Based on scenario 4, what type of assets were identified during risk assessment?

Scenario 4: TradeB. a commercial bank that has just entered the market, accepts deposits from its clients and offers basic financial services and loans for investments. TradeB has decided to implement an information security management system (ISMS) based on ISO/IEC 27001 Having no experience of a management [^system implementation, TradeB’s top management contracted two experts to direct and manage the ISMS implementation project.

First, the project team analyzed the 93 controls of ISO/IEC 27001 Annex A and listed only the security controls deemed applicable to the company and their objectives Based on this analysis, they drafted the Statement of Applicability. Afterward, they conducted a risk assessment, during which they identified assets, such as hardware, software, and networks, as well as threats and vulnerabilities, assessed potential consequences and likelihood, and determined the level of risks based on three nonnumerical categories (low, medium, and high). They evaluated the risks based on the risk evaluation criteria and decided to treat only the high risk category They also decided to focus primarily on the unauthorized use of administrator rights and system interruptions due to several hardware failures by establishing a new version of the access control policy, implementing controls to manage and control user access, and implementing a control for ICT readiness for business continuity

Lastly, they drafted a risk assessment report, in which they wrote that if after the implementation of these security controls the level of risk is below the acceptable level, the risks will be accepted

Based on scenario 4, what type of assets were identified during risk assessment?
A . Supporting assets
B . Primary assets
C . Business assets

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

According to ISO/IEC 27005:2021, there are three types of assets in information security risk management: primary assets, supporting assets, and business assets. Primary assets are the information and business processes that support the organization’s objectives and operations. Supporting assets are the resources that enable the primary assets to function, such as hardware, software, networks, people, facilities, etc. Business assets are the outcomes or benefits that the organization expects from the primary assets, such as reputation, market share, customer satisfaction, etc. (Must be taken from ISO/IEC 27001 : 2022 Lead Implementer resources)

In scenario 4, the assets that were identified during risk assessment are hardware, software, and networks, which are examples of supporting assets. These assets are necessary for the information and business processes of TradeB to operate, but they are not the main focus of the risk assessment. The risk assessment should also consider the primary assets and the business assets, as well as the threats and vulnerabilities that affect them, and the potential impacts and likelihood of information security incidents.

Reference: ISO/IEC 27001 : 2022 Lead Implementer Study guide and documents, specifically:

ISO/IEC 27001:2022, clause 6.1.2 Information security risk assessment

ISO/IEC 27005:2021, clause 5.2 Asset identification and valuation

PECB ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Implementer Course, Module 6: Risk Management