SOC 2 complianceGet your SOC 2 report without building a security team first.
Enterprise buyers ask for a SOC 2 report before they sign. A dedicated SecureSlate compliance lead scopes your Trust Services Criteria, writes the system description, and runs readiness, while our compliance automation platform collects evidence from your stack across the audit window. One fixed price covers the work.
Trust Services Criteria (AICPA): 61 criteria, 33 Security (Common Criteria), 3 Availability, 2 Confidentiality, 5 Processing integrity, 18 Privacy. 5 highlighted: Evidenced by included security scanning.
Evidenced by included security scanningScoped with your compliance lead
- Report types
- Type I and Type II
- Issued by
- An independent CPA firm
- Type II observation period
- Usually 3 to 12 months
The standard
A SOC 2 report is an auditor's opinion on your controls, not a certificate you frame.
SOC 2 is an attestation under AICPA standards. An independent CPA firm tests your controls against the Trust Services Criteria and reports what it found.
Security is required, the rest is your choice
The Security category, also called the Common Criteria, is in every SOC 2 report and covers 33 criteria from control environment to change management. Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy are added when your customer commitments call for them.
Type I or Type II
A Type I report tests whether controls are designed properly at a single date. A Type II report tests whether they operated effectively over an observation period, usually 3 to 12 months, and it is the version most enterprise buyers ask for.
A report your buyers actually read
The report includes your system description, management's assertion, the auditor's opinion, and for Type II every test performed and any exceptions found. Buyers read the exceptions, so evidence quality during the window matters as much as the controls.
How it works
We run your SOC 2 program so the audit window stays quiet.
Four stages from the scoping call to a report your buyers accept, with a named compliance lead accountable at every one.
Scope the report
We decide which Trust Services Criteria belong in the report, which products and systems it covers, and whether Type I or Type II fits your deal timeline. Your compliance lead then runs a readiness assessment against every criterion you include.
Build the controls and the system description
Policies drafted for how your company actually operates, controls implemented, and the system description written in the form auditors expect. Integrations connect to your cloud, identity provider, code host, HR system, and devices so evidence collects itself.
Operate through the observation window
For Type II, controls have to run for the whole period. Access reviews, change approvals, onboarding and offboarding, vendor reviews, and incident exercises happen on schedule, and continuous monitoring flags drift before it becomes an exception.
Audit, then renew every year
We coordinate with the independent CPA firm you choose, prepare evidence for their requests, and stay with you through fieldwork. After the report lands, the program rolls into the next window, with a bridge letter covering any gap between reports.
What is included
Everything your SOC 2 auditor samples, prepared before they ask.
SOC 2 compliance software and the expert who runs it arrive together under one fixed price, so the program does not land on your engineers.
A dedicated compliance lead
One experienced practitioner owns your SOC 2 program end to end. They scope the criteria, write the system description, prepare evidence requests, and answer the auditor directly, so your team reviews and approves instead of learning the framework.
A system description auditors accept
The system description covers your services, infrastructure, software, people, data, and procedures. We write it against the AICPA description criteria and keep it in step with what you actually run.
Evidence from the stack you already run
Connect your cloud provider, identity provider, code host, HR system, and devices once. Controls are tested continuously against live configuration, and when one fails, SecureSlate AI finds the gap and prepares a fix for your team to approve.
Access reviews, onboarding, and offboarding
Access controls under CC6.2 and CC6.3 are a common source of Type II exceptions. Access reviews, joiner and leaver tasks, device checks, and security training run on a schedule with evidence an auditor can sample.
Vendor risk for CC9.2
Every subprocessor and critical vendor needs due diligence and a review cadence. We keep the vendor inventory, SOC report reviews, and follow-ups current across the observation period.
A Trust Center and questionnaire automation
Share your SOC 2 report under NDA from a live Trust Center, and answer security questionnaires from your own policies and evidence, so the report starts closing deals the week it lands.
Common Criteria evidence
Several SOC 2 criteria need evidence from your code and cloud, not a policy.
System operations and change management are tested against what actually runs. Security scanning is part of the engagement, so the evidence comes from your real repositories, domains, and cloud accounts.
CC7.1, CC8.1
Code security scanning
Repositories scanned for vulnerable code, with findings classified by CWE and ranked by severity. That shows changes are tested and vulnerabilities detected, not only that a change policy exists.
CC6