Security Operation Center (SOC) Experts
12.12.2021
12.12.2021
Going through a SOC audit can be overwhelming for many organizations, especially for businesses that are scheduled to undergo their first SOC 2 audit. Undoubtedly, a SOC 2 compliance report can add a unique selling point to your business and can also improve your organization’s reputation and performance by miles. However, passing a SOC 2 audit is a significant challenge for companies all over the globe. Many companies have common misunderstandings about the SOC 2 audit process and make critical mistakes that ultimately lead such companies to fail the SOC 2 audit.
To help your business overcome common SOC 2 audit challenges, in this article we will share with you the top 5 mistakes to avoid before starting a SOC 2 audit. However, before we dig deeper into the subject, you must understand the key areas of evaluation audited by the external auditors. An external auditor’s evaluation of your company’s policies and controls for protecting customer data is categorized in below five key areas:
These five areas can also be summarized as the CIA Triad. What is the CIA Triad? Confidentiality, integrity, and availability, also known as the CIA triad, is an IT Security model designed to guide policies for information security within an organization. Is your organizational security posture mature enough to satisfy all elements of the CIA triad?
If not, the chances of your business successfully passing a SOC 2 audit are slim. SOC 2 compliance process can quickly become extensive, expensive, and complex if your business lacks the essential security controls and data protection measures. Companies having sufficient security access and controls to satisfy all elements of a CIA triad are well equipped to successfully pass a SOC 2 audit, whether it be for SOC 2 report 1 or SOC 2 report 2.
With that being said, let’s move on to the top five mistakes that you must avoid to successfully pass a SOC 2 audit.
Not having a dedicated project manager can significantly reduce your chances of a positive SOC 2 audit result. The scope of a SOC 2 audit is broad, which means that you’re going to be collecting information and documentation from business functions, including HR, operations, systems admins, database professionals, and others.
A project manager can make communication streamlined between different departments while keeping the flow of critical information within the whole organization. A project manager keeping all the required information and documentation at hand can avoid auditors requesting documentation and information about the different security controls from different staff members. Not only can this save valuable time, but can also prevent frustration from both sides.
Effectively preparing for a SOC 2 audit is all about careful planning and exhaustive checks of all the essential documents and controls. Before engaging the external auditor or getting started with the SOC 2 audit process, it is important that you conduct a readiness assessment to identify the controls that will be examined during the audit, any missing controls, and any controls that lack documentation. Ensuring to perform these basic steps before the audit can significantly reduce the chances of unexpected control gaps and failures during the audit.
Many companies fail to identify and include the new processes, controls, and systems in the documentations that resulting in delays and additional workload. A SOC audit focuses on the environment and system you identify during planning. The inclusion of the new systems, processes, and controls into the scope that was not included in the previous documentation can cause delays even if the audit team is close to issuing you a SOC 2 report. Additionally, if the new evidence is provided outside of the initial audit period, this can require a new report period, which leads to additional work and unwanted delays.
This goes without saying that external auditors are going to evaluate a host of aspects of your organization. This includes your ability to demonstrate your company’s ability to protect sensitive data, your organizational cybersecurity infrastructure, workplace security policies and procedures, and specifically your ability to furnish accurate information and evidence upon request, in a timely and professional manner. To help you effectively prepare, below are some common information and documentation requests of SOC 2 auditors:
It is of utmost importance that you must keep all such critical information handy during the audit process to avoid any delays and frustration from both ends.
The importance of SOC 2 compliance is widely evident as securing SOC 2 compliance can undoubtedly improve your organizational performance and security by large. However, it is a mistake and a critical misunderstanding to believe that SOC compliance can be sufficient to tackle modern cyber security risks and is an answer to all your organizational security concerns. Receiving a SOC 2 compliance report does not mean that your business will not suffer or get impacted by a cyberattack or a data breach.
You must understand that cybersecurity is an ongoing process, because the security measures that you have in place today may become obsolete in upcoming years. Technology is ever-evolving and so are cybercriminals.
In other words, it is important to keep innovating your organizational security posture by conducting regular risk assessments, updating policies and procedures as changes occur in your environment, vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, updating business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and so on.
A failed SOC 2 audit can add to your expenses, make you lose valuable resources, and worse yet, due to some unaddressed security vulnerabilities, expose your organization to today’s modern cybersecurity threats. However, a SOC 2 audit can be faster, more efficient, and more helpful to your organization with some advanced preparation.
Need help preparing for your SOC 2 audit? Or do you need help in improving your overall organizational security posture? Whatever the case is, we are here to help! At NGN International we understand that each company is unique and needs customized solutions to meet specific goals. To get started the right way, get in touch so that we can help your organization with your auditing or other security needs.