ISO 27001 Penetration Testing

Requirement: Information about technical vulnerabilities of information systems in use must be obtained, the organisation's exposure to such vulnerabilities evaluated, and appropriate measures taken.

How Matproof covers it: Matproof continuously discovers vulnerabilities across web, API, code, and cloud layers. Every finding includes CVSS 3.1 scoring, exploitability, and an evaluated business impact — the 'evaluate exposure' evidence your auditor wants.

Requirement: Secure development rules must be established and applied to software and system development within the organisation.

How Matproof covers it: Matproof integrates into your CI/CD pipeline (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps). Pentests run as part of the build process — every merge is a checkpoint, documented for your auditor.

Requirement: Secure coding principles must be applied to software development activities.

How Matproof covers it: Static and semantic analysis identifies insecure coding patterns — injection flaws, broken cryptography, secrets in code, insecure deserialisation — with remediation PRs generated automatically.

Requirement: Security testing processes must be defined and implemented in the development life cycle.

How Matproof covers it: Matproof is the security testing process: DAST, SAST, API, and infrastructure testing on every pull request, pre-production, and production change — with deduplication so the same finding is not re-reported across runs.

Requirement: Processes for acquisition, use, management and exit from cloud services must include security requirements.

How Matproof covers it: Matproof enumerates AWS, Azure, and GCP resources and tests them against CIS benchmarks and organisational cloud-security baselines. Misconfigurations become ISO 27001 nonconformities you can close before the audit.

Is penetration testing required for ISO 27001 certification?

ISO 27001 does not explicitly mandate penetration testing, but Annex A.8.8 (Management of technical vulnerabilities) and A.8.29 (Security testing in development and acceptance) make it the de facto control. Almost every certified organisation runs penetration testing as evidence for these controls, and auditors routinely request recent test reports at Stage 2.

How does ISO 27001:2022 differ from the 2013 version?

ISO 27001:2022 consolidates the 114 controls from 2013 into 93 controls across 4 themes (organisational, people, physical, technological). Technical vulnerability testing requirements are more explicit, and new controls cover cloud security (A.5.23), threat intelligence (A.5.7), and configuration management (A.8.9). Matproof covers all new technological controls.

How often does ISO 27001 require pentesting?

Annually at minimum, but 'after significant changes' is the operative requirement. Organisations shipping code frequently should test continuously. Matproof's continuous model satisfies both requirements without buying 12 separate annual engagements.

Will my ISO 27001 auditor accept an AI-generated pentest report?

Yes — the format matters more than the execution method. Matproof reports include CVSS scoring, reproduction steps, proof-of-exploit, and remediation evidence — the exact artefacts ISO 27001 auditors look for. We have customers certified with TÜV, DEKRA, BSI, and LRQA using Matproof reports as their primary pentest evidence.

Does Matproof cover ISO 27017 (cloud) and ISO 27018 (PII) too?

Yes. Cloud configuration testing covers ISO 27017, and data-handling pentests for applications processing PII address ISO 27018 controls. Cross-framework mapping is automatic in the Matproof compliance dashboard.