In this day and age, online security is a major concern for large companies. As we mentioned earlier in another article, Cloud Computing is a great opportunity for growing businesses that want to avoid expenses and have a lot of data to store; therefore, it is important to know that your information is being safeguarded in the safest way possible – that’s where de SOC 2 certification can clear your doubts.
SOC 2 is one of the most common Saas (Software as a service) compliance requirements that ensure your service providers securely manage your data with unique parameters, and it’s a must in today’s market; it is the minimum requirement when considering hiring a company to manage your data or outsource you. Another service that goes hand to hand is BPaaS (Business Process as a Service), where instead of software, it offers: access, monitoring, remote data management, networking, and also the management of accounting information while reducing operating costs, in which MOS is at the forefront.
Saas (Software as a service) means that instead of purchasing said software, install it and run it from your services; you pay a monthly/yearly fee to have someone run it from their services for you, in other words, you pay rent for that software. This way you don’t have to worry about buying servers to run it and maintaining them.
SOC stands for Service and Organization Controls and was developed by the American Institute of CPAs based on the five points of focus of the Trust Services Criteria (TSC). You can get the SOC 2 certification if you can show to outside auditors that you count with one or more of the five points of focus that it is based on:
Security: Count with an impeccable protection system that prevents unauthorized access to third parties; thus to avoid potential theft of data, misuse or removal of your information. Tools like Firewalls, Intrusion Detection, and Two Factor Authorization are useful to prevent any security breaches.
Confidentiality: This principle addresses the agreement that beforehand you agreed with your clients regarding their information; who can access it, and how do you protect it. The sensitive information that you want to protect could include business plans, employee information, intellectual property, etc.
Availability: Also agreed with the client beforehand. Your service needs to be always available at the time that you stipulated with your client. Also, be available to be monitoring their network in case something fails.
Processing Integrity: The purpose of this point is to assure your client that every process and service it’s done in time and in the best manner possible.
Privacy: It speaks on his own. It addresses how you collect data, the user’s and client information, their privacy, etc. And how do you handle it according to what you agreed to.
Types of SOC 2
There are two different types of SOC 2, Type 1 and Type 2. And it’s important to know which one is better for your company.
Type 1 refers to the suitability of SOC 2 at a certain period of time. It informs that at least until that period of time, the company counts on SOC 2 in an efficient and functional way. The specific characteristics of Type 1 consist of a description of your organization’s system as a whole, assess the design of your organization’s internal controls and tests a specific point in time. The auditor will base the report on the description of the controls and review of documentation around them.
Type 2 gives greater security, the difference is that the auditor is aware of your handling of SOC 2 between six and twelve months, and instead of saying that up to this point you had, as in Type 1, now you can say that your system is and will remain in shape at least until that period of time, giving your customers greater confidence.