Frequently asked questions
All common infosec questions, answered in one place – just for you.
General overview
Scrut is a risk and compliance automation platform that simplifies your compliance journey by automating evidence collection, risk assessments workflows, and continuous compliance monitoring. It supports over 60 out-of-the-box frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and more.
Scrut offers:
- 60+ out-of-box frameworks along with support for custom frameworks
- Customizable risk scoring with approval workflows built in
- End-to-end audit management with hands-on, expert in-house support from onboarding to post-audit
- Downloadable, audit-ready reports showcasing real-time compliance
- Secure Trust Vault with branding customization options
Scrut is an all-in-one GRC platform that covers governance, risk, and compliance — all in one place. Unlike traditional GRC tools that are often slow and siloed, Scrut combines that comprehensive coverage with the speed and automation of a modern compliance solution. It helps you manage frameworks, automate evidence collection, monitor risks, and stay audit-ready with far less manual effort.
Scrut supports 60+ out-of-the-box frameworks, including but not limited to:
- Security: SOC 2, SOC 1, ISO/IEC 27001
- Privacy: GDPR, CCPA, ISO/IEC 27701, HIPAA
- AI Governance: ISO/IEC 42001, EU AI Act
- Risk: NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-53, DORA
- Government: FedRAMP
- Custom frameworks for your organization
Yes, Scrut scales with your business — whether you’re a fast-moving startup or a complex enterprise.
- For startups: Scrut’s flexible, API-driven architecture and modular pricing help early-stage teams get up and running quickly. You can leverage pre-built policy templates, automated evidence collection, and affordable plans without needing a dedicated compliance team.
- For enterprises: Scrut supports multi-framework compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, GDPR, and more), advanced vendor risk management, fine-grained role-based access controls, and integrations with SIEM and ticketing tools — making it ideal for managing complex, cross-functional compliance programs at scale.
For startups, Scrut offers:
- Pre-built policies and framework control mapping to get started quickly
- Affordable pricing plans tailored for small teams
- Automation to reduce the need for hiring dedicated compliance staff
- Support and hand-holding by experts in every step of compliance process
For enterprises, Scrut provides:
- Advanced risk management and vendor tracking
- Support for multiple frameworks and complex audits
- Integration with large-scale cloud and DevOps stacks
- Role-based access controls and auditor collaboration tools
Scrut offers flexible pricing tailored to your compliance needs. All pricing plans include access to all core features, modules, and frameworks within the Scrut platform, with no limits or hidden charges based on users or usage. Additional services like audit charges may influence the final quote. To learn more or get a custom quote, reach out to the Scrut team with your compliance requirements.
Compliance and framework support
Yes. Scrut supports over 60 frameworks including ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS.
Yes. Scrut supports compliance with ISO/IEC 42001.
Yes. Scrut maintains a unified control library and automatically maps common controls between SOC 2 and ISO 27001, so you define a control once, and it applies to both frameworks.
Yes. Scrut’s multi-framework support is built around a unified control library that lets you map a single control to multiple frameworks. When you onboard a new framework, Scrut auto-populates the relevant controls, so you don’t have to start from scratch each time.
Through:
- Automated evidence collection from 80+ tools
- Continuous control monitoring to flag issues early
- Live dashboards to track framework status
- Smart alerts to notify teams about gaps or overdue tasks
Yes. Scrut offers a unified dashboard to manage multiple frameworks and its corresponding controls, evidences, tests, policies, and more in one single platform.
Scrut can automatically detect certain types of compliance gaps, like control failures, policy misconfigurations, or missing evidence, through continuous monitoring and automated tests.
For example, if an access control policy is outdated or a required encryption setting is missing, Scrut flags it in real time. However, identifying broader risks or evaluating business-specific impact still involves human review. Scrut supports this with automated workflows for risk identification, approval, and treatment — helping teams respond faster and more consistently.
Yes. Scrut offers continuous control monitoring by running automated daily tests against your configured controls. It flags misconfigurations, provides remediation guidance, and keeps your compliance posture up to date.
Scrut also maintains a unified controls registry that gives you a real-time view of control status across all frameworks. By automatically pulling evidence from integrated systems, like cloud providers, endpoint tools, and code repositories, Scrut ensures your compliance status reflects your current security posture at all times.
Integrations and automation
Scrut integrates with over 80 tools to collect audit-ready evidence automatically, such as access logs, onboarding activity, and security configurations.
Scrut offers 80+ integrations across cloud, HR, identity, code repositories, and more.
Yes, Scrut Automation integrates seamlessly with Jira, AWS, and Slack, among over 80 other tools.
Yes. Scrut Automation integrates with both BambooHR and Google Workspace, among over 80 other tools.
It depends on your workflows, the number of frameworks you’re managing, and your company size. But on average, small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) typically spend less than 3 hours per week inside Scrut.
