SOC 2 Compliance Consulting Services

Step 1: Initial Readiness Assessment

In every compliance framework, there is always a baseline and a goal to work towards. It’s essential to establish a baseline in readiness assessments. By fully understanding your organization's policies, there are systems in place that can be examined and scrutinized. StrongBox IT SOC 2 readiness assessment experts compare your rest policies to the five SOC 2 Trust Service criteria.

Key activities:
Conduct stakeholder interviews.
Review documents and existing policies for best practices from other organizations.
Map existing and new controls to SOC 2 practices and policies.

Outcome: A precise, detailed description capturing the current state and insight describing the compliance gap with the SOC 2 audit.

Step 2: Gap Analysis & Risk Assessment

In the gap assessment, focus on evaluating where the predefined KPIs are being met or not. Outlined and documented in the initial assessments are the overreaching and overarching controls not met. Key technical, procedural and operational risks are taken into consideration too that stand the risk of impeding compliance.

Key activities:
Determine gaps in control frameworks
Assess the risk exposure for each trust criterion
Rank the risks in terms of the chances of their occurrence and the severity of impact.

Outcome: Actionable gap closure compliance gaps remediation plan.

Step 3: Action Plan Remediation and Control Implementation

Focus collaborative efforts with your internal teams to apply the necessary changes. This often intersects with formulating new policies, amending old, strengthening technical controls and operational processes, and building frameworks. Every implementation is aligned with SOC 2 and your business model.

Key activities:
Revising Access Control, and Incident Response policies along with Data Security, and the corresponding controls.
Implementation of monitoring and encryption controls.
Staff and compliance trainers for the new procedures.

Outcome: Control SOC 2 trust criteria compliance alignment.

Step 4: Validation and Control Testing

Conduct internal reviews, or mock audits, after control implementation to check the defined boundaries for each control. Validation ensures pre SOC 2 controls operating and documentation trust is established with all control-defined boundaries.

Key activities:
Perform penetration testing on the technical controls and the log monitoring systems
Check the documentation and the evidence for each control
Conduct scenario-based audits to close any remediation gaps

Outcome: Assurance that your organization is prepared for the official SOC 2 audit and will incur minimal findings.

Step 5: Coordinating the Auditor

Picking the right CPA firm is very important to the smooth execution of the audit. We aid in the identification of a trusted SOC 2 auditor, providing the necessary documentation and acting as your contact during the audit. Our consultants work to streamline the process, removing unnecessary steps by clarifying all prerequisites beforehand and preparing all documentation in one submission.

Key activities:
Suggest trusted SOC 2 audit firms
Retrieve and arrange relevant documents and evidence
Facilitate interaction between the audit team and your team

Outcome: Streamlined audit processes that reduce delay and disruption.

Step 6: Continued Support & Maintenance

SOC 2 is an ongoing requirement, not a one-time endeavor. We support your organization to ensure compliance even after the audit. We help ensure that you will not be caught by surprises amidst changes and future audits by conducting regular control reviews and policy updates.

Key activities:
Supervise governance and operational efficiency
Assist with yearly audits and evaluation exercises.
Revise policies following internal changes or external regulatory developments.

Outcome: Maintained compliance with the SOC 2 standard and developed a state of perpetual readiness for audits.