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Do you know what SOC 2 is? Short for Security Organization Control 2, SOC 2 is a reporting system that reports on various IT aspects like storing customer data in the cloud, offering services to vendors, and more. The main goal of SOC 2 is to ensure the privacy, confidentiality, and security of any company data, and SOC 2 also proves the steps you have taken as a business to keep that data secure.
That said, how does a company comply with SOC 2? It all starts by understanding the foundations of SOC 2. In this article, we'll talk about the five principles that make up SOC 2 to help businesses understand what is expected out of them:
1. Privacy
When it comes to privacy, the main focus of SOC 2 is on putting in the suitable types of controls to ensure only the authorised individuals can access data they are supposed to access. In other words, privacy under SOC 2 is all about providing data that doesn't fall into the wrong hands, and whether it be during collection, usage, or disclosure of data, it should remain private at all times.
2. Security
Under security, SOC 2's goal is to ensure that all forms of data, whether it be physical data or electronic data, are protected from unauthorised access. Data must be protected from various risks such as hacks, attacks, and similar activities.
3. Availability
Thanks to the above two SOC 2 principles, one may assume that accessing data they are authorised to access is a big hassle. However, under availability, SOC 2 has made it a principle that information that is to be accessed should be easily accessible.
In other words, anyone who has the proper credentials to access specific data must be provided with the ability to do it smoothly, quickly, and efficiently.
4. Confidentiality
Confidentiality, sometimes referred to as trust, talks about how data should be handled between two entities. It revolves around establishing rules and principles and following what was found to ensure that only specific organisations can access data that they are allowed to access.
5. Process Integrity
Process integrity doesn't deal directly with data as much as the above principles. Instead, as the name implies, process integrity focuses on just how well the controls keep data safe and secure. In other words, it ensures that all rules used to protect the data in the first place are being implemented into the real world. This principle exists because many organisations may set guidelines, only to end up leaving it at that. They end up not implementing the policy, let alone create actionable guidelines.
Conclusion
If you are a small or medium-sized business looking to create a safer, more secure business in today's world, being SOC 2 compliant is a must. To do so, you will need a SOC 2 compliance team that can set up specific compliance goals to ensure that, by the end of it all, you can sit back and relax, knowing the data your organisation is handling is safe and secure.
That said, if you need help being SOC 2 compliant, we highly recommend reaching out to an IT security consulting firm to understand exactly what you are missing and what you can do to become fully compliant!
Scaramanga is a Swiss-based consulting firm with expertise in information security and compliance consulting to help businesses remain compliant and secure throughout their processes. If you are looking for data compliance assistance, reach out to us today!