Most of the heavy lifting, like evidence collection, control monitoring, and reporting, is automated. Your team mainly needs to review alerts, assign tasks, approve controls, and respond to auditor comments, all from a centralized dashboard.
Audit readiness
Yes. Scrut significantly reduces manual audit effort by combining automation, AI assistance, and centralized documentation.
- 80+ integrations automatically pull evidence from your cloud, HR, and development tools
- Smart control mapping auto-fills overlapping controls across frameworks
- Scrut AI Teammate helps prepare for audits by answering control queries, surfacing gaps, and guiding remediation
- Secure auditor access ensures all communication and document sharing happens inside the platform — no email chains
- Trust Vault hosts all your compliance documents with NDA-backed access, accelerating audit reviews and shortening sales cycles
With these capabilities, your team can move faster and stay audit-ready with far less effort.
Yes. Scrut allows you to give auditors secure, role-based access to the platform so they can review relevant controls, evidence, and documentation in one place — without relying on spreadsheets or back-and-forth emails.
Scrut also generates audit-ready reports that include control status, evidence summaries, timestamps, and activity logs. These reports can be exported and shared with auditors to support a faster, more organized audit process.
Yes. Scrut gives you full control over auditor access through its dedicated Audit Center.
Auditors are never granted unrestricted or full-module access. Instead, you can add them to a specific audit’s Audit Team, which provides read-only, scoped access to only what they need, including controls, evidence files, policy previews, and attachments.
They can also comment on items, manage findings, and track audit progress, all without accessing the broader platform. Permissions are role-based, tightly scoped, and logged for complete visibility and control.
Risk and policy management
Yes, Scrut helps you identify, assess, and prioritize risks through its built-in Risk Register.
You can choose from a pre-defined library of risks or create custom ones tailored to your organization. Each risk is assessed using configurable scoring models based on likelihood, impact, and existing controls. Scrut also allows you to assign owners, set deadlines, and link risks to specific departments or compliance frameworks — giving you a clear, structured view of your risk landscape.
Yes. Scrut allows you to create custom risks directly from the Risk Register. When you click to add a new risk, a guided form pops up prompting you to fill in details such as the risk title, category, owner, affected department, and impact level. This makes it easy to define risks tailored to your organization’s context and link them to your compliance efforts.
Yes. When you select a risk in Scrut, you’ll be guided through a form where you can define a mitigation plan. You can choose an action type, such as accept, transfer, mitigate, or avoid, assign an owner, set deadlines, and add notes. Scrut then tracks progress on each plan, helping you monitor how risks are being addressed over time.
Yes. Scrut provides an upload option that lets you import your existing risk register directly into the platform. When you choose to upload, a guided interface prompts you to map your spreadsheet columns (like risk name, category, impact, owner) to Scrut’s fields, making the migration smooth and structured.
Yes. Scrut offers 100+ editable policy templates mapped to frameworks like SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and GDPR. Each template can be customized using Scrut’s in-built policy editor, so you can tailor content to your organization’s needs without starting from scratch.
Yes. In Scrut, employees receive assigned policies through their own dedicated portal, where they can review and acknowledge them with just a click. As an admin, you can send reminders, track who has acknowledged which policies, and monitor completion directly from the Scrut dashboard — all in one place.
Security and certifications
Yes. Scrut is built with security as a foundational principle, following industry-leading standards and certifications.
The platform is certified for ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, SOC 2, ISO 27701, GDPR, and CCPA, and applies these standards across infrastructure, processes, and product features. It enforces end-to-end encryption (TLS in transit, AES-256 at rest), role-based access control, multi-factor authentication, and real-time monitoring to ensure data remains protected at all times.
Scrut also performs regular internal and third-party vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. Access to systems is tightly governed by least-privilege policies and reviewed on a quarterly basis.
For customers using Scrut’s AI features, data is handled responsibly. There is no cross-customer training of models, and all AI inputs are processed solely to deliver opted-in services. Scrut also follows minimal and purpose-bound data retention, with clear privacy boundaries enforced throughout.
A full overview of Scrut’s security posture — including audit reports, incident response protocols, data retention policies, and subprocessors — is available through its public Trust Vault.
Scrut’s approach ensures your data stays secure, whether you’re using automation, managing risks, or enabling AI-driven workflows.
Scrut is certified for:
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (information security)
- ISO/IEC 42001:2023 (AI management systems)
Is Scrut certified for AI governance?
Yes. Scrut is certified under ISO/IEC 42001:2023, confirming responsible AI governance practices.
Trust Vault
A customizable portal to showcase your security posture. Key features include:
- Real-time security status
- Centralized certification storage
- NDA-backed sharing for stakeholders
- Website embedding with brand customization
Trust Vault helps reduce the time and effort spent on security reviews by giving prospects and partners a clear, real-time view of your security posture. It hosts your latest certifications, policies, and reports in one place, and allows you to grant NDA-backed access for deeper documentation review.
