A.5.16 Identity management
Identities are to be managed throughout their whole life cycle. Purpose (stated in ISO/IEC 27002:2022): enables unique identification of people and systems accessing organizational assets and appropriate assignment of access rights. As an Annex A reference control, it is compared with the controls determined in risk treatment (6.1.3 c) and recorded in the Statement of Applicability as included or excluded, with the justification and implementation status (6.1.3 d); implementation guidance is ISO/IEC 27002:2022 5.16.
Source: ISO/IEC 27001:2022, A.5.16. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open ISO/IEC 27001:2022 in the compliance library.
Clauses 4 to 10 are the management-system requirements: none of them can be excluded when an organisation claims conformity. The 93 Annex A controls are a reference set: one may be excluded with a justification in the Statement of Applicability. Certification bodies assess conformity; the evidence lists here are what auditors commonly ask for, not a list the standard prescribes.
These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.
system holds itEvidence a system already holds
- A register of non-human identities (service accounts, machine identities) with segregated approval and an independent oversight record · Identity provider / directory
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Evidence that identities are verified against trusted documents before issue · Document repository
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Statement of Applicability entry for control A.5.16, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Identity management procedure covering creation, verification, activation, change, disablement and removal · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- A register of shared identities with the business justification and approval for each · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Generic shared accounts exist without documented justification or approval
- Service accounts have no owner and no periodic oversight
- Identities of leavers remain enabled for weeks because HR notifications are not integrated
- The same person holds several identities in one directory, undermining accountability
Do this for your whole sheet
Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.
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