What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on A.7.7 Clear desk and clear screen?

Statement of Applicability entry for control A.7.7, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats; The topic-specific clear desk and clear screen policy and its communication; Configuration evidence of screen lock and automatic logout timeouts on endpoints and systems; Secure print or follow-me printing configuration requiring authentication at the device; Clear desk walk-round or spot-check records with findings and follow-up.

What is the most common gap auditors find on A.7.7?

Screen lock timeouts are long or can be disabled by users

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 · Physical controls

`A.7.7` Clear desk and clear screen

Rules requiring clear desks for papers and removable media and clear screens for processing facilities are to be defined and suitably enforced. Purpose (stated in ISO/IEC 27002:2022): reduces the risk of unauthorized access, loss or damage to information left on desks, screens and other accessible places. 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 7.7.

Source: ISO/IEC 27001:2022, A.7.7. 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

moderate

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

Configuration evidence of screen lock and automatic logout timeouts on endpoints and systems · Physical access / facilities
Secure print or follow-me printing configuration requiring authentication at the device · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Clear desk walk-round or spot-check records with findings and follow-up · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Statement of Applicability entry for control A.7.7, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats · Policy repository / GRC workspace
The topic-specific clear desk and clear screen policy and its communication · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 2 of 5 artefacts that already live in a system (Physical access / facilities); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Screen lock timeouts are long or can be disabled by users
Sensitive printouts accumulate uncollected at shared printers
Whiteboards in meeting rooms retain confidential content
Notification pop-ups reveal confidential messages during screen sharing

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.7.6 Working in secure areas · A.7.8 Equipment siting and protection