If there’s one thing you need to know about us, it’s that SOC 2 is our absolute jam. It’s one of the OG frameworks here at Scytale, and it often feels like writing about a close childhood friend; we know them best (and love talking about them).

We’ve done the latter quite extensively already, and we can tell you everything you need to know about SOC 2 compliance in two seconds flat. However, that’s the thing about compliance—there’s always another SOC 2 rabbit hole to explore. 

This time, the SOC 2 report and the critical sections relevant to your service organization.

Let’s Recap the SOC 2 Framework

What is SOC 2 Compliance? 

In a (tiny) nutshell, SOC 2 governs your service organization’s controls, focusing on security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. This means that it’s a security framework that encapsulates a set of compliance requirements. SOC 2 doubles as an audit procedure and criteria, and a voluntary compliance standard specifying how an organization should manage internal controls and protect customer data.

What makes it unique, however, is that these compliance requirements are geared explicitly toward technology-based companies, especially those that store their customer data on the cloud. 

SOC 2 Reports: What Are They, and Why Do They Matter?

Regarding compliance in general, reassurance is always welcomed—especially when implementing industry-specific controls. That’s where SOC 2 reports come in handy—ensuring service organizations have implemented the required controls to safeguard client data.

These reports provide concrete proof and evidence of compliance, which is a biggy, as SOC 2 is an attestation instead of a certification process like ISO 27001. Therefore, these reports ultimately showcase your controls’ presence (and effectiveness) to any user or stakeholder seeking to assess your security, availability, and processing integrity.

The Two Types of SOC 2 Reports

Before going too deep into the nitty-gritty of SOC reports, it’s important to establish that there are two types of SOC 2 reports: SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 2 Type 2. 

A SOC 2 Type 1 will examine your controls at a single point, while a SOC 2 Type 2 will examine your controls over time, usually between three and twelve months. For this article, we will refer to a Type 2 report.

Still, penning every detail of your compliance in a way that reads well may seem daunting. To help structure the report, specific sections, each serving a distinct purpose, are often classified. Let’s take a look. 

Explore the Critical Sections of a SOC 2 Report

Although the SOC 2 report may differ within each organization, four key sections should still be included.

Section 1: The Auditor’s Report

Clients aren’t solely going to take your word for it, which is why one of the critical sections includes a summary of findings from a qualified auditor and their assessment. This consists of an overview of your verified security practices, tested against the Trust Service Criteria – also known as an opinion letter. Additionally, this section will focus on critical touchpoints, typically including: 

• When the auditor started the project
• The scope of their review
• The period covered (Type I or Type II)
• An opinion on your security 

The auditor’s opinion is undoubtedly one of the most critical sections. There are four types of opinions (Unqualified, Qualified, Disclaimer of Opinion, and Adverse Opinion).

Section 2: System Description

The system description gives an overview of the service organization’s system, including the services you provide, the infrastructure used, and relevant technology. It should provide a detailed and accurate reflection of the system’s nature and scope. These criteria include security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. The system description should explicitly detail how the service organization meets these criteria. Organizations typically focus on touchpoints such as:

• System components (including infrastructure and key personnel)
• System boundaries
• Trust Services Criteria not applicable to the system
• Incidents and system changes

Section 3: Management Assertion

This is a document your organization should prepare. It should be created before the audit, as the auditor will use it as a reference during the audit. Ultimately, your assertion summarizes the information security controls and their purpose. Your management assertion should cover the scope, timeline, and other relevant considerations from the business’s perspective instead of the auditor’s. However, there are still some guidelines that should help create your assertion. 

According to The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) there are three purposes for the management assertion:

1. To determine whether the service organization’s system description is presented in accordance with the criteria.
2. To test whether controls specified in the description were designed correctly.
3. Evaluate whether the controls functioned properly during a Type II report evaluation period.

Section 4: Description of criteria

This section is the meaty core of the SOC 2 report and often the most lengthy (and significant) section. Your auditor prepares this section and provides a detailed evaluation and report on their investigation into each one of your controls and their effectiveness. This is the nitty-gritty and often appears in the form of a spreadsheet, diving into each individual control, the technical review of each, how effective they are in protecting data, and how well those controls performed throughout the audit period.

Ultimately, SOC 2 reports are a science. Fortunately, we’ve mastered them. However, navigating your SOC 2 report is one thing—actually getting compliant is a whole other story—one we know how to tell! 

Easy-Breezy SOC 2 Compliance with Scytale

You don’t have to wrap your head around SOC 2 reports just yet. That’s why we’re here! At Scytale, we help service organizations get SOC 2 savvy without breaking a sweat. 

But we don’t just want to do it—we also want to train your team to ensure that when you become compliant, you have a strong first line of defense to help you stay compliant. 

The post Exploring the Key Sections of a SOC 2 Report (In Under 4 Minutes) appeared first on Scytale.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Blog | Scytale authored by Wesley Van Zyl, Senior Compliance Success Manager, Scytale. Read the original post at: https://scytale.ai/resources/exploring-the-key-sections-of-a-soc-2-report-in-under-4-minutes/