For organizations new to the SOC process or organizations interested in reviewing high risk areas that may have emerged since their last audit, Compass IT Compliance offers the SOC Readiness Assessment. This solution assists organizations in identifying the necessary internal controls, documentation, and gaps within their business, information technology, and security programs. SOC audits can be a daunting and intimidating task for organizations of any size. Our team of certified professionals has extensive experience in helping organizations navigate the complex requirements needed to complete a SOC audit successfully. Compass IT Compliance helps organizations across all industries examine and improve their data privacy and compliance controls to meet evolving customer, partner, industry, and regulatory requirements.
Services are performed by skilled professionals who have extensive experience in risk and control-oriented audits and information security to validate, prior to an actual service audit, the different criteria for the 5 Trust Services Criteria (TSC) defined in conjunction with an independent CPA firm. Our SOC Readiness Assessment is a multi-step process outlined below:
System & Organizational Controls (SOC) reports are internal control reports that outline the services that are being provided by a service organization and the controls related to the service that is being offered. This provides valuable information to potential customers and allows the service organization to build trust and confidence around their service offerings. A Service Auditor's Report can help a service organization to:
SOC reports are intended to build consumer trust, and are required or beneficial for organizations such as: Data Centers, Loan Servicing, Payroll, Medical Claims, SaaS, Software Developers, etc. Not all SOC reports are alike. These documents come in the following variations:
A SOC 1 report examines internal controls at a service organization that impact a user entity’s (your customers) controls over financial reporting. This report is only to be issued when an auditor of your customer needs to gain comfort with your controls to be able to issue audited financial statements. This report can only be used by the auditors of user entities and user entities’ management.
The SOC 2 report deals specifically with controls related to Security, Confidentiality, Privacy, Availability, and Processing Integrity and are known as the 5 Trust Services Criteria (TSC). SOC 2 reports provide organizations with a broad range of information and assurance in regards to the controls and organization has in place for their systems that deal with the information processed by these systems.
The SOC 3 report is intended to be publicly shareable, and can be provided to clients or posted on an organization's website to boost consumer confidence in the organization's controls, whereas the SOC 1 & 2 can't be publicly shared. SOC 3 covers the same areas as SOC 2, but the report removes confidential information and details.
These reports can be performed as either a Type I or Type II:
The Type I report is a report on management's description of the system(s) in scope and the suitability and design of the controls related to the Trust Services Criteria (TSC) at a point in time.
The Type II report is more detailed. The Type II report includes the statements above, related to a Type I report, but takes it a step further to outline the operating effectiveness of the controls in place over a period of time, not less than 6 months.
When preparing for a SOC 2 report, one of the first steps is to select which Trust Services Criteria (TSC) will be included in the report. Every SOC 2 report includes the Security criterion, as it is a required component of the report. Beyond the Security criterion, organizations have the option to also include the Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy criteria. Compass IT Compliance Account Managers and Cybersecurity Practitioners are always available to consult with organizations prior to beginning the SOC readiness and audit process to identify which criteria may be best suited for the organization’s business needs. Below are some situations organizations may want to consider when selecting Trust Services Criteria for an upcoming SOC 2 report:
Security
This criterion (also known as the Common Criteria) is required for all SOC 2 reports and refers to the protection of information during its collection or creation, use, processing, transmission, and storage. It also covers those information systems that use, process, or store that information to enable the entity to meet its objectives.
Availability
This criterion should be included if your organization wants to provide evidence to customers that your systems are available for operation. This includes customers that have expectations regarding downtime service-level agreements, uptime guarantees, status updates, and other accessibility requests.
Processing Integrity
This criterion should be included if your organization deals with the processing of data and needs to ensure that the data input into your systems is accurate. Organizations who provide financial, e-commerce, or other data-related services should consider this criterion.
Confidentiality
This criterion should be included if your customers have confidential non-personal data stored in your organization’s platform (transaction details, business plans, etc), want their data deleted when contracts end, or require non-disclosure agreements when doing business with you.
Privacy
This criterion should be included if your organization is governed by privacy regulations such as HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, etc. or if your customers have sensitive personally identifiable information in your organization’s platform, such as names, social security numbers, health information, or home addresses.
For organizations new to the SOC process or organizations interested in reviewing high risk areas that may have emerged since their last audit, Compass IT Compliance offers the SOC Readiness Assessment. This solution assists organizations in identifying the necessary internal controls, documentation, and gaps within their business, information technology, and security programs. SOC audits can be a daunting and intimidating task for organizations of any size. Our team of certified professionals has extensive experience in helping organizations navigate the complex requirements needed to complete a SOC audit successfully. Compass IT Compliance helps organizations across all industries examine and improve their data privacy and compliance controls to meet evolving customer, partner, industry, and regulatory requirements.
Services are performed by skilled professionals who have extensive experience in risk and control-oriented audits and information security to validate, prior to an actual service audit, the different criteria for the 5 Trust Services Criteria (TSC) defined in conjunction with an independent CPA firm. Our SOC Readiness Assessment is a multi-step process outlined below:
System & Organizational Controls (SOC) reports are internal control reports that outline the services that are being provided by a service organization and the controls related to the service that is being offered. This provides valuable information to potential customers and allows the service organization to build trust and confidence around their service offerings. A Service Auditor's Report can help a service organization to:
SOC reports are intended to build consumer trust, and are required or beneficial for organizations such as: Data Centers, Loan Servicing, Payroll, Medical Claims, SaaS, Software Developers, etc. Not all SOC reports are alike. These documents come in the following variations:
A SOC 1 report examines internal controls at a service organization that impact a user entity’s (your customers) controls over financial reporting. This report is only to be issued when an auditor of your customer needs to gain comfort with your controls to be able to issue audited financial statements. This report can only be used by the auditors of user entities and user entities’ management.
The SOC 2 report deals specifically with controls related to Security, Confidentiality, Privacy, Availability, and Processing Integrity and are known as the 5 Trust Services Criteria (TSC). SOC 2 reports provide organizations with a broad range of information and assurance in regards to the controls and organization has in place for their systems that deal with the information processed by these systems.
The SOC 3 report is intended to be publicly shareable, and can be provided to clients or posted on an organization's website to boost consumer confidence in the organization's controls, whereas the SOC 1 & 2 can't be publicly shared. SOC 3 covers the same areas as SOC 2, but the report removes confidential information and details.
These reports can be performed as either a Type I or Type II:
The Type I report is a report on management's description of the system(s) in scope and the suitability and design of the controls related to the Trust Services Criteria (TSC) at a point in time.
The Type II report is more detailed. The Type II report includes the statements above, related to a Type I report, but takes it a step further to outline the operating effectiveness of the controls in place over a period of time, not less than 6 months.
Cloud Security Risk Assessments