HANGZHOU - China's online retail giant Alibaba has been granted a certificate for its sound information security management system by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the company said Thursday.

The ISO/IEC 27001 is the international standard that describes best practice for an information security management system. Achieving accredited certification to ISO/IEC 27001 demonstrates that a company is following information security best practice, and provides an independent, expert verification that information security is managed in line with international best practice and business objectives.

Alibaba's several business groups like B2B and B2C were granted the security certification.

Zheng Junfang, chief risk officer of Alibaba, said the certification would help the group expand in overseas markets thanks to its better practice in transactions and clients information protection.

In June 2017, China introduced the cybersecurity law to guarantee the safety of Internet products, services, operation, network data and information.

According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China's information security market will exceed 44 billion yuan (about $7 billion) by 2020.