EX0-105
Information Security Foundation based on ISO/IEC 27002
Information Security Foundation Based on ISO/IEC 27002 Exam Guide
The Information Security Foundation based on ISO/IEC 27002 is intended to test foundational understanding of information-security management and control guidance. The available official research confirms the relationship between ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002, but it does not provide a verified syllabus, blueprint, exam format, passing score, duration, language list, prerequisite, or current scheduling policy for this named qualification. This guide therefore helps you make the practical decision that matters first: whether to prepare from a confirmed provider syllabus or pause and verify the exam’s current details before booking.
What this qualification is designed to establish
Prepare to demonstrate that you can explain fundamental information-security management ideas, recognize the purpose of controls, and distinguish management-system requirements from implementation guidance. Do not treat the qualification as proof that you can certify an organization or perform an independent audit; the supplied sources do not establish either outcome for this exam.
The ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002 relationship
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 formally specifies an Information Security Management System, or ISMS. It covers implementing, maintaining, monitoring, and continually improving that system. ISO/IEC 27002:2022 supplies guidelines and best practices for information-security management and control implementation. The distinction is central: an organization is audited against ISO/IEC 27001, not certified against ISO/IEC 27002:2022. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
A useful exam-preparation habit is to ask whether a statement describes a management-system requirement or advice for implementing controls. Documentation, assigned responsibilities, access control, availability, auditing, corrective action, and preventive action sit within the broader information-security management context described for ISO/IEC 27001. ISO/IEC 27002 should be studied as implementation guidance rather than as a standalone certification standard. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
What the available evidence does not confirm
The approved research does not contain an official exam guide for the named Information Security Foundation qualification. It does not verify a domain list, measured-skill percentages, question count, question types, passing score, exam duration, delivery method, permitted materials, prerequisite, renewal rule, retirement notice, or price. Treat any page stating those details as provisional until the awarding organization or authorized booking channel confirms them. [https://govstore.pearsonvue.com/shop/exin]
The Pearson VUE EXIN storefront confirms that EXIN offers certifications in areas including Information Security Management, but the supplied storefront extract does not substantiate the specific examination requested here. That is not evidence that the exam is unavailable; it means the current facts needed for a confident booking decision are missing from the approved snapshot. [https://govstore.pearsonvue.com/shop/exin]
Who should prepare for it
This foundation-level subject is most useful for candidates who need a structured vocabulary for information-security management before taking on specialist, implementation, governance, audit, or technical-security work. It can also help people who interact with security controls without owning every control themselves, provided they verify the qualification’s intended audience against the current provider syllabus.
Good candidate profiles
Consider this exam if you work in service management, compliance, risk, internal control, IT operations, project delivery, supplier management, or a business role that handles sensitive information. The subject is also relevant when you need to understand why policies, responsibilities, evidence, access restrictions, monitoring, and corrective action matter together rather than as isolated security tasks.
Managers and non-specialists should focus on decision consequences: who owns a control, what risk it addresses, what evidence demonstrates operation, and how a weakness is corrected. Technical candidates should resist reducing the subject to tools or configuration. The official context describes legal, physical, and technical controls within information-risk management, so preparation should connect technology to governance and process. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
When another preparation route may be better
Do not select this qualification solely because an organization uses Azure or Microsoft 365. Microsoft’s compliance pages describe its own cloud certifications, audit reports, service scope, and responsibility models; those materials explain cloud assurance, not the syllabus for this named foundation exam. If your immediate objective is a cloud compliance assessment, study the applicable service documentation and organizational responsibilities as a separate task. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Likewise, a foundation exam should not be treated as a substitute for organization-specific risk assessment, control design, implementation work, or accredited certification. Microsoft states that an organization is responsible for engaging an assessor to evaluate its own controls, processes, and implementation for ISO/IEC 27001 compliance. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
Which knowledge areas deserve priority
Because no official blueprint is supplied, use a concept map rather than invented domain percentages. Prioritize the relationship between the ISMS and controls, the purpose of information-security governance, control ownership and evidence, risk-oriented decision-making, and continual improvement. Confirm the provider’s actual learning objectives before assigning study time or judging readiness.
