More and more organizations are having to undergo SOC 2 compliance, so take note of the SOC 2 for startups guide, compliments of NDB, one of Texas’ – and the country’s – leading providers of SOC 2 reporting.
Step 1 – Begin with a SOC 2 Scoping & Readiness Assessment
One of the most important tasks in becoming SOC 2 compliant begins by performing a SOC 2 Scoping & Readiness Assessment. Performed by experienced audit staff at NDB, a SOC 2 Scoping & Readiness Assessment yields the following significant benefits:
- The ability to quickly and clearly understand important audit issues regarding scope, control deficiencies (both operationally/technically and documentation gaps), personnel workload, third-party providers, and much more.
- The ability to develop an actionable roadmap for moving forward with all aspects of the audit, from immediate next steps to long-term plans for continuous monitoring of internal controls.
- The confidence of knowing that the audit is correctly scoped, planned accordingly, and ready to move forward with next steps.
To learn more about NDB’s SOC 2 services, contact us today at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and receive a fixed-fee quote.
Step 2 – Remediate Documentation (That’s Policies and Procedures!)
Next up for bat for SOC 2 for startups is documentation remediation. It’s without question one of the more time-consuming and mundane tasks for achieving SOC 2 compliance, but it’s got to be done. Most SOC 2 auditing firms will generally agree that the approximation of the number of different policies and procedures needed for compliance is around 30 or so. After all, you need policies for access control, change management, data backup, incident response, and many more. It’s important to either (a). source high-quality templates online or (b). find a proven, trusted firm that can author information security policies and procedures – quickly and cost-effectively. NDB offers both A and B as solutions!
Step 3 – Roll up Those Sleeves and Remediate Security and Operational Areas
Writing policies and procedures – while very important – is just one aspect of remediation in terms of SOC 2 compliance. The other “half” focuses on what’s known as security and operational remediation. For example, organizations might find that their I.T. systems are poorly configured, thus requiring re-configuring servers, making passwords stronger, re-writing firewall rules, etc. Other examples include; having employees perform security awareness training, testing the incident response and backup/contingency plans, and more.