SOC 2

SOC 2 has been developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and is used to define criteria for managing and handling customer data based on the five trust service principles: security, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, and privacy.

Every organization designs its controls in order to comply with either one or more trust principles, which are in lieu based on specific business practices. Along with your regulators, business partners, vendors, and suppliers, you also receive critical information about how your service provider manages data through these internal reports.

There are two types of SOC 2 reports:

• SOC 2 Type 1 report describes the vendor’s system and if their design is relevant and suitable to meet the applicable trust principles as of a specified date.
• SOC 2 Type 2 report lists the details of the operational effectiveness of the vendor systems throughout a specified time.

In case you want to work with larger enterprises or handle their customer data, you should look into pursuing a SOC 2 report. It will help them understand that you are a secure and reliable vendor to work with.