You can embed Trust Vault on your website or share it via a secure link — making it easy to showcase your compliance posture without back-and-forth emails. This builds trust faster and helps move deals forward with fewer delays.
General understanding
SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is a compliance framework that evaluates how well a company protects customer data. It’s designed for service providers that store or process information in the cloud.
Unlike prescriptive checklists, SOC 2 is principles-based. It assesses whether your internal controls meet five key trust criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
A SOC 2 report, issued by an independent auditor, is often required by enterprise customers before they’ll trust you with sensitive data. It’s proof that your systems are secure and your operations are reliable.
Because trust isn’t just earned. It has to be proven.
SOC 2 compliance shows that your company has strong controls in place to protect customer data. For enterprise buyers, it is often a non-negotiable requirement before signing a contract.
Without it, you may face long sales cycles, endless security questionnaires, and lost business opportunities. With it, you build credibility, speed up procurement, and show that your security practices meet industry expectations.
It is not just about passing an audit. It is about showing your customers that their data is in safe hands.
Any company that stores, processes, or transmits customer data in the cloud should consider SOC 2 compliance. This includes SaaS providers, data processors, and managed service providers.
If your customers are asking you to fill out security questionnaires or provide proof of your data protection practices, that is usually a sign you need SOC 2. It becomes especially important when selling to regulated industries like finance, healthcare, or enterprise tech.
SOC 2 is not legally mandatory, but in many cases, it is the ticket to doing business with security-conscious clients.
SOC 2 is built around five key principles, called the Trust Services Criteria:
- Security – Protecting systems and data from unauthorized access. This is the only mandatory criterion for all SOC 2 audits.
- Availability – Making sure systems are up and running when users need them.
- Processing Integrity – Ensuring systems process data accurately and on time.
- Confidentiality – Keeping sensitive data protected from unauthorized sharing or exposure.
- Privacy – Respecting how personal information is collected, used, stored, and shared.
You can choose which of these apply to your business. Most companies start with just Security and add others based on customer needs or industry expectations.
SOC 2 Type I looks at whether your controls are designed properly at a specific point in time. Think of it as a snapshot.
SOC 2 Type II goes further. It tests whether your controls actually work over a period of time, usually 3 to 12 months. This gives customers more confidence that your systems are reliable day to day.
Most companies start with Type I to get a report quickly, then move to Type II to show long-term trustworthiness.
A SOC 2 report is issued by a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or a firm authorized by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
Only these qualified auditors can perform the assessment and sign off on the report. They evaluate whether your systems meet the chosen Trust Services Criteria based on evidence, documentation, and testing.
If you are working with a compliance platform like Scrut, they can help you prepare for the audit and even connect you with vetted auditors.
Getting started
You should start working on SOC 2 as soon as your customers begin asking about your security posture, especially if you’re targeting mid-market or enterprise deals.
For early-stage startups, the right time is usually after building your MVP and closing your first few paying customers. Waiting too long can slow down deals or raise red flags during procurement.
Getting SOC 2 ready takes time. Most companies spend a few months preparing before the audit even begins. Starting early gives you space to put the right policies, tools, and controls in place without rushing.
Yes, early-stage startups can absolutely become SOC 2 compliant. In fact, many do it early to win customer trust and close enterprise deals faster.
You do not need a large team or a dedicated security function to get started. With the right tools, policy templates, and guidance, even small teams can meet SOC 2 requirements without getting overwhelmed.
It is less about company size and more about showing that you take security seriously from day one.
No, SOC 2 is not limited to US companies.
While it was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), SOC 2 is widely adopted by companies around the world — especially those offering cloud-based services to US clients.
If you handle customer data and want to build trust with US-based businesses, having a SOC 2 report can be a strong advantage, no matter where your company is based.
Audit process
The SOC 2 audit process checks whether your company has the right systems and controls in place to protect customer data. Here’s how it typically works:
- Readiness assessment – You review your current security practices to identify any gaps before the audit.
- Control implementation – You put policies, processes, and tools in place to meet the chosen Trust Services Criteria.
- Evidence collection – You gather proof that your controls are working. This could include logs, screenshots, or completed training records.
- Audit – A certified auditor reviews your controls and evidence. For a Type II audit, they also test how well these controls work over time.
- Report issuance – If all goes well, the auditor issues a SOC 2 report that you can share with customers.
Working with a platform like Scrut can make this process faster and smoother by automating evidence collection and control tracking.
The timeline depends on your starting point and the type of report you need.
For a Type I report, it usually takes 4 to 8 weeks, since it only checks if your controls are in place at a single point in time.
For a Type II report, you need to operate those controls over a 3 to 12 month period before the audit can be completed. Including prep time, the full process can take up to 6 months or more.
