5 Critical Practices For SOC 2 Security Compliance
Service Organization Control Type 2 or SOC 2 is a cybersecurity framework created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, otherwise known as AICPA. SOC 2 was primarily developed for the sake of ensuring that the storage and processing of client data by third-party companies are secure.
SOC 2 standardizes everything about cybersecurity in the modern digital era, particularly when it comes to companies you depend on for your IT needs.
5 Critical Practices For SOC 2 Security Compliance
Here is what audit firms should be on the lookout for when ensuring SOC 2 security compliance.
1. Security
The security principle of SOC2 guarantees data and system protection against unauthorized access. By following these standards, your data will be safer against even the most ardent hackers. Your cloud hosts and network providers should implement some sort of access control.
In this context, the access control means identity management systems or the use of access control lists. They should also have multi-factor authentication, reinforced firewalls, stricter rules for incoming and outbound data, intrusion detection, and recovery systems.
2. Confidentiality
Data should be private and confidential. Standards must be followed so that only specific persons or groups have access to the data. This might include business plans, credit card info, application source code, and usernames plus passwords.
To follow this critical practice, all confidential data must have encryption during transit or while at rest. Additionally, when accessing this data, the least privilege principle should be followed. For instance, people get bare-minimum permissions or rights to the data.
3. Availability
Systems should meet availability standards always. This entails the development of fault-tolerant systems. While it’s impossible to make everything perfect and glitch-free, erring on the side of caution is a must so that the systems don’t buckle under high-load pressure.
Your data processors and storage providers should invest in network monitoring systems to allow for better disaster recovery plans when push comes to shove.
4. Privacy
The SOC 2 data usage and privacy policy ensure that the processing, storage, collection, and disclosure of any PII or personally identifiable information are safe from leaks or unauthorized access. They should also adhere to the AICPA-defined conditions.
This is all written in the Generally Accepted Privacy Principles (GAPP). PII applies to any data or info that uniquely identifies individuals, including social security numbers, names, credit card info, phone number, age, address, and so forth.
A good business should ensure the critical practice of ensuring privacy as defined by SOC 2 through strict rules and rigorous controls.
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5. Processing Integrity
Processing Integrity
All data processing and storage systems must function as per design every time. They should be coded in a way that meets SOC2 security standards. They should be devoid of bugs, errors, delays, and vulnerabilities. They should not fail by design.
They should not feature design flaws that could result in data loss or unauthorized access to your company’s private data. This is upheld by quality assurance procedures and performance monitoring apps. They ensure adherence to this critical practice.
In Other Words
Now that everything’s virtual or in the cloud nowadays, your business’s virtual or cloud providers should follow SOC2 standards for your own safety and the security of your customer’s private data.
When hiring soc 2 audit firms, go for the ones that ensure your cloud storage and web hosting handlers’ SOC2 framework have the best practices and guiding principles when it comes to storage and data processing protection. They should know every SOC 2 rule in the proverbial book.
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