Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present the first diffusion analysis of ISO/IEC 27001, the fourth most popular ISO certification at global level and the most important standard for information security. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the purposes, the authors applied Grey Models (GM) – Even GM (1,1), Even GM (1,1,α,θ), Discrete GM (1,1), Discrete GM (1,1,α) – complemented by the relative growth rate and the doubling time indexes on the six most important countries in terms of issued certificates. Findings: Results show that a growing trend is likely to be expected in the years to come and that China will lead at country level. Originality/value: The study contributes to the scientific debate by presenting the first diffusive analysis of ISO/IEC 27001 and by proposing a forecasting approach that to date has found little application in the field of international standards.