Starting early helps avoid last-minute stress. Using a compliance platform like Scrut can speed things up by automating evidence collection and guiding you through setup.
If you do not pass the SOC 2 audit, it usually means the auditor found gaps in your controls or that some controls were not working as expected.
You won’t receive a clean report, but all is not lost. The auditor will share a detailed report explaining what went wrong. You can then fix the issues and go through a follow-up assessment.
Failing the first time is more common than you might think, especially for companies rushing into the audit without preparation. That’s why many start with a readiness assessment and use platforms like Scrut to close gaps before the audit begins.
SOC 2 audits are typically conducted once every 12 months. This helps prove that your controls continue to work as expected over time.
If you have a Type II report, your customers will expect a new one each year to ensure there are no gaps in coverage. Some might even ask for overlapping audit periods to avoid blind spots.
Treating SOC 2 as a one-time project can backfire. It is better to build processes that keep you audit-ready all year, especially if you want to maintain trust with enterprise clients.
Cost and effort
SOC 2 compliance typically costs between $30,000 and $80,000 per year. This includes:
- Platform subscription (like Scrut): $10,000–$30,000
- Audit fees: $15,000–$60,000 depending on Type I or II
- Internal effort: $5,000–$30,000, based on how much is manual
Using Scrut can reduce internal effort through automation, making the overall process faster and more cost-effective.
Without a platform, SOC 2 can take hundreds of hours across security, engineering, HR, and legal teams — mostly spent gathering evidence, writing policies, and filling out documents.
With a platform like Scrut, much of that work is automated. Most teams spend just a few hours a week reviewing alerts, approving policies, or uploading key evidence.
The effort depends on your current setup, but with the right tools, SOC 2 does not have to slow your team down.
Not necessarily — but it helps a lot.
You can go through SOC 2 manually, but it often means juggling spreadsheets, writing policies from scratch, and chasing down evidence across teams. That’s where most companies get stuck or delayed.
Using a platform like Scrut simplifies the process. It gives you pre-built policies, automated evidence collection, real-time control tracking, and even connects you with auditors. It’s especially useful if you don’t have a dedicated compliance team.
If you’re early-stage or short on bandwidth, a platform can save you time, reduce errors, and get you audit-ready faster.
Report sharing and post-audit
Yes, you can — but not with everyone.
SOC 2 reports are confidential and meant for specific stakeholders like customers, partners, or prospects who need assurance about your security practices. You’ll usually share it under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
If you want something more public, you can request a SOC 3 report instead. It’s a summarized, general-use version that you can share freely on your website.
A SOC 3 report is a public version of a SOC 2 report. It covers the same Trust Services Criteria but without the detailed technical findings.
SOC 3 reports are designed for marketing and general sharing. You can publish them on your website, send them to prospects, or include them in investor decks — no NDA required.
Use a SOC 3 report when you want to show that your company meets industry standards for security and trust, without revealing sensitive audit details.
Once you’re certified, you receive a SOC 2 report that you can share with customers under NDA. But the work doesn’t stop there.
SOC 2 is valid for 12 months, so you’ll need to maintain your controls continuously and prepare for the next audit cycle. That means keeping your policies updated, collecting evidence regularly, and staying alert to any security gaps.
Using a platform like Scrut helps you stay audit-ready year-round by tracking control status, automating evidence collection, and flagging issues before they become problems.
SOC 2 is not a one-time project — it is an ongoing commitment.
To stay compliant, you need to:
- Keep your controls active and up to date
- Train employees regularly and track attestations
- Monitor systems for security issues
- Collect and store evidence continuously
- Review and update policies as your business evolves
Using a platform like Scrut can automate much of this work. It alerts you when controls slip, collects evidence in real time, and keeps you prepared for your next audit — without last-minute scrambles.
SOC 2 vs other frameworks
SOC 2 and ISO 27001 both focus on information security, but they take different approaches.
- SOC 2 is an attestation. An independent auditor reviews your controls and issues a report based on the Trust Services Criteria. It is widely used in the US, especially by SaaS companies.
- ISO 27001 is a certification. You build an Information Security Management System (ISMS) and get certified by an accredited body. It is more common internationally and emphasizes ongoing risk management.
Think of SOC 2 as a snapshot of how well your security controls are working, while ISO 27001 is more like a blueprint for building and running a long-term security program.
Yes, and many companies do. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 share similar goals and overlapping controls, especially around access management, risk assessments, incident response, and data protection.
Working on both together can save time and effort. With the right platform, you can map one set of controls to both frameworks, reuse evidence, and avoid doing the same work twice.
This approach is especially useful if you serve both US and international customers who ask for different certifications.
Using automation and tools
Automation takes the manual pain out of SOC 2.
