What is SOC 2?
SOC 2 (Service Organization Control 2) is an auditing procedure developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) that evaluates how well a service organization manages customer data. It's based on five Trust Services Criteria and has become the de facto compliance standard for SaaS companies.
Trust Services Criteria
Security (Required) Protection against unauthorized access.
- Access controls
- Firewalls and encryption
- Intrusion detection
- Incident response
Availability System accessibility as committed.
- Uptime monitoring
- Disaster recovery
- Capacity planning
- Incident management
Processing Integrity Complete, accurate, timely processing.
- Quality assurance
- Error handling
- Processing monitoring
Confidentiality Protection of confidential information.
- Data classification
- Encryption
- Access restrictions
- Secure disposal
Privacy Personal information handling.
- Notice and consent
- Collection limitation
- Use and retention
- Disclosure and access
SOC 2 Type 1 vs Type 2
| Type 1 | Type 2 |
|---|---|
| Point-in-time | Period of time (6-12 months) |
| Control design | Control design + operating effectiveness |
| Faster to obtain | More rigorous |
| Snapshot | Continuous evidence |
The Audit Process
- Readiness assessment
- Gap remediation
- Control implementation
- Evidence collection
- Auditor examination
- Report issuance