SOC2

SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is a widely recognized compliance framework that evaluates how an organization manages customer data based on five "trust service criteria":

🔐 What Is SOC 2?

• Developed by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)

• Focuses on non-financial controls relevant to data security, availability, and privacy

• Commonly required for SaaS, cloud, fintech, and enterprise IT service providers

✅ SOC 2 Trust Service Criteria

Principle	What It Ensures
Security	Protection against unauthorized access (firewalls, IAM, MFA)
Availability	System uptime, disaster recovery, and performance monitoring
Processing Integrity	Systems process data accurately, timely, and authorized
Confidentiality	Data is protected (encryption, access controls, NDA)
Privacy	Personal data is collected, stored, and shared appropriately

📄 SOC 2 Report Types

Type	Description
Type I	Audit at a point in time — design of controls
Type II	Audit over a period (typically 3–12 months) — design and effectiveness of controls

💡 Type II is more valuable for enterprise clients as it proves ongoing compliance.

🏗️ What Does SOC 2 Cover in Practice?

• Access controls, identity & permission management

• Security incident response process

• Data encryption (at rest/in transit)

• Logging, monitoring, and alerting

• Vendor risk management

• Backup & disaster recovery

• Privacy impact assessments

🧰 Common Tools & Integrations

• SIEM (Splunk, Datadog, AWS GuardDuty, Azure Sentinel)

• IAM/SSO (Okta, Azure AD, AWS IAM)

• Vulnerability scanning (Qualys, Nessus)

• Change tracking (JIRA, GitHub, Azure DevOps)

• DR/BCP (AWS DRS, Azure Site Recovery)

📊 Why SOC 2 Matters

Benefit	Value
Builds customer trust	Especially for B2B and regulated industries
Enables enterprise deals	SOC 2 often required by banks, healthcare, etc.
Improves internal security	Forces best practices, audit readiness
Competitive advantage	SOC 2-certified vendors are preferred

🚀 In Interview Terms:

“SOC 2 Type II compliance demonstrates that your org has institutionalized controls across security, availability, and privacy. I’ve led initiatives to meet these standards using DevSecOps, role-based access, DR automation, and regular pen testing, aligning both cloud and engineering processes with audit expectations.”