What is SOC 2 Compliance?

Understanding SOC 2 Compliance

SOC 2 Compliance has emerged as the de facto standard for demonstrating security trustworthiness, particularly for technology and service providers that handle customer data. Unlike rigid compliance frameworks with specific technical requirements, SOC 2 focuses on whether organizations have appropriate controls to meet security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy trust service criteria. The flexibility of the framework—allowing organizations to determine which controls best address these criteria for their specific services—is both its strength and challenge. Compliance requires defining control objectives, implementing appropriate measures, and undergoing external audits by certified public accountants, who issue reports attesting to the effectiveness of these controls. Organizations can pursue Type I reports (assessing control design at a point in time) or more rigorous Type II reports (evaluating operational effectiveness over a period, typically 6-12 months). The compliance process often drives significant security improvements beyond the audit itself, as organizations formalize policies, implement monitoring, and establish continuous control validation practices.