SOC It 2 Me

SOC It 2 Me

Insight from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)

If you're handling customer data in the cloud, SOC 2 compliance is like having a VIP pass to the "Trustworthy Business Club."

It's not legally mandated, but a lot of larger companies will require their partners to be certified before sharing any data.

You want the big contracts? Then you want SOC 2 💸

SOC 2 is like the Swiss Army knife of data security frameworks.

Developed by the AICPA (try saying that five times fast), it’s based on five “Trust Services Criteria”:

1. Security: the lock on your digital fortress

2. Availability: because 404 errors are embarrassing

3. Processing integrity: ensuring your data doesn't go rogue

4. Confidentiality: keeping secrets safe

5. Privacy: for when you need to hide your embarrassing Spotify playlists

There are two flavors of SOC 2:

Type I (a snapshot of your controls at a specific moment) and Type II (a more comprehensive look at how your controls perform over 3-12 months).

Think of Type I as a selfie and Type II as a full-blown documentary of your security measures.

Getting SOC 2 certified involves an audit by a CPA who's clearly living their best life by meticulously examining your controls.

There are also some more automated solutions that have built momentum recently: platforms like Vanta or Scrut.

However you choose to do it, you’ll probably want to get it taken care of before you really start to scale.