Overview
ISO/IEC TS 5723:2022 - Trustworthiness - Vocabulary provides a concise, standardized vocabulary for describing the trustworthiness of systems and their associated services. The technical specification defines trustworthiness as the ability to meet stakeholders’ expectations in a verifiable way and presents a selected set of trustworthiness characteristics and supporting definitions that apply across IT and other domains where IT is used (IoT, AI, OT/IT convergence, etc.).
Key topics
- Core definition: Trustworthiness = ability to meet stakeholders’ expectations in a verifiable way (emphasizes measurability and objective evidence).
- Selected characteristics (defined and contextualized for systems, data or governance):
- Accountability, accuracy, authenticity, availability
- Controllability, integrity (data and systems), privacy
- Quality (data and system perspectives), reliability (system and cybersecurity perspectives)
- Resilience, robustness, safety, security
- Transparency, usability
- Supporting definitions important for assessment and specification: stakeholder, measurability, metric, objective evidence, capability, system, system of systems, verifiable.
- Scope and intent: Horizontal IT focus - intended for use across domains to enable a common understanding of trustworthiness vocabulary.
- Standards alignment: Terms are drawn from ISO and IEC terminology repositories and related standards (e.g., ISO/IEC 27000 series, ISO/IEC 22989, ISO 9000, ISO 9241-11).
Practical applications
ISO/IEC TS 5723:2022 is a reference vocabulary to:
- Create clear, consistent requirements and acceptance criteria in procurement, contracts, and specifications for products, services and systems.
- Support system architects, product managers, and designers in specifying trustworthiness-related attributes (e.g., privacy, security, resilience).
- Guide risk managers, auditors and compliance teams when assessing whether systems meet stakeholder expectations using verifiable evidence and metrics.
- Help regulators and policymakers align terminology when drafting guidance or sectoral rules for trustworthy AI, IoT, or critical infrastructure.
- Serve as a foundation for test plans, measurement frameworks and trustworthiness assessment methodologies (by clarifying terms like measurability, metric and objective evidence).
Who should use it
- IT governance and compliance officers
- System and solution architects, software and AI developers
- Security, privacy and safety professionals
- Procurement and contract managers
- Standards writers and policy designers
- Auditors and certification bodies
Related standards
Relevant companion documents cited in the specification include ISO/IEC 27000 (information security vocabulary), ISO/IEC 22989 (AI terminology), ISO 9000 (quality management vocabulary), and ISO 9241-11 (usability). Use ISO/IEC TS 5723:2022 as the common vocabulary when integrating these domain-specific controls and requirements.
Keywords: ISO/IEC TS 5723:2022, trustworthiness, vocabulary, trustworthiness characteristics, verifiable, measurability, accountability, security, privacy, resilience, systems.