ISMS purpose and boundaries
Be able to explain why information security is placed under explicit management control. Study the ISMS as a system that is implemented, monitored, maintained, and continually improved, not as a folder of policies or a one-time technical project. Practice explaining how leadership, responsibilities, documentation, monitoring, and corrective measures support the system as a whole. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Control guidance and implementation choices
Study controls as responses that must be understood in context. ISO/IEC 27002:2022 provides guidelines and best practices for implementing information-security controls; it is not itself the management standard against which certification is performed. For each control topic in your authorized syllabus, write down its intended protection, likely owner, operating evidence, and the consequence of weak implementation. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Responsibilities, assurance, and evidence
A strong foundation answer should distinguish a policy statement from proof that a process operates. Review how divisions of responsibility, auditing, documentation, corrective measures, and preventive measures contribute to assurance. In a cloud setting, also separate provider-responsible, customer-responsible, and shared responsibilities; Microsoft describes these distinctions in its Azure compliance mappings, while warning that a policy dashboard is only a partial view of overall compliance. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Information-security outcomes
Use confidentiality, integrity, and availability as practical lenses when studying, but verify that the current exam syllabus uses the same terms and depth. Connect each outcome to management decisions: access restrictions can protect confidentiality, controlled change can support integrity, and resilience and recovery planning can support availability. Avoid memorizing control titles without being able to explain the business problem they address.
How to build a reliable study plan
Start by obtaining the current official syllabus or candidate handbook from the certification owner or authorized training and examination channel. Then create a two-column plan: confirmed examinable objectives on one side and your study activities on the other. If no official objectives are available, study the standard relationship and management concepts provisionally, but do not schedule the exam until the missing exam facts are verified.
Step 1: verify the qualification before studying deeply
Record the exact qualification name, version reference, awarding organization, authorized booking route, and current candidate documentation. Ask the provider to confirm the exam’s delivery method, availability, language, duration, question structure, passing requirement, prerequisites, identification rules, rescheduling terms, and result process. None of those details is established in the supplied official research, so do not infer them from another EXIN or PeopleCert examination. [https://govstore.pearsonvue.com/shop/exin]
PeopleCert’s site provides routes for certification, accredited training organizations, and taking an exam, but the supplied material does not identify this named qualification or establish its rules. Use the site as a route to current provider information, not as permission to assume that policies for another PeopleCert program apply here. [https://www.peoplecert.org/ways-to-get-certified/accredited-training-organisations]
Step 2: establish a baseline
Before reading, write brief answers to five questions: What is an ISMS? What is a control? Why do organizations document responsibilities? How can an organization demonstrate that a control operates? What is the difference between ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002? Mark answers as known, partly known, or unknown. This exposes conceptual gaps more effectively than beginning with passive reading.
Step 3: study in dependency order
Use this sequence: information-security purpose and outcomes; ISMS concepts; risk and control rationale; responsibilities and documentation; implementation guidance; monitoring and audit evidence; corrective and continual-improvement activities. The order matters because control questions become easier when you first understand the management objective and the evidence expected from an operating process.
After each topic, produce a short decision note rather than a copied definition. For example: “If access responsibility is unclear, which management weakness follows, what evidence would reveal it, and what corrective action would be appropriate?” Keep the answer general unless the official syllabus supplies a specific control or scenario.
Step 4: retrieve knowledge actively
Close the source and reconstruct the concept from memory. Use comparison cards for ISO/IEC 27001 versus ISO/IEC 27002, policy versus procedure, control design versus control operation, and compliance evidence versus a compliance claim. Explain each distinction aloud or in writing, then check the source. This method reveals whether you understand relationships rather than merely recognizing familiar wording.
Step 5: test application without leaked material
Create original scenarios from ordinary workplace decisions: a supplier needs access, a process owner leaves, an audit identifies missing evidence, a cloud service has shared responsibilities, or a control exists on paper but is not monitored. For each scenario, identify the information-security objective, responsible parties, evidence, and improvement action. Do not use leaked questions or exam dumps; memorization of unauthorized material does not establish competence or guarantee a pass.
