authorized to receive it (7.10); and authorization of disposal together with the approved deletion methods (8.10). Other information: where assets belong to someone else, such as public cloud services, their use and the organization's related assets should be identified and controlled, for instance through agreements with the provider, and collaborative working environments need care.

Purpose in the standard’s terms, in our words: Ensures information and associated assets are protected, used and handled appropriately.

Attribute values in one line: Preventive; Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability; Protect; Asset management, Information protection; Governance and ecosystem, Protection.

The five attribute values

These are the published values for this control, from ISO/IEC 27002:2022 clause 4.2 and Annex A Table A.1. Where your own value differs, record the difference and the reason in the same row rather than replacing the published value.

Evidence an auditor asks for

The attribute is a claim about how the control behaves. The evidence is what proves it operates. Keep both, and keep them together.

• The acceptable use topic-specific policy stating expected and prohibited behaviour, permitted and forbidden uses, and the monitoring the organization performs
• Evidence the policy was communicated to and accepted by personnel and external users
• Handling procedures per classification level covering access, copies, storage, media marking and disposal
• Records of authorized users for sensitive information and assets
• Disposal authorizations with the deletion method used
• Agreements governing use of third-party assets such as public cloud services and collaboration platforms

Where audits commonly find gaps

• The policy omits any statement of what monitoring takes place, undermining enforceability
• Handling rules do not differ by classification, so sensitive copies get no extra protection
• External users are never shown the acceptable use rules
• Use of cloud collaboration tools falls outside the policy entirely

What ISO/IEC 27028 changes for this control

It carries a single control type, preventive, which sets what the evidence has to prove. It contributes no detect function, so a control set built from this row alone would not show detection. It crosses 2 operational capabilities, so two teams share the work and the owner column matters. Its earlier numbering (08.1.3, 08.2.3) is kept in the register so an older audit file can still be traced. It serves more than one security domain, which is why a domain count taken by row understates the view.

The guidance expands how the five values are used; it does not change the control or add a requirement. A register that carries the values and the evidence can answer the attribute question for this control without a new document. A register that does not can add the columns at the next SoA version, with an owner and a review date.

Controls that share its values

• 5.14 Information transfer
• 5.37 Documented operating procedures
• 5.11 Return of assets

Read the five attributes All 93 controls