SOC 2 Audit Firm

SOC 2 Certification Builds Trust

Relying on trusted third-party service organizations to perform ongoing specialized skills, tasks, functions, and projects is an extremely attractive strategy for businesses of all sizes and industries today. Given the value and weight of each SOC 2 reporting session to clients, it is important that service organizations do everything possible to provide assurance regarding internal controls through assessment and attestation.

SOC 2 audits review controls that are directly related to the AICPA’s Trust Services Criteria. The final deliverable is a SOC 2 audit report on internal controls of the service organization as they relate to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Following a successful audit, a SOC 2 report validates the organization’s commitment to providing clients with high-quality, secure services.

Why Trust I.S. Partners for SOC 2 Certification & Compliance?

As a licensed CPA firm and member of the AICPA & CIMA, SOC 2 compliance is one of our specialties.

We have a long history (over 20 years) of providing successful SOC 2 audits to businesses and organizations in the U.S.A, Canada, Europe and across the globe.

Our in-house, U.S. based team of experienced auditors have a deep understanding of the requirements and will guide you through the audit process. Ultimately, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive report that ensures your service organization is SOC 2 compliant.

What I.S. Partners Delivers

SOC 2 compliance report describing results of the tests performed.
Audit assertions letter.
Seal of Excellence to show successful completion of the SOC 2 audit.
SOC 2 compliance training and awareness for personnel.

SOC 2 Type I and SOC 2 Type II Compliance Services

I.S. Partners, LLC provides two types of SOC 2 audits for service organizations. A Type I audit examines the controls used by service organizations to address any one or all five Trust Service Principles. The audit provides assurance that controls are designed effectively to meet the desired objectives at a point in time.

A Type 2 audit includes the same information as a Type I audit, but with the additional attestation that a service organization’s controls are tested for operating effectiveness over a period of time.

I.S. Partners can help your organization prepare for the upcoming SOC 2 auditing and reporting period. Contact us to start the process.

SOC 2 Readiness Services

Readiness testing is crucial because service organizations need to fully and comprehensively evaluate their whole control environment before launching an official SOC 2 audit. It is not at all unusual for flaws and vulnerabilities to surface during a SOC 2 readiness assessment. The readiness phase is your organization’s opportunity to identify problems and take corrective action in order to avoid less than satisfactory findings in the final SOC 2 audit report.

The Ability to Narrow the Scope of the Audit. Readiness testing effectively narrows the scope to the exact process and systems that must be included in the upcoming SOC 2 audit. It helps save valuable time and resources.
The Opportunity to Clarify Remediation Strategies. It is important to know exactly what is needed for remediation and draft CAPs before launching the audit.

Start the process of obtaining your SOC 2 Seal of Excellence.

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FAQs

Common Questions

What Is the definition of SOC?

SOC, meaning System and Organization Controls, is one section of a comprehensive auditing suite that focuses on system-level controls of a service organization. Where SOC 1 focuses on the internal controls over financial reporting, SOC 2 concentrates on the protection and privacy of data.

What is the difference between a SOC 1 audit and SOC 2 audit?

The main difference between SOC 1 and SOC 2 audits is their focus: A SOC 1 audit concentrates on the internal controls over financial reporting, while SOC 2 is concerned with the controls related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

Related Article: SOC 1 VS SOC 2 Reports – Do You Know The Difference?

What is the purpose of a SOC 2 audit?

Many companies find outsourcing certain services, such as data hosting, colocation, data processing, and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cost-efficient.

The data that is transmitted, stored, maintained, processed and disposed of by these service providers must be kept confidential, secure, private, and available for use. In addition, a service provider’s system processing must be complete, accurate, timely, and authorized.

A SOC 2 Audit ensures that the five Trust Service Principles of Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy are being addressed by their service organization’s controls.

What is the advantage of SOC over other data security frameworks?

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) works to keep the Trust Services Criteria, or Common Criteria, up to date based on the latest technologies and the ever-changing business environment. The AICPA’s Assurance Services Executive Committee (ASEC) and its Trust Information Integrity Task Force monitor and ensure technical accuracy of the TCS to cover the expanding operational scope for engaged organizations. It is also dedicated to making the compliance process as efficient as possible by eliminating redundancy whenever possible.

Why was SOC 2 created?

The AICPA designed and established SOC 2 as the premier auditing standard to address the continuing trend of cloud computing. However, SOC 2 was not the original name, or even the original concept of this auditing standard.

The original standard, now known as SOC 2, was preceded by SAS 70. SAS 70 provided guidance to the independent auditor to issue an appropriate opinion and report on the organization’s control objectives.

In 2011, the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16 replaced SAS 70 and established a new attestation standard (AT 801). SSAE No. 16 later became SOC 1 to focus only on financial controls.

SOC 2 was developed to concentrate on data sent to service organizations, primarily to prevent misuse, whether intentionally or inadvertently.

What does SOC 2 compliance require?

On a very high level, the key requirement of SOC 2 is that organizations develop written security policies and procedures that are followed by all employees. These policies and procedures will be used as guides by auditors who will be reviewing them. Policies and procedures should address cloud-stored data’s security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

What types of service providers should be compliant?

Companies are more heavily on information technology service providers to help reduce and control operating costs, gain access cutting-edge technology, and to free internal IT resources to focus on core business tasks. The most common service organizations access the client’s internal network and cloud infrastructure to perform duties associated with the following:
1. Colocation
2. Data hosting
3. Data processing
4. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
5. Data-as-a-Service (DaaS)
6. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
7. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
8. Shared hosting
9. Virtual Private Server (VPS)

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SOC 2 Certification Builds Trust

Why Trust I.S. Partners for SOC 2 Certification & Compliance?

What I.S. Partners Delivers

SOC 2 Type I and SOC 2 Type II Compliance Services

SOC 2 Readiness Services

Common Questions

Learn More About SOC 2 Services

SOC 1 vs. SOC 2 Reports – Do You Know The Difference?

SOC 1 vs SOC2 vs SOC 3: What’s the Difference?

Checklist for SOC 2 Audit Preparation in Google Cloud

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