The Ultimate Guide to SOC 2 Mapping

In 2017, The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) launched the SOC Type 2 compliance procedure. SOC 2 Mapping (System and Organization Controls Type 2) is a program consisting of audits to help organizations improve the security of their customers.

An organization that’s SOC 2 compliant demonstrates it can protect the privacy of data. It’s all about receiving, transferring, and acceptably handling data. As a result, organizations gain more trust from their customers.

By conducting cybersecurity examinations, auditors issue internal reports based on five trust principles. The first three principles are security, privacy, and confidentiality. The other two principles are processing integrity and availability.

SOC 2 compliance audits can take several months and/or years.

Who Should Use SOC 2 Mapping?

Tech service providers, including SAAS companies and those using the cloud
Organizations that receive, handle, and process critical and vital information
Organizations and business units that participate in cybersecurity risk management programs
All organizations that want to increase their cybersecurity risk-management strategies

What Are the Benefits of Being SOC 2 Compliant?

Gaining a cybersecurity certificate is one of many trust factors you can leverage. On the Internet, where trust is on the decline, a display of a SOC 2 certificate on your website may increase trust. If your brand isn’t well-known, a SOC 2 compliance certificate can restore assurance to partners and customers on the integrity of your applications and services.

Companies that are SOC 2 compliant have a large difference to brag about in a cybersecurity marketplace. Since it takes a lot of time and implementation to be SOC 2 compliant, it’s not a minuscule idea. Marketers are stressing it as their unique selling point.

It takes years to build trust and days to ruin it. Going through the SOC 2 program helps your company avoid small mistakes that lead to large data breaches. These breaches ruin a company’s reputation. But for a compliant organization, it’ll have the tools to mitigate such risks, hence staying compliant.

Most government venders and cloud vendors will need a SOC 2 compliance certificate before doing a business partnership. Getting certified means you guarantee their security – a critical requirement for the tech industry.

You have to constantly review recommendations and checklists to help improve your privacy. Frequent reviews help identify flaws and fix them before they escalate to uncontrollable situations.

SOC 2 helps you to resist common cyber-attacks and handle them in case one happens. There are minimal risks of losing vital information or spending lots of money on disaster recovery.

You’ll learn many tips on how to stay secure online and offline. You can leverage this information internally or even help consult other organizations. Cybersecurity knowledge will be your life skill you can apply anywhere in a tech-growing world.

What Are SOC 2 Trust Principles?

Also known as common criteria mapping, security involves using tactics, such as Identity Access Management, to protect the identity of users. It’s a common criterion because it’s common across major cybersecurity protocols.

Privacy protects information using technologies, such as encryption, authentication, and cryptography.

This monitors IT processes and activities.

Confidentiality ensures there’s true confidence in the user accessing the system.

This ensures there’s an agreement provided between a vendor and a user on how to use services.

SOC 2 Control List

A SOC 2 report, usually issued after an audit, will provide recommendations on how a company scores against SOC 2 controls. Some of the controls include:

The five trust principles
Control environment has insights on staff, management, and new hires
Risk assessment control for insights on identifying and mitigating risks
Monitoring activities control for frequent tracking and auditing
Change management controls on transitions and promotions

SOC 2 Mapping to NIST 800-53

While SOC 2 has five trust principles, NIST is a publication with various control families to help improve security. NIST criteria contain up to 20 controls. These controls are abbreviated — for example, AC for access control and MP for media protection. Each control has a capability. Capabilities include objectives to implement. A well-versed professional can help implement both NIST and SOC 2.

What Is the Difference between SOC 2 and ISO 27001?

While SOC 2 focuses on the privacy and handling of information, ISO 27001 proves an organization has an effective and ongoing Information Security Management System (ISMS). A licensed CPA performs an SOC 2 audit, while an accredited organization issues ISO 27001.

Need help understanding how you can map SOC 2 to various other protocols? Reach out to us today for SOC2 and ISO 27001 auditing!