What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on A.7.9 Security of assets off-premises?

Statement of Applicability entry for control A.7.9, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats; Management authorization records for use of organization-owned and BYOD devices off-site; Removal authorization and audit trail for equipment and media leaving the premises; Chain-of-custody logs for off-site equipment passed between people or organizations, with records of data deleted before transfer; Device management configuration showing location tracking and remote wipe capability.

What is the most common gap auditors find on A.7.9?

BYOD devices are used for work without management authorization or any control

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 · Physical controls

`A.7.9` Security of assets off-premises

Assets taken or located off-site are to be protected. Purpose (stated in ISO/IEC 27002:2022): keeps devices used away from the premises from being lost, stolen, damaged or compromised. 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 7.9.

Source: ISO/IEC 27001:2022, A.7.9. 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

easy

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

Removal authorization and audit trail for equipment and media leaving the premises · Physical access / facilities
Chain-of-custody logs for off-site equipment passed between people or organizations, with records of data deleted before transfer · Physical access / facilities
Device management configuration showing location tracking and remote wipe capability · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Management authorization records for use of organization-owned and BYOD devices off-site · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Statement of Applicability entry for control A.7.9, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Physical access / facilities. Badge system access logs and visitor register exports; facilities maintenance tickets.

Common gaps auditors find

BYOD devices are used for work without management authorization or any control
No record exists of which equipment is off-site or with whom
Remote wipe is not enabled, so a lost laptop cannot be neutralized
Unattended off-site equipment such as kiosks lacks tamper detection

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.7.8 Equipment siting and protection · A.7.10 Storage media