A practical four-phase roadmap
A staged roadmap works better than an undated reading list. Move from verification to understanding, then from understanding to application, and finally to readiness checks based on confirmed objectives. The phases below are a planning method, not an official exam schedule; adjust them to your available time and the provider’s current requirements.
Phase one: confirm scope and vocabulary
Collect the current candidate documentation, authorized syllabus, and approved learning resources. Build a glossary in your own words for ISMS, information-security control, implementation guidance, audit, responsibility, corrective action, preventive action, monitoring, and continual improvement. Flag every term whose meaning depends on a specific version or provider definition.
At the end of this phase, you should be able to state the central distinction accurately: ISO/IEC 27001 is the management standard and ISO/IEC 27002:2022 provides guidance and best practices for control implementation. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Phase two: connect controls to management decisions
For each confirmed syllabus topic, make a four-part note: objective, control or practice, owner, and evidence. Add a fifth field for corrective action when the control is ineffective. This prevents the common mistake of treating a control as a technical product. The official context includes documentation, divisions of responsibility, availability, access control, security, auditing, and corrective and preventive measures. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
Use a cloud example only to clarify responsibility, not to memorize Microsoft-specific scope. Azure compliance materials explain that regulatory mappings can show responsibility as customer, Microsoft, or shared, and that each ISO/IEC 27001 control may map to Azure Policy definitions. Those mappings can assist assessment but do not represent the whole organizational compliance position. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Phase three: practise explanation and discrimination
Work through your own scenario questions and include distractors that sound plausible. Ask whether the answer describes a requirement, guidance, an implementation choice, evidence, or an assurance conclusion. Then explain why the other options fail. This is particularly useful for foundation assessments, where close distinctions can matter more than advanced technical configuration.
A useful review prompt is: “Does this conclusion concern the existence of a control, its suitability, its operation, or independent certification?” Keep those judgments separate. Microsoft describes independent third-party audits of its own services, but that assurance does not automatically certify a customer’s organization or implementation. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Phase four: readiness and booking
Use the verified objective list as a checklist and complete a closed-book explanation of every objective. Revisit weak concepts using primary or authorized material, then confirm the booking channel and test-day rules immediately before scheduling. Pearson VUE identifies vouchers and exam resources as services for candidates and organizations, but the supplied page does not establish that this specific exam uses a particular Pearson delivery route or voucher price. [https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/it-exam-resources.html]
Book only when the qualification identity, current version, delivery arrangement, and candidate rules are clear. If the provider cannot confirm those details, continue with foundational study and request clarification rather than relying on a third-party listing or an old forum post.
How to study ISO/IEC 27002 without confusing it with certification
Read ISO/IEC 27002 as guidance for making controls meaningful in an operating environment, while using ISO/IEC 27001 to understand the management-system and certification context. Your notes should repeatedly answer two questions: what security-management outcome is intended, and how would an organization implement, monitor, and improve the relevant practice?
Use a control worksheet
Create one worksheet for every topic included in the confirmed syllabus. Include the control or practice name, the risk or objective it addresses, affected information or process, accountable owner, supporting roles, operating evidence, monitoring approach, and likely corrective action. Leave a source-reference field so you can distinguish a statement from ISO/IEC guidance, provider teaching material, or your own example.
Do not turn the worksheet into a catalogue of controls with no decision logic. Foundation preparation is stronger when you can explain why a practice is selected, how it fits the ISMS, and how evidence supports a conclusion. The official material describes ISO/IEC 27000-family standards as covering legal, physical, and technical controls within information-risk management. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
Separate assurance from implementation
A control mapping, policy document, or cloud compliance dashboard can support assessment, but none should be treated automatically as complete proof of organizational certification. Microsoft states that Azure Policy provides only a partial view of overall compliance status, and its pages separately identify certificates and audit reports. This distinction is a useful study model for separating an implementation aid from an assurance conclusion. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Study version changes carefully
The supplied evidence references both ISO/IEC 27001:2013 material and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 material, while the relationship to ISO/IEC 27002:2022 is stated explicitly in the Azure source. Do not mix editions casually. Verify the version named by the exam owner, use learning material aligned to that version, and annotate older explanations rather than assuming that terminology or structure is interchangeable. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Common preparation mistakes
Most avoidable errors come from studying an assumed exam rather than the confirmed one. Candidates often copy details from a different certification, memorize control names without understanding purpose, or mistake a provider’s cloud assurance for their employer’s certification. Correct these errors by maintaining a source-checked scope document and by practising explanations that link management intent to evidence.
