What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on A.7.1 Physical security perimeters?

Statement of Applicability entry for control A.7.1, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats; Site plans showing defined security perimeters and their strength relative to the assets inside; Physical security surveys or assessments of walls, roofs, floors, doors, windows and vents; Records of external door protection such as locks, bars and alarms; Alarm, monitoring and test records for perimeter fire doors, including fail-safe operation.

What is the most common gap auditors find on A.7.1?

False ceilings or raised floors let people bypass walls around secure rooms

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 · Physical controls

`A.7.1` Physical security perimeters

The organization is to define security perimeters and use them around areas holding information and other associated assets. Purpose (stated in ISO/IEC 27002:2022): keeps unauthorized people out and protects information and assets from physical harm or tampering. 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 7.1.

Source: ISO/IEC 27001:2022, A.7.1. 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.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Physical access / facilities

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

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

Alarm, monitoring and test records for perimeter fire doors, including fail-safe operation · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Physical security surveys or assessments of walls, roofs, floors, doors, windows and vents · Physical access / facilities
Records of external door protection such as locks, bars and alarms · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Statement of Applicability entry for control A.7.1, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Site plans showing defined security perimeters and their strength relative to the assets inside · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Physical access / facilities on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

False ceilings or raised floors let people bypass walls around secure rooms
Fire doors on the perimeter are propped open or not alarmed
Ground-floor windows and ventilation ducts are unprotected
Perimeters are not reassessed after building alterations

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.

Build my evidence sheet

A.6.8 Information security event reporting · A.7.2 Physical entry