SOC 2 Policies and Procedures

Aligning with the AICPA’s SOC 2 compliance framework shows your clients and potential clients that your organisation focuses on five key trust principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

While there aren’t mandatory SOC 2 policies and procedures, the standard does have ‘focus points’ your organisation needs to address if you’re working towards compliance – and these focus points include specific policies and procedures.

In this article we look at the policies and procedures your organisation may need to implement, their relevant clauses within the certification framework and the purpose behind each document.

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SOC 2 policies in brief

• SOC 2 focuses on five trust principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
• The article states there are no mandatory SOC 2 policies and procedures, but focus points still need to be addressed.
• Policies define the strategy for mitigating risks across the organisation.
• Procedures define the steps used to enforce those SOC 2 policies.

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What Are SOC 2 Policies and Procedures?

In the context of information security, policies are a set of guidelines that determine how your organisation’s information assets and resources should be applied, managed, and safeguarded. These policies address a risk or several related risks and define your strategy and approach to mitigating that risk, which should be applied across your organisation.

Procedures are used to define how your SOC 2 policies are enforced. They outline the steps that need to be taken to protect your organisation’s information assets, address potential threats and vulnerabilities, and respond to incidents.

SOC 2 Policies

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SOC 2 Procedures

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What Hicomply recommends

Hicomply recommends mapping SOC 2 focus points to policies, procedures, owners, and reusable evidence from the start. A single compliance platform is easier to keep audit-ready than a policy library in one place and procedure evidence somewhere else.

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Final thought

Not all of the SOC 2 policies and procedures outlined above will be focus points for your business, depending on the trust service principle you’re focusing on. Discover more about the standard through SOC 2 resources.

Looking to achieve SOC 2 certification for your business? The process is quick, easy and pain-free with Hicomply.