Instead of chasing screenshots, logs, and policy updates, automation can:
- Collect evidence from tools you already use
- Track control status in real time
- Alert you when something breaks
- Schedule employee training and attestations
- Generate audit-ready reports without last-minute stress
With automation, your team spends less time on admin work and more time focusing on actual security. It also helps you stay continuously compliant, not just compliant at audit time.
Yes. Platforms like Scrut use automation and AI to reduce the time and effort it takes to prepare for a SOC 2 audit.
They automatically collect evidence, monitor control status, manage tasks like policy updates and employee attestations, and alert you to any gaps. This means less back-and-forth with auditors and fewer surprises during the audit.
For most teams, this can cut audit prep time by more than half.
Scrut and SOC 2 compliance
Scrut makes SOC 2 easy by automating the heavy lifting. It connects to your existing tools, collects evidence in real time, and keeps your controls audit-ready.
You get 75+ pre-built policies, real-time control tracking, employee training workflows, and secure report sharing — all in one place. Scrut also connects you with auditors and helps you stay compliant year-round.
Yes. Scrut supports the full SOC 2 journey — whether you’re starting with a Type I report or aiming for a full Type II.
For Type I, Scrut helps you set up controls, draft policies, and collect initial evidence. For Type II, it tracks control performance over time, automates evidence collection, and alerts you if anything falls out of compliance during the audit period.
You can manage both from a single dashboard, without duplicating effort.
Yes. Scrut helps you get audit-ready and also works closely with auditors throughout the process.
You get guided checklists, pre-mapped controls, and automated evidence collection to prepare your environment. Once you’re ready, Scrut connects you with vetted audit partners and gives them controlled access to the documentation they need — no back-and-forth emails required.
This makes the entire audit process faster, smoother, and far less stressful.
Scrut connects with over 80 tools across your cloud, HR, IT, and DevOps stack — including AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, Okta, Jira, and more.
It continuously pulls audit-relevant data like access logs, configuration settings, asset inventories, and policy updates. This evidence is automatically mapped to the relevant SOC 2 controls, so you don’t have to collect it manually.
You get real-time visibility into which controls are passing, what evidence is missing, and what needs attention — all without chasing screenshots or spreadsheets.
Scrut connects to over 80 widely used tools to automate evidence collection and ongoing control monitoring across your tech stack. Key integrations include:
- Cloud platforms: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
- Identity & access: Azure AD, Google Workspace
- Ticketing & IT tools: Zendesk, Jira
- HR systems: (e.g., onboarding/training tools for attestations)
- Security & infrastructure: MDM, code repositories, IT security services
With these integrations, Scrut automatically pulls logs, policy updates, user access records, and infrastructure configurations. Evidence is mapped directly to SOC 2 controls, giving you:
- Real-time control monitoring with alerts for failures
- Automated evidence collection covering over 65% of audit requirements
Together, these integrations dramatically reduce manual effort and continuously prepare you for audits.
Yes. Scrut gives you a live view of your SOC 2 compliance posture through a centralized dashboard.
It continuously tracks control status, flags failures, and highlights missing evidence — all in real time. You can see which controls are passing, which ones need attention, and what tasks are pending across teams.
This helps you stay ahead of audits and avoid last-minute surprises.
Yes. Scrut provides a library of 75+ expert‑vetted SOC 2 policy templates, all pre‑mapped to the relevant Trust Services Criteria. You can customize these policies using the in‑platform editor and get assistance from Scrut’s in‑house compliance team.
Additionally, Scrut maps controls to tasks and evidence requirements. Combined with automated evidence collection across over 80 integrations, this ensures that more than 65% of required controls are covered out of the box
Scrut makes it easy to meet SOC 2 requirements around employee awareness and accountability.
You can assign mandatory security training to new and existing employees, track completion, and automate reminders. For policy attestations, Scrut sends the right policies to the right people, captures acknowledgments, and stores them as audit-ready evidence.
This helps you prove that employees understand their responsibilities, a key part of SOC 2 compliance, without chasing them manually.
Yes. Scrut includes a built-in third-party risk management module designed to support SOC 2 requirements.
You can track all your vendors in one place, send out security questionnaires, assess risk levels, and store vendor documentation. Scrut also maps vendor risks to relevant SOC 2 controls, helping you stay compliant while managing real-world supply chain risk.
This simplifies due diligence and makes it easier to show auditors how you evaluate and monitor third-party relationships.
Yes. Scrut is designed to handle multiple frameworks on one platform.
You can manage SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, GDPR, and more — all from a single dashboard. Scrut automatically maps overlapping controls across frameworks, so you don’t have to duplicate work. Evidence collected once can be reused across audits, saving time and reducing confusion.
This is especially useful if you’re growing into new markets or working with clients that require different standards.
Yes. Scrut helps you stay compliant even after the SOC 2 audit is complete.
