Developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), SOC 2 defines criteria for managing customer data based on five “trust service criteria” — security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.

SOC 2 reports are unique to each organization. In line with specific business practices, each designs its own controls to comply with one or more of the trust principles. These internal reports provide you (along with regulators, business partners, suppliers, etc.) with important information about how your service provider manages data.

There are two types of SOC reports:

• Type I describes a vendor’s systems and whether their design is suitable to meet relevant trust principles as of a specified date

• Type II details the operational effectiveness of those systems throughout a specified period.

You may want to pursue a SOC 2 report if you handle customer data and/or you work with larger enterprises who will want to ensure that you are a secure vendor.