Get SOC 2 ready

For SaaS and service companies facing vendor security reviews

SOC 2 is the attestation US enterprise buyers ask software and service vendors for by default. It is not a certificate you display; it is a detailed report, issued by a licensed CPA firm after an audit, describing how your controls meet the AICPA's Trust Services Criteria. If you sell to mid-market or enterprise customers, the request usually arrives mid-deal - and the companies that close fastest are the ones who prepared before it did.

What the report actually covers

Every SOC 2 report covers Security - the common criteria: governance, risk assessment, access control, change management, system operations and monitoring. Four further categories are included only if you choose them, and you should choose based on what your customers ask about:

• Availability - uptime commitments, capacity, backup and disaster recovery.
• Confidentiality - protecting the data you have agreed to protect, through to disposal.
• Processing integrity - the system does what it says: complete, accurate, timely processing.
• Privacy - personal information handled in line with your notice and commitments.

Type I or Type II? A Type I report checks your controls are suitably designed on a single day. A Type II checks they actually operated over a period - typically 3 to 12 months - which is why buyers value it far more, and why the clock matters: the audit window can only start once the controls are genuinely running.

The sensible order of work

• 1. Pick your criteria and scope from what customers actually ask about - Security plus Availability and Confidentiality is the common starting set.
• 2. Assess yourself against the criteria before engaging an auditor, so you know your real position and the remediation ahead.
• 3. Close the gaps that fail audits: access reviews nobody performs, informal change management, missing vendor assessments, incident plans that exist only as intentions.
• 4. Let the controls run and collect evidence - tickets, reviews, logs, approvals. Type II is judged on what happened, not what is written down.
• 5. Then open the audit window. Starting it before the controls operate reliably is the most expensive mistake in SOC 2.

How Assura helps

Assura includes a guided SOC 2 Type II assessment among its 20 frameworks. You answer in plain English, attach evidence as you go, and Assura scores each criterion with written reasoning. When you finish you get the full picture in one pass:

• a scored readiness view across the Trust Services Criteria, so you know whether you are ready to start the audit window;
• a prioritised gap list and remediation plan, ranked by severity;
• a live risk register that tracks each fix through to done;
• and because Assura maps controls across frameworks, your SOC 2 work pre-fills its counterparts in ISO 27001, NIST CSF and Cyber Essentials - and vice versa.

Assura prepares you for the audit; the SOC 2 report itself is issued by a licensed CPA firm. Arriving with your controls already operating - and the evidence to prove it - is what keeps that engagement short.

Check your readiness with Assura

Related guides: Cyber Essentials · ISO 27001 · NIST CSF 2.0