It continuously monitors your controls, collects fresh evidence, and flags any gaps that might affect your next audit. Scrut also automates recurring tasks like employee training, vendor assessments, and policy reviews — all mapped to SOC 2 requirements.
This means you stay audit-ready throughout the year, not just when the next audit is around the corner.
Scrut’s Trust Vault is a secure, centralized space where you can store and share your SOC 2 report and other compliance documents with customers, partners, or prospects.
You can control who gets access, set expiration dates, and require NDAs before viewing. It also tracks who has accessed your report, so you have a full audit trail.
This makes it easy to respond to security reviews quickly, build trust with prospects, and avoid endless email threads or manual document sharing.
Scrut’s pricing is based on your business needs and the scope of your compliance journey. The platform fee includes everything, from control monitoring and evidence collection to policy templates, employee portal access, and multi-framework support.
There are no hidden charges based on the number of users, frameworks, or vendor questionnaires. You can scale freely without worrying about tiered pricing.
Additional services like VAPT or audit coordination are available as optional add-ons, depending on your requirements.
You don’t need to find an auditor on your own — Scrut can connect you with vetted, licensed audit firms that specialize in SOC 2.
While the audit itself is performed by an independent CPA or authorized firm, Scrut helps coordinate the entire process. From sharing evidence to managing auditor access, everything happens through the platform, so you avoid back-and-forth emails and document chaos.
This saves time and ensures a smoother path to certification.
ISO 27001 is an international standard that defines the requirements of an Information Security Management System (ISMS). This standard evolved from the British standard BS 7799-2; it was first published as ISO/IEC 27001:2005 and has since become a leading international standard for information security.
ISO 27001 certification guarantees the customers that you meet global standards for information security. An ISO 27001 certification establishes credibility by building customer trust and confidence in your ability to manage their data securely.
You may scale your product and service quality in accordance with industry-wide, global criteria and procedures with the help of an ISO 27001 certification. Prospects will feel more confident working with the backing of ISO 27001 compliance, which will reflect in the business they undertake and the revenue they generate.
ISO 27002 (2013) is an international standard that defines guidelines for implementing the controls listed in ISO 27001.
Whereas ISO 27001 specifies 114 controls that can be used to reduce security risks. Organizations can obtain ISO 27001 certification but not ISO 27002.
Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a set of policies, procedures, processes, and systems that manage information security risks.
The need for ISO certification is determined by your industry’s compliance requirements. Engineering, manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, construction, and other industries must meet ISO compliance standards.
No. Organizations are the only ones who can be certified with ISO 27001 compliance. This does not preclude a sole proprietorship from being certified.
ISO certification guarantees the customers that you meet global standards for information security. An ISO 27001 certification establishes credibility by building customer trust and confidence in your ability to manage their data securely.
You may scale your product and service quality in accordance with industry-wide, global criteria and procedures with the help of an ISO 27001 certification. Prospects will feel more confident working with the backing of ISO 27001 compliance, which will reflect in the business they undertake and the revenue they generate.
There are several factors that can influence how long it takes. The scope of the certification is critical, which includes things like the organization’s size, the number and complexity of processes, the number of locations, and the number of employees—the maturity of the organization’s existing information security capability and knowledge. The process may be sped up if the organization already has experience with management system standards such as ISO 9001 Quality.
Most expenses are usually not related to hardware or software but to developing and implementing procedures, raising employee awareness and training, certification, and so on. The major cost components for ISO 27001 include:
- External ISO 27001 certified auditor charges
- Salaries for third-party consultants or senior-level staff for ISO 27001 certification process
- Productivity loss costs during ISO 27001 audit process
- Miscellaneous legal fees during the process
- Staff training costs for the ISO 27001 compliance audit
- Costs for implementing security tools and scaling cybersecurity architecture
ISO 27001 is one of businesses’ most widely used data security and information security certifications. Obtaining this certification, on the other hand, is difficult, time-consuming, and perplexing. You must gather all Information Security Management System (ISMS) documents, ensure they are current and aligned, and manage this through a review process involving multiple stakeholders. It can take months or years to overcome these obstacles.
The General Data Protection Regulation is a law of the European Union that came into effect on May 25, 2018, and it mandates that businesses protect personal data and uphold the rights of anyone who resides in the EU to privacy. The regulation outlines eight privacy rights that corporations must support and seven data protection principles that organizations must implement.
Any corporation that offers products or services to consumers in the European Union or the United Kingdom must comply with the GDPR.
The GDPR sets forth certain privacy rights for EU citizens, such as the right to be forgotten and the right to obtain your user consent before sharing your data with a third party. For organizations, the GDPR is a legal framework that covers data governance, data privacy, and data management for any organization with customers in the U.K. or EU, regardless of where the company itself is located.