Mistake: inventing a blueprint from general topics
The approved research provides no verified domain weights for this exam. Do not allocate study time using percentages borrowed from another qualification, and never compare bare percentages without official domain labels. Until the provider publishes a blueprint, prioritize foundational concepts evenly and increase time only where your baseline and practice explanations show weakness.
Mistake: treating ISO/IEC 27002 as certifiable
ISO/IEC 27002:2022 is not the management standard for certification. The official Azure explanation states that organizations cannot get certified against ISO/IEC 27002:2022 because it is not a management standard; ISO/IEC 27001:2022 is the audit vehicle and relies on ISO/IEC 27002:2022 guidance for control implementation. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Mistake: studying only technical controls
A technically strong candidate can still miss the management perspective by focusing exclusively on encryption, identity tools, or network configuration. The supplied ISO/IEC 27001 context includes documentation, assigned responsibilities, auditing, availability, access control, and corrective and preventive measures. Balance technical examples with ownership, process operation, evidence, monitoring, and improvement. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
Mistake: assuming cloud certification transfers to the customer
A service provider’s certification or audit report describes a defined scope. It does not by itself establish that a customer’s controls, processes, or implementation meet ISO/IEC 27001 requirements. Microsoft explicitly states that the customer is responsible for engaging an assessor to evaluate the customer’s own organization and implementation. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
Mistake: relying on unauthorized question material
Exam dumps and leaked questions are poor substitutes for understanding and may be inaccurate, outdated, or unauthorized. Use official objectives, authorized courseware, your own scenarios, and legitimate practice tests where the provider confirms they apply to this qualification. Pearson VUE identifies practice tests as preparation resources generally, but the supplied evidence does not validate a particular practice product for this exam. [https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/it-exam-resources.html]
What is confirmed about booking and delivery
The available sources do not verify the named exam’s current delivery method, test-center availability, online-proctoring rules, scheduling lead time, language options, identification requirements, rescheduling policy, exam fee, or result timing. Treat these as booking questions, not study assumptions, and obtain written or current provider confirmation before paying or arranging time away from work.
Where to seek authoritative confirmation
Begin with the certification owner’s current information and authorized training-organization routes. PeopleCert provides a directory route for accredited training organizations and a general certification site, while Pearson VUE provides general IT exam resources and an EXIN storefront. None of the supplied extracts confirms that every route, product, or policy applies to this specific qualification. [https://www.peoplecert.org/ways-to-get-certified/accredited-training-organisations] [https://www.peoplecert.org/] [https://govstore.pearsonvue.com/shop/exin]
Ask for the current candidate handbook or exam specification, not merely a course description. Confirm the exact title and standard version, then check that the booking record uses the same title. This simple identity check helps prevent purchasing a similarly named Information Security Management examination.
Questions to resolve before payment
Ask the provider to confirm: the current syllabus and version; prerequisite or training requirements; exam delivery options; available languages; question format and count; duration; passing requirement; permitted reference materials; identification and technical requirements; retake, cancellation, and rescheduling rules; score or result reporting; and certificate validity. The approved research does not answer these questions for this named exam, so they remain necessary next actions.
Keep a copy of the confirmation and compare it with the study materials you plan to use. If the syllabus changes, revise your study map before booking. Avoid relying on a course provider’s claim that a class covers the exam unless the provider identifies the matching official objectives.
