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What is SOC 2 Compliance?
Can you share evidence to show that all your employees undergo background verification? Can you show proof of ensuring that the changes in your code repositories are peer-reviewed before it is merged? These are some of the questions that auditors ask when you go through a SOC 2 audit. In this Guide to SOC 2 Compliance, we have spelled out the brass tacks and outlined the specific nuances that will help in your compliance journey.
What is SOC 2?
SOC 2 is a compliance framework established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to help service organizations protect sensitive customer information and demonstrate effective internal controls. The framework is based on five Trust Service Criteria: Security, Availability, Processing integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy with security being the mandatory and common criteria.
What is a SOC 2 Report?
A SOC 2 compliance report examines your organization’s control over one or more of the TSC. The TSC is the control criteria used to analyze the design and operating effectiveness of the controls you have set (for each of the five criteria) for your organization’s information and systems.
An external auditor attests to the SOC reports. It is the most trusted way to showcase how well you provide your customers and prospects a secure, available, confidential, and private solution.
Why Being SOC 2 compliant is important?
Being SOC 2 compliant demonstrates your commitment to protecting customer information and minimizing data breaches. It shows that your organization has implemented rigorous internal controls to secure your systems and meet regulatory requirements. Additionally, SOC 2 compliance is often a key requirement under service contracts and, therefore, helps shorten the sales cycle.
Know more about SOC 2 Report
7 Steps to prepare for SOC 2 compliance with Sprinto
The next important step is understanding the many SOC 2 compliance requirements and interpreting their fit into your specific environment.
1
Understand the SOC 2 Trust Service Criteria
Formerly known as the Trust Principles, there are five Trust Services Criteria that businesses are evaluated on during a SOC 2 audit. Think of each criterion as a focus area for your infosec compliance program; each defined controls.
2
Check which Trust Service Criteria applies to you
To begin with, evaluate your operating environment and scope out all the TSC before selecting which ones best fit your business model and the customer asks (based on the type of data you store or transmit). In our experience, most businesses only need Security, Availability, and Confidentiality (or their combination) as TSC in their SOC 2 journey.
3
Conduct an internal risk assessment
Risk mitigation and SOC 2 risk assessment are crucial in your SOC 2 compliance journey. You need to identify any risks associated with growth, location, or infosec best practices and document the scope of risks from identified threats and vulnerabilities. The exercise is subjective, and you must assess risks for your business, such as from vendors and business partners or leadership changes.
4
Conduct gap analysis & remediation
It is crucial to do a gap analysis at this stage. Doing this will help you understand which procedures, policies, and controls your business already has in place and operationalized and how they measure against the SOC 2 requirements.
5
Implement tailored internal controls for your SOC 2 TSC
Each of the five TSCs in SOC 2 comes with a set of individual criteria (totaling 61). You will need to deploy internal controls for each criteria (under your selected TSC) through policies that establish what is expected and procedures that put your policies into action.
6
Stay vigilant with continuous monitoring
Continuous monitoring is the most critical step in your compliance journey, which will always keep you SOC 2 ready. It’s akin to a constant loop that requires you to test your controls, remediate the gaps, try again, and continuously collect evidence of compliance.
7
Audit SOC 2
At this stage, you must authorize an independent certified auditor to complete your SOC 2 audit and generate a report. While SOC 2 compliance costs can be a significant factor, choose an auditor with established credentials and experience auditing businesses like yours. With Sprinto, evidence collection, and cataloging are automated. You also get access to Sprinto’s network of independent third-party auditors.
Conduct gap analysis & remediation
It is crucial to do a gap analysis at this stage. Doing this will help you understand which procedures, policies, and controls your business already has in place and operationalized and how they measure against the SOC 2 requirements.
Sprinto named Category Leader by G2
Types of reports under SOC 2 compliance
A SOC 2 compliance report comes in Type 1 and Type 2. You can decide which one you want depending on what your customers require of you (in terms of Trust Services Criteria) and the timelines you are ready to work with.
SOC 2 Type 1 Report
SOC 2 Type 2 Report
Purpose
SOC 2 Type 1 report affirms that controls are in place at that point in time.
SOC 2 Type 2 confirms that the controls in place are actually work
ng too over a period of time; the one we think you will need eventually.
Cost
$7,500 to $15,000
$10,000k to $25,000
Sprinto connects with 100+ cloud applications and services
Why is Sprinto better than others?
Sprinto was founded as a solution to the problems its founders faced when they needed to get a SOC 2 certification. Sprinto ensures you don’t put your business growth on the back burner while working on getting security certifications to earn your customers’ trust. When done well, SOC compliance can serve as a growth enabler and help swing those lucrative enterprise deals in your favor!
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