To guide the enforcement of GDPR, the standard sets forth seven principles. They are:
- Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency
- Purpose limitation
- Data minimization
- Accuracy
- Storage limitation
- Integrity and confidentiality
- Accountability
Businesses that do not abide by the General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) rules regarding data processing, data security, and data protection run the risk of incurring hefty fines. The maximum fine for a lesser offense is $11.03 million, or the greater of 2 percent of the company’s annual global revenue or $11.03 million. For more serious offenses, the maximum fine is greater than $22.07 million or 4% of the annual global revenue.
The GDPR applies to all organizations that handle the personal data of EU citizens. Any information about an individual, such as names, email addresses, IP addresses, eye color, political affiliation, and so forth, is referred to as “personal data.” Even if a company is not directly affiliated with the EU, it must abide by the rules if it handles personal data belonging to EU citizens (through tracking on its website, for example).
Yes, but transfers of personal data of EU citizens to locations outside the European Economic Area are strictly governed by GDPR. To enable these transfers, you may need to establish particular legal frameworks or abide by certification frameworks, depending on the situation. You can get help from our team of infosec specialists as you follow the required protocols.
Personal data represents any information related to the data subject that is used to directly or indirectly reveal a person’s identity. On the other hand, sensitive data represents information related to the data subject’s fundamental rights, intimacy, and free will. It could be health records, political opinions, or religious beliefs.
Regardless of where it is located, any organization with clients in the European Union must abide by the GDPR requirements to avoid fines and possible business repercussions.
The law is applicable everywhere, regardless of whether the transaction occurs inside or outside of an EU member state. Companies outside the EU have also been reevaluating their standards to comply with them due to their broad transnational scope of application. Despite the risks of non-compliance, many organizations continue to doubt their own capacity to adhere to the rule. This is particularly due to GDPR’s complexity, which leaves much room for interpretation.
HIPAA was created to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI). HIPAA compliance is the act of being on par with HIPAA regulations, standards, and implementation specifications, i.e., checking if entities are following HIPAA’s policies to meet its standards for data security and privacy.
HIPAA requires “covered entities” to implement security and data privacy controls to protect patient’s health information from unauthorized access. HIPAA rules apply equally to all types of covered entities, including health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers who are responsible for transmitting healthcare data in a HIPAA-compliant manner. HIPAA compliance is also required for Business Associates who create, access, process, or store PHI.
Information about a person’s past, present, or potential health condition that is gathered from them by a covered entity must be protected because it either identifies the person or there is a good reason to think that it can be used to find, identify, or get in touch with them.
HIPAA is a legal obligation under which all covered entities are mandated to establish security and data privacy controls to protect PHI from unauthorized access. Examples of covered entities required by law to abide by HIPAA regulations include healthcare providers, insurance providers, and clearinghouses. In this context, health care providers include physicians, hospitals, and medical, dental, and vision care facilities.
It can be if the device collects, stores, or transmits PHI (for example, glucose levels associated with a specific person) to a Covered Entity or Business Associate organization. More medical devices, wearables, and IoT devices include built-in microprocessors and WiFi/Bluetooth, allowing them to store PHI data and transmit it to the cloud, where any healthcare entity can access it.
Any business adhering to HIPAA regulations can benefit largely from compliance software. It enables both covered entities and associates to audit their sensitive data and security measures to determine where they are already compliant, where they aren’t, and how to close remaining gaps.
HIPAA violation violates actions such as failing to keep PHI private, inappropriately accessing PHI data, or sending PHI via insecure methods. Individual health information violations can result in fines of up to $250,000 or imprisonment for up to ten years.
While the HIPAA Privacy Rule allows patients to access and manage their own PHI, the HITECH Act expands those rights by enabling patients to obtain electronic copies of their health records, provided that the covered entity keeps those records in that format. Additionally, HITECH forbids businesses from selling PHI unless very specific, limited circumstances apply. This successfully prevented service providers from making money off of treatment suggestions.
The security standards meant for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI are covered under the HIPAA security rule. It stipulates that covered entities must implement technical safeguards to prevent unauthorized access and related security incidents.
Organizations that create, maintain, or transmit protected health information (PHI) are required by HIPAA to abide by its rules. HIPAA is mandatory, in contrast to SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and non-compliance with the framework can result in hefty fines.
Since HIPAA does not mandate a third-party audit, it is difficult to know your compliance status at any given time. With the help of Scrut Automation’s HIPAA compliance framework, you can maintain compliance easily.
PCI DSS applies to any enterprise that accepts, shares, or stores any cardholder data, regardless of size or number of transactions.
PCI DSS was developed in retort to the increasing number of data breaches involving payment cards. It protects organizations and their customers against payment card fraud and theft.
PCI DSS is a data security standard designed to protect cardholder data Any company that processes, stores, or shares credit card data must comply with PCI DSS. In contrast, ISO 27001 provides a framework for that provides Information Security Management System (ISMS)
Moreover, ISO 27001 certification is optional.