How to use cloud examples without overlearning them
Cloud examples can make abstract control and responsibility ideas concrete, but they should remain examples unless the official syllabus names a particular platform. Microsoft’s pages describe Azure and Microsoft online-service audit scopes, policy mappings, certificates, and customer responsibilities. Use that material to practise scope and assurance reasoning, not to assume Microsoft-specific questions will appear. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
A responsibility scenario
Suppose a service provider publishes a control mapping and the customer uses the service for an information process. Ask which controls are provider-managed, which remain customer-managed, and which are shared. Then ask what evidence the customer still needs for its own ISMS. The scenario tests reasoning about responsibility without claiming that it reproduces an examination question.
A scope scenario
Suppose a certificate covers named services and environments. Ask whether the certificate’s scope matches the customer’s service, data, process, and organizational boundaries. Microsoft notes that audit reports and certificates relate to defined cloud services and provides access to audit documentation through its Service Trust Portal for Azure. Scope matching remains a customer assessment decision. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
A data-location scenario
For a Microsoft 365 example, ask how a customer would verify service availability and data-location information rather than assuming a universal location. The supplied Office 365 material states that most Office 365 services enable customers to specify the region where customer data is located and identifies Office 365 Commercial as a globally available commercial public cloud service. These are platform facts, not general exam requirements. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-ISO-27001]
How to judge readiness when no score is published
Without a verified passing score or official practice form, use capability evidence instead of a made-up threshold. You are closer to readiness when you can explain every confirmed objective without notes, distinguish ISO/IEC 27001 from ISO/IEC 27002 accurately, apply control reasoning to new scenarios, and identify what evidence supports or limits an assurance conclusion.
Run a closed-book review
Write a one-page explanation of the ISMS, the role of control guidance, responsibility, documentation, monitoring, audit evidence, corrective action, and continual improvement. Then compare it with the official objectives and mark omissions. Revisit only the weak areas, rather than rereading everything from the beginning.
For each missed concept, record the reason: unfamiliar term, confused standard, weak application, or careless reading. Different causes require different remedies. A glossary fixes terminology; a comparison table fixes standard confusion; original scenarios fix application; timed reading practice, if supported by the confirmed exam format, addresses pace.
Use practice questions diagnostically
Choose only legitimate practice material that clearly matches the current qualification and version. Review every answer, including correct guesses. The important question is not just why one option is right, but why the alternatives conflict with management purpose, responsibility, evidence, scope, or control guidance. If no authorized practice material exists, use self-written scenarios and peer questioning instead.
Set a booking decision rule
Book when your scope document is complete, your study resources match the confirmed version, your logistics are verified, and your closed-book explanations show consistent understanding. Delay when the title, syllabus, delivery rules, or examination authority remains unclear. Delaying a purchase to resolve an identity problem is a preparation decision, not a lack of commitment.
Your next actions
The immediate priority is verification, followed by structured study. Save the official pages, request the current exam specification, and build your notes around the standard distinction that is confirmed by the research. Then practise applying management and control concepts to unfamiliar situations while keeping provider-specific assumptions out of your answers.
A short action checklist
1. Confirm the exact Information Security Foundation qualification and its current standard version with the authorized provider. 2. Obtain the official syllabus or candidate handbook. 3. Record every confirmed exam requirement and leave unknown fields visibly marked. 4. Build a glossary and control worksheet. 5. Study ISMS purpose before individual control guidance. 6. Practise responsibility, evidence, scope, and continual-improvement scenarios. 7. Use only legitimate, version-matched practice material. 8. Verify booking and test-day rules immediately before scheduling.
Keep the official Microsoft material in its proper role: it is useful evidence for understanding ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27002:2022 guidance, cloud scope, responsibility, and assurance, but it is not a substitute for the named exam’s missing candidate documentation. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-iso-27001]
Conclusion
The safest preparation strategy is to separate what is confirmed from what still needs provider verification. The research supports a clear foundation: ISO/IEC 27001:2022 specifies the ISMS and ISO/IEC 27002:2022 provides control-implementation guidance; certification and assurance depend on scope, responsibility, evidence, and independent assessment. Build your study plan around those relationships, but do not invent exam mechanics or blueprint weights. Confirm the current qualification details, align your resources to its official objectives, and schedule only when both your knowledge and the booking facts are reliable.