With the rise of online frauds, data security has become a critical element in businesses. It’s undeniable that as the security and compliance standards grow, it’s becoming challenging for enterprises to manage their compliance portfolio.

That being said, how can business owners ensure their sensitive data doesn’t end up in the wrong hands? The best way is to integrate SOC 2 certified Inspection Software with your company’s current management framework.

An Inspection Software acts as an enabler to good governance, regulatory compliance, and managing IT risks. These factors help you remain in compliance with the law.

A compliance framework like SOC 2 can assist you in determining whether or not your software is secure. This post will help familiarize you with the basics of SOC and how SOC 2 certified inspection software can ensure you’re meeting security requirements.

What is SOC 2?

As more and more organizations move their data to the cloud, inspection and auditing get tricky. For instance, it’s challenging to send an auditor to visit each cloud provider’s data center and inspect if they’ve got adequate measures in place to protect their data.

Therefore, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) introduced Service Organization Controls (SOC) to reduce risks relating to the management and monitoring of critical data and provide a scalable approach for auditors. 

SOC primarily targets companies and service providers that collect, store and analyze customer data in the cloud. There are three categories of SOC reporting. SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3:

SOC 1

The SOC1 report focuses on financial statement controls, and the audit report is not related to data security and privacy.

SOC 2

The SOC 2 audit tests confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy controls and provides a detailed confidential report.

SOC 3

SOC 3 is similar to SOC 2, but the only difference is that it contains high-level information about the data controls and policies and is available to maintain trust in the market.

However, if you need to find vendors to handle sensitive data, you should seek trustworthy organizations that have earned third-party audited certifications like SOC 2.

SOC 2 is a standard created to ensure that cloud service providers adhere to standard storage and use of other businesses’ data.

SOC2 reports are further divided into a Type 1 report and a Type 2 report:

SOC 2 Type	Scope of the report
SOC 2 Type 1 Report	Type 1 report documents an organization’s measures to secure itself against risk, and it helps find out if the organization has controls to prevent cyberattacks.
SOC 2 Type 2 Report	Type 2 reports document the suitability and effectiveness of the controls. Here the company has an audit period, and the report offers evidence regarding how a company’s rules were managed and operated over a particular period.

It’s not easy to comply with all the regulations your organization must follow. Furthermore, you might need a large team to handle compliance and deal with the paperwork making it hard to get everything done on time. 

But now, SOC 2 Certified Inspection Softwares help you work smarter and make it possible to stay compliant with government regulations while saving money and time. 

With multiple inspection software solutions available in the market, choosing one for your organization can be a bit of a puzzle. To help with the SOC 2 process, here’s the list of the software that your organization could look for.

The 3 Best SOC 2 Certified Inspection Software

SOC 2 certified inspection software is beneficial for helping your company meet the requirements of a SOC 2 audit.

Here is a list of three inspection software tools that offer SOC2 compliance:

1. A-LIGN

Founded in 2009, A-LIGN is the top issuer of SOC 2 reports in the world and have completed over 5,000 SOC 2 assessments. A-LIGN offers both the compliance automation software, A-SCEND, and expert auditors to help during every step of the SOC 2 audit journey — from readiness to report. Utilizing A-SCEND combined with live auditors, is the key to earning a quality final report respected by your prospects, customers and partners.

Here’s why A-LIGN is the best compliance partner for you:

• They offer compliance automation software plus expert auditors taking you from SOC 2 readiness to report
• They are a CPA firm authorized to issue SOC 2 reports
• A-LIGN’s compliance automation software offers:
  • Automated Evidence Collection
  • Policy Center
  • Continuous Monitoring
• Their SOC 2 Automated Readiness Assessment allows you to identify any issues or gap ahead of your audit, saving time and cost

2. Drata

Founded in 2020, Drata is a comprehensive solution that provides quick and easy security audits. The software offers over 20 pre-made auditors-approved security policy templates with a customization option to suit your requirements. With Drata, you’re sure to have all the documents you need to satisfy your clients.

Here’s why Drata can be the best for your organization:

1. User-friendly to help you start the process with ease.

2. Ability to integrate with 45 applications.

3. Offers customizable security policies

4. Excellent support service to always stay compliant.

3. Sprinto

Sprinto provides SOC 2 audits exclusively for cloud-hosted companies. Sprinto is a quick, hassle-free, and tech-enabled way to obtain compliance with a broad range of regulatory frameworks and compliance standards, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR & PCI DSS.

Here are some Sprinto features to make your compliance process easier:

1. 20+ built-in security policies to reduce manual overhead.

2. Makes employee on-boarding and off-boarding hassle-free.

3. Saves time and effort in collecting evidence by continuously monitoring your system.

4. Vanta

In 2017, Vanta was the first company to help organizations with SOC 2 compliance. It automates the monitoring of systems and evidence gathering for SOC 2. 

Vanta offers a variety of services, some of which are:

1. Detects inventories that do not meet compliance requirements and alerts customers about it.

2. Policy-tracking ensures all policies are in place and tracks existing policies if there is an update.

3. Vanta’s is known for its agents that help employees stay secure by notifying them about encryption, firewall, and antivirus status.

4. Vanta implements a detailed SLA (service level agreement) tracker. It tracks all incidents on Github and notifies them before the expiry date, making an organization more compliant.

How to Choose the Right SOC 2 Certified Inspection Software?

With so many different software packages out there, you can become overwhelmed when figuring out which one is right for you.  

Here are some key questions you should ask yourself when choosing SOC 2 certified inspection software:

1. Does the software support API integration? How many integrations are attainable with the software?
2. What is the pricing model of the software? Does it fit all of our needs?
3. Can I experience the features and then make a decision? Many software programs have free plans or provide you with a demo to help your decision-making process be more manageable.
4. Apart from SOC 2 certification, does the software help in other regulatory compliance certifications such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, or PCI?
5. Evaluate the software based on user-friendliness, customization, and automation parameters.

These questions will help you determine what type of SOC 2 Certified inspection software you need.

Pulse- Your Compliance Partner

Whether you are in the construction industry or part of retail services, Pulse, an AI-based audit, and inspection tool will help you meet OSHA guidelines and stand on top in the market. 

Having the right tools like Pulse will help you safeguard your organization from the inherent dangers of sensitive data accidentally finding its way out into the public domain.

Pulse makes it easy to stay on top of regulatory changes with customizable checklists, record errors and take immediate corrective measures related to compliance and quality control.Register here to experience the demo or call us at 1800-266-9988 for any queries.