SOC 2 Compliance
RiskCognition can streamline your SOC 2 compliance preparedness and then the audit, a voluntary but essential attestation for protecting customer data. Our AI platform plus the domain expert team helps your organization efficiently manage and demonstrate the internal controls necessary to meet this industry-standard framework, saving you time and resources.
The Purpose of a SOC 2 Audit
RiskCognition simplifies and accelerates your entire SOC 2 journey. Our automated compliance platform works hand-in-hand with a seamless audit experience, ensuring nothing slows you down.
The primary purpose of a SOC 2 audit is to provide assurance to clients, business partners, and other stakeholders that a service organization has effective controls in place to protect the security, availability, and confidentiality of their data. Unlike a SOC 1 audit, which focuses on internal controls over financial reporting, a SOC 2 audit is broader and centered on information and IT security.
.
The Trust Services Criteria
SOC 2 audits are based on five "Trust Services Criteria" (TSC). The Security criteria is mandatory for all SOC 2 audits, while the others are optional and chosen based on the services the organization provides.
.
Security: This is the most crucial principle and is required for all SOC 2 audits. It relates to the protection of system resources against unauthorized access, disclosure, or damage. Controls include firewalls, multi-factor authentication, and intrusion detection.
.
Availability: This principle addresses whether the system, products, or services are available for operation and use as committed or agreed upon. It involves security-related criteria that may affect system availability, such as network performance monitoring and disaster recovery plans.
.
Processing Integrity: This criterion focuses on whether a system achieves its purpose (i.e., delivers the right data at the right price at the right time). Data processing must be complete, valid, accurate, timely, and authorized.
.
Confidentiality: This principle ensures that data is considered confidential if its access and disclosure are restricted to a specific set of people or organizations. Examples include business plans, intellectual property, and sensitive financial information.
Privacy: This criterion addresses the system's collection, use, retention, disclosure, and disposal of personal identifiable information (PII) in conformity with the organization's privacy notice and the AICPA's Generally Accepted Privacy Principles (GAPP).
.
Ongoing validation to keep you SOC 2 ready
Types of SOC 2 Reports
RiskCognition's platform and expert guidance prepare you for both Type I and Type II SOC 2 audits, ensuring you not only establish controls but also prove their long-term effectiveness.
- Type I: We help you prepare for a Type I report by establishing and documenting your system and controls. Our platform provides the tools to demonstrate that your control design is suitable and ready for attestation.
- Type II: For a Type II report, our platform continuously monitors your controls and automates evidence collection over a sustained period. We help you provide the necessary documentation to prove your controls are operating effectively and consistently, giving you a comprehensive report that builds greater trust with your clients.
The SOC 2 Audit Process
Unified Security Management
RiskCognition streamlines your SOC 2 compliance from preparation to final audit, ensuring you efficiently navigate each step of the process.
- Preparation and Scoping: Our platform guides you through defining the scope of your audit and helps you select the relevant Trust Services Criteria, ensuring your preparation is targeted and efficient.
- Readiness Assessment: We automate your readiness assessment by identifying any control gaps and providing a clear remediation plan, so you can fix issues proactively before the formal audit.
- Hiring an Auditor: We work with a trusted network of independent CPA firms, making it easy to connect with the right auditor for your needs.
- Formal Audit: Our system automates evidence collection and provides a single, organized source of truth for your documentation. This dramatically reduces the manual work and time spent on fieldwork and auditor requests.
- Report Creation and Delivery: We help you build a comprehensive audit-ready package, so your auditor has everything they need to deliver a clean report, giving you the best possible chance of an unqualified opinion.
Compliance through proper governance
A SOC 2 audit is an independent evaluation of a company’s internal controls to ensure it securely manages and protects customer data, based on five key trust principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
SOC2 framework design
Case Studies
Case Study – SOC 2
soc2