ISO 27001A.5 — Identity management
A.5.16
Identity management
ISO 27001 · ISO/IEC 27001:2022 · Last verified July 2026
Objective
Manage the full lifecycle of identities — provisioning, modification, and removal — consistent with access control policy.
Points of focus
- Define scope and requirements for identity management
- Assign ownership and operating cadence
- Integrate with risk treatment and SoA status
- Retain dated records proving operation
Implementation notes
Automate joiner-mover-leaver from HRIS into the IdP. Time-box contractor accounts. Deprovision within agreed SLAs when employment ends. Tie the SoA implementation summary to the systems of record engineers already use, and keep dated samples ready for Stage 2 sampling.
Audit tip: Present the SoA line for A.5.16, the current procedure, and one recent dated operating sample with a named owner.
Evidence auditors typically request:
- Approved information security policy set with version and owner
- Statement of Applicability entry with applicability rationale
- Management review minutes referencing the control theme
- Ticket or register samples showing the process operated
Common gaps
- SoA marks identity management applicable without dated operating samples
- Procedure exists but interviews describe a different tribal process
- Owner unclear or last review older than the stated cadence
Cross-Framework Mapping
| Framework | Requirement | Implementation note |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 27001 | A.5.16 | This control |
| SOC 2 | CC6.1, CC6.2 | Related Trust Services Criteria themes — map in your crosswalk; not identical requirements. |
| GDPR | Article 32 | Related GDPR articles for personal-data security or processor themes — not a compliance claim. |
Primary sources
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A: ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A (A.5.16)
Frequently Asked Questions
Applicability depends on risk and scope. Many cloud-native SoAs still include organizational and technological controls; physical themes may be partially inherited from providers with documented shared responsibility.
Applicability decision, brief implementation summary, and justification if excluded. Vague 'N/A — cloud' without rationale is a common Stage 1 finding.
Name the owner, the system of record, and the cadence. Auditors sample reality — tickets, configs, and interviews — not synonym-rewritten ISO text.