The information security standard for government agencies

The Government Information Security Baseline (BIO) is a set of guidelines and standards developed to ensure information security for government agencies in the Netherlands. The purpose of the BIO is to ensure that sensitive government information is protected from threats ranging from cyber attacks to internal incidents.

Compliance with BIO provides benefits, including:

• Risk management: By following BIO, government agencies can better identify and manage their risks.
• Trust: The public and other stakeholders have more confidence in government agencies that can demonstrate that they are protecting citizens' information.
• Collaboration: The BIO acts as a common framework for information security within government, facilitating interagency collaboration.

The structure of the BIO corresponds to the Annex of ISO 27001. However, there are added increased security requirements the higher the previously mentioned BNN risk level. Chapters 4 through 10 of the High Level Structure (HLS) of the ISO 27001 standard, which cover requirements for the Plan-Do-Check-Act process, are not part of the BIO.

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Want to know more? Then be sure to read our blog about the BIO!