Control objectives and compliance requirements under the PCI DSS are legally enforceable. While not required by law, the Payment Card Security Standards Council has the authority to instruct companies to follow PCI standards if they want to handle credit card transactions and to revoke that access if a company fails to meet the standards’ requirements.
Yes. PCI DSS compliance is required for all businesses that store, process, or transmit payment cardholder data.
Yes. Using a third-party company alone does not exempt a company from PCI DSS compliance. It may reduce their risk exposure and, as a result, the effort required to validate compliance. However, this does not allow them to disregard the PCI DSS.
At their discretion, payment brands may fine an acquiring bank $5,000 to $100,000 per month for PCI compliance violations. The banks will pass this fine on to the merchant and end your relationship or raise transaction fees.
PCI data includes cardholder personal data such as Name, Account number, Card expiration date, CVV or CVC, and authentication data, such as the magnetic stripe, chip, and pin data.
Step 1: Determine your PCI level.
Step 2: Complete a self-assessment questionnaire or have a QSA evaluate you.
Step 3: Build and strengthen an IT security program with Scrut Automation to protect cardholder personal data and meet the guidelines specified in the PCI control objectives.
STEP 4: Apply for a formal report with the PCI Security Standards Council
PCI DSS is an annual certification. But you are required to maintain the security of your environment throughout the year to achieve ongoing certification.
For smaller organizations at levels 2 to 4, PCI DSS compliance costs between $10,000 to $20,000. Whereas for large enterprises, PCI DSS compliance costs between $70,000 to $100,000.
Even if your organization only accepts one payment card annually, it must follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Imagine what happens when you don’t have time to read 1,800+ pages of documentation to figure out which of PCI DSS’s 300+ security controls apply to your company or when you don’t have the funds to hire consultants to become PCI compliant? Scrut Automation comes in! We streamline the PCI DSS compliance process, allowing you to focus on operations and sales.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is the USA’s first comprehensive privacy law. Effective January 2020, CCPA gives California consumers a variety of privacy rights. Businesses governed by the CCPA will have a number of obligations to their customers, including disclosures, GDPR-like consumer rights, an ‘opt-out’ for certain data transfers, and an ‘opt-in’ requirement for minors.
In contrast to GDPR, the CCPA only applies to residents of the state of California in the United States. The EU’s citizens are covered by the GDPR (EU). Furthermore, while the basic premise of both laws—namely, that people have certain rights over their personal data—is the same, the specific rights that each law provides are somewhat different.
Many of the CCPA’s rights granted to Californians are similar to the GDPR’s rights, including disclosure and consumer requests similar to DSR requests, such as access, deletion, and portability. Organizations that implement CCPA privacy compliance measures typically have stronger security and risk management controls in place to protect themselves from privacy risks.
With the help of the CCPA, organizations must be more accountable to consumers and more transparent regarding the data they collect and how they put it to use. Organizations benefit more from CCPA compliance in terms of competitive advantage. It allows them to reach a broader audience and draw clients who are more likely to favor businesses that respect their privacy. Organizations that establish proper measures for CCPA privacy compliance also showcase better security and risk management in their daily operations.
For-profit organizations must comply with the CCPA if they process the personal data of California residents. The organizations for whom CCPA is mandatory – irrespective of location – can be recognized in one of the following ways:
(A) If they have annual gross revenues of more than $25,000,000
(B) If they buy, receive, sell, or share for commercial purposes the personal data of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices each year, or
(C) they get 50% or more of their annual revenues from California residents.
The CCPA privacy law gives residents of California the right to know which data is being collected and how it is being used. The right to have their PI removed and the right to be treated equally when exercising their CCPA privacy rights are also provided to the residents.
Organizations that are governed by the CCPA are required to respect these rights in their everyday operations. Additionally, they must describe their privacy policies in their online privacy statement, which among other things, must describe how the organization gathers and uses individuals’ personal information.
The private right of action under the CCPA is limited to data breaches. Damages under a private right of action can range from $100 to $750 per incident and per consumer. The California Attorney General may also enforce the entire CCPA, with a civil penalty of up to $2,500 per violation or $7,500 per intentional violation.
No. The company need not take a person’s consent before collecting or using their personal information. The concept of CCPA comes into the picture if the company intends to sell information.
PI can be any information about an identified or identifiable individual. There is no distinction between a person’s personal, public, or professional roles. The defined term ‘personal information’ roughly corresponds to the GDPR term ‘personal data.’ However, CCPA does include family and household data.
The CCPA was launched in 2020, and it stipulated organizations uphold a long list of “consumer” legal rights to control the use of California residents’ personal data. Non-compliance with the CCPA can result in regulatory and civil enforcement actions, as well as significant monetary penalties for organizations. The challenges underlying CCPA compliance include limited implementation time, unstructured data management systems, and compliance with multiple state data privacy laws.
