A Guide to SOC 2 Compliance

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With cyber attacks on the rise, trust in your organization's security is becoming something you have to prove. Installing this type of trust publically comes in the form of SOC 2 compliance.

SOC 2 compliance is the most popular way to establish trust among your future customers and current partners. In fact the demand for SOC 2 compliance engagements has increased 49% between 2018 and 2020 according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

SOC stands for “System & Organization Controls.” SOC 2 is a specific compliance certification that requires an audit focused on the examination of security controls and procedures relevant to how a service organization stores sensitive customer information in the cloud. This applies to most growing SaaS and service companies who store their customer data in the cloud.

A successful SOC 2 audit provides assurance that your company is unlikely to experience a data breach and if it does that you have appropriate countermeasures in place. Future customers and potential partners may only work with or acquire companies that have undergone a SOC 2 audit even though it's not required by law.

So how does your business get started on their SOC 2 compliance journey? This guide will help navigate you through the basics.

How Do I Become SOC 2 Compliant?

In order to become SOC 2 certified and continuously compliant you need to undergo a SOC 2 audit and then you are issued a SOC 2 report. A successful audit will generate your report which is evidence that an independent auditor is convinced you comply with SOC 2’s Trust Services Criteria and compliance standards.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is responsible for developing and performing SOC 2 audits. Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) have the credentials needed to conduct audits and attest to the results and that’s why SOC 2 attestations are completed by certified accounting firms rather than a typical IT professional.

According to the AICPA, SOC 2 compliance looks at the suitability of the design and operating effectiveness of controls and plays an important role in the following organizational security areas:

In order to obtain a SOC 2 report that you can show off an audit must be completed. A SOC 2 Type 2 audit is conducted over an extended period of time. A SOC 2 Type 2 audit process can take anywhere from 3-12 months depending on your organization's specific needs. From then on, an audit is done every 12 months to maintain your SOC 2 compliance. The important part is that your security is being monitored and evaluated over a period of time rather than only at one point in time.

However, there is SOC 2 Type 1 compliance and it is only completed at a specific point in time making it faster to complete and a good place to start your compliance journey.

Completing a SOC 2 audit is no walk in the park which is why our simplified compliance platform makes things easier for your team to achieve and maintain compliance in the cloud.

What are SOC 2 Compliance Requirements?

SOC 2 has five principles called Trust Services Criteria Categories as defined by the AICPA. However, not all of the SOC Trust Services Categories are required for all companies and their particular services.

The categories are chosen by management and their organization's needs (see AICPA’s short answer on how to choose). However there is a minimum requirement that it must include the Security Category. In this case the Security Category ensures information and systems are protected against unauthorized access, unauthorized disclosure of information, and damage to systems that could compromise the availability, integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of information or systems and affect the entity’s ability to achieve its objectives.

And depending on the criteria you pick, the cost of the audit will vary as well. The overall cost of a SOC 2 audit depends on many variables such as the size of your organization, your service offerings, how prepared you are, and your selected Trust Services Criteria.

The cost of a typical SOC 2 audit can vary in the range $15,000 - $80,000. The higher cost end being a larger organization having done little preparation and the lower end being a smaller organization who addressed some of their audit readiness in advance.

There are steps you can take before working with an auditor. One of the steps you can take is to write out your security procedures that your company follows which will help accelerate the audit. Another step to take before the audit is to understand which trust principles to include that will interest your clients and correspond with your company's needs.

How can I simplify and accelerate my SOC 2 compliance?

It all sounds expensive and time consuming until you use TotalCloudAI to accelerate your audit, achieve compliance, reduce cloud spend, and continuously monitor for security and compliance violations in your cloud.

TotalCloudAI integrates seamlessly with your cloud provider and has read-only integrations for simplicity and security. TotalCloudAI automates the complex and tedious work of gathering security evidence needed for your auditor and provides real-time, scheduled, and continuous scanning & observability to ensure your cloud infrastructure maintains proper security posture and compliance. Simply view violation and summary reports in your dashboard for simple and fast remediation from our knowledge base by your team or by one of our Cloud Architects. Easily add your Auditor to your account to fast-track and maintain your SOC 2, HIPAA, or ISO27001 Compliance Certifications. Start navigating your cloud like a pro with TotalCloudAI to monitor and control everything from compliance to monthly cloud spend.

Considering how long the process can take for a SOC 2 audit to be completed, it's a good idea to get started before your company gets that big enterprise customer or that acquisition offer. Start thinking about SOC 2 today and where it might fit in your company's roadmap before it’s required.

Before you get started with SOC 2 try using TotalCloudAI’s Cloud Cost Optimization Module to potentially save money on your cloud spend (and put those savings towards your audit expenses). Usage patterns are monitored and a cost breakdown is provided using various dimensions like services, type of operation, and regions to potentially reduce Cloud and Opex costs by up to 40%. Get intelligent insights into your cloud spend and ensure that you're using cloud resources efficiently while maintaining compliance and scalability.

Our team of cloud experts are here to help you navigate and automate your continuous compliance journey so you can spend more time moving your business forward. Reach out to one of our cloud experts or feel free to schedule a quick demo here to learn more about the TotalCloudAI platform and a free trial.