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SOC 2 Compliance: Real Answers to Your Top Questions

by Team Trustero on December 1, 2022

Your boss:

“We need to get SOC 2 compliant.”

You:

You’ve probably heard so much same-sounding marketing talk about SOC 2 that it’s starting to blur together in your mind. Relax. Take some deep breaths and keep reading. Team Trustero will help you know what you really need to know to get started successfully.

Why does my company need to be SOC 2 compliant?

What You’ve Likely Heard:

“To close a deal with Company XYZ.”
“To pass our first/next audit” (since they happen at least annually).

The Real Answer:

You need SOC 2 compliance:

To close that deal and/or pass that audit (because we never said those answers were wrong), and:
- If your company delivers cloud services or stores customer information in the cloud.
- To show customers, partners and prospects that your company is investing in proven practices and solutions to protect critical information and mitigate risks to that information.
- To avoid having to complete multiple security questionnaires for customers, partners or prospects.
- To make the policies and processes that drive your business clearer, more consistent and more effective over time.

How Trustero Can Help: Trustero Compliance as a Service (CaaS) is built to ease and speed compliance. The platform also includes features specifically designed to help you achieve and sustain continuous compliance, even as requirements and your business evolve. Continuous compliance makes future audits faster and easier, and enables continuous improvement of your business policies and processes.

How do I get SOC 2 compliant?

What You’ve Likely Heard: “Buy our compliance automation tool!”

The Real Answer:

You’ll need a relationship with an auditor certified as a CPA by the AICPA and focused on information security audits. An experienced, reputable auditor will work with you to determine the specific steps you’ll need to take to prepare for and successfully complete a SOC 2 audit. Those steps include but are not limited to the following.

Establish the scope of your compliance effort.
Describe your company and its business from a compliance perspective.
Define the policies and processes that run and govern your business.
Align those policies and processes with the appropriate SOC 2 controls and requirements.
Identify and gather evidence that demonstrates compliance with those controls and requirements.
Work with your auditor to validate that evidence and create the final audit report that documents your compliance.
Repeat at least annually, and as required by current or prospective customers or business partners.

In addition, SOC 2 compliance affects or is affected by policies and processes across your entire organization. This means at minimum, your SOC 2 compliance journey should include corporate leadership as well as those responsible for Finance, HR, IT, Legal, and Security, both cyber and physical.

How Trustero Can Help: The Trustero platform includes features that address all of the tasks listed above, integrated with an easy-to-navigate user interface. Trustero CaaS walks you through each step in plain, clear language. It also automatically aligns your evidence collection and testing with your chosen controls and your auditor’s requirements. Comprehensive auditing and monitoring features help ensure you always know where you are and where you’re headed on your SOC 2 compliance journey. Optional add-on support options include a guaranteed SOC 2 report from a certified, reputable auditor.

How long does it take to become SOC 2 compliant?

What You’ve Likely Heard:

“Our amazing solution can have you audit-ready in weeks/days/hours!”

The Real Answer:

Many vendors offer tools that promise to get you “audit-ready” in weeks or days. There may even be some that promise to do so in a handful of hours. All of these tools suffer from two major drawbacks.

Their providers’ claims of the time required are often far more aspirational than definitive.
Their providers’ definitions of “audit-ready” can vary widely, from each other and from what your auditor needs or expects. “Audit-ready” doesn’t always mean “auditor-ready.”

For example, many current tools promise automated evidence collection and tout scores of integrations with other tools and systems. But those claimed integrations deliver little real value, because the evidence those tools collect and present is often in a format auditors can’t use without significant heavy lifting.

Team Trustero has heard from auditors who have refused to work with companies using particular tools because the evidence those tools produce isn’t really evidence at all. Those tools merely deliver status indicators and do not “show their work” sufficiently to satisfy auditor requirements. And some produce results almost entirely incompatible with auditors’ processes and systems.

Selecting the wrong tool can make your pursuit of SOC 2 compliance take longer, cost more, and make working with your auditor more challenging. Which is exactly the opposite of what you want and need a tool to do. Caveat emptor – “let the buyer beware.”

Beyond tool selection, preparing your team and your company for a first SOC 2 audit can take weeks to months. The time required depends on variables ranging from how long it takes to find an auditor you can work with to how well your current policies and processes are documented, enforced, and aligned with relevant SOC 2 controls. You and your auditor can and should perform a detailed pre-audit assessment of your business and IT environment. This step can ease and speed follow-on processes, but will take some time as well.

How Trustero Can Help: Trustero CaaS has multiple features designed specifically to ease and speed your SOC 2 compliance journey.

Auditor-vetted templates for policies and controls get you started quickly and minimize back-and-forth between you and your auditor.
AI-powered evidence and testing recommendations get you the results and validations you need in half the time required with other tools.
Automated alignment of evidence with controls and pro forma SOC 2 reports ensure you’re collecting and presenting evidence that’s credible and auditor-ready.
Trustero CaaS is available in combination with connections to certified, experienced auditors experienced with the platform. Those packages include a guaranteed successful SOC 2 audit and complete report.

Trustero CaaS provides clear detail about controls, related evidence and evidence suggestions.

How much does it cost to become SOC 2 compliant?

What You’ve Likely Heard:

“Our auditor(s) can get you SOC compliant for as little as $5,000!”

The Real Answer:

Yes, there are auditors who offer SOC 2 audits for as little as a few thousand dollars. However, experienced, respected, well-resourced auditors usually charge more and deliver more value. In addition, your auditor is but one necessary cost associated with SOC 2 compliance. You may find your business needs to invest in additional technologies or services to meet SOC 2 requirements, and the costs associated with such investments can quickly exceed those of a completed audit report.

Be prepared for cost estimates ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 or more, depending on your company’s specific needs and goals. Also remember that you must renew your compliance audit and report at least annually. Your goal isn’t just “one and done.” You need to achieve and sustain compliance, even as requirements change and your business evolves.

How Trustero Can Help: You need a solution that makes life easier for you and your team, and SOC 2 compliance faster, easier and less costly for your business, Trustero CaaS delivers features that do all of that and more.Here’s just a sample.

Automated alignment of controls, evidence and policies.
Collection, coordination and delivery of evidence in formats your auditor can use with minimal modification.
Clear, plain-language descriptions of controls, evidence and policies and their interdependencies.
Easy tracking and documentation of your compliance journey, including pro forma SOC 2 compliance reports.

What are the key things you need to understand about SOC 2 compliance?

Compliance is a marathon, not a sprint. SOC 2 compliance is not a “one and done” effort. You need to conduct a SOC 2 audit at least annually, and each SOC 2 audit can take months to complete. Each audit also requires participation from company leadership and can disrupt day-to-day operations, divert resources from your mainstream operations, or both. Good planning can help to minimize these challenges, but such planning itself requires time, commitment, and expertise.

Your ultimate goal should be a commitment to achieve and maintain continuous compliance, verifiable on demand at any time. It’s not just about generating a report. It’s also about implementing effective business policies, processes and controls, and using these to build a culture of compliance across your company.

Compliance is a floor, not a ceiling. SOC 2 is only one of many frameworks, industry standards and regulations with which your company must or should comply. Examples range from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the ISO/IEC 27001 international information security management standard.

Getting SOC 2 compliance right can provide valuable experience and a firm technological and operational foundation for your future compliance initiatives. Successful, sustained SOC 2 compliance can also help ensure that the internal controls that drive your business are consistently effective and secure, even as business needs change and cybersecurity threats evolve.

How Trustero Can Help: SOC 2 compliance is a critical foundation for the robust, consistent, transparent processes that enable verifiable trust for your company. Trustero Compliance as a Service (CaaS) is a cloud-based, AI-powered compliance automation platform. It works with you and your trusted auditor to achieve and sustain compliance year after year, effectively, efficiently, and economically – and without expensive investments in hardware, software, or services. Trusero also offers solution packages that include a guaranteed successful SOC 2 audit and complete report by a certified, reputable auditor.

SOC 2 compliance, simple, fast, automated and complete. With Trustero.

For more on how to achieve and sustain SOC 2 compliance, check out our complimentary ebook, “SOC 2 Compliance: Why it Matters and How to Get There.” And click here to learn more about Trustero CaaS or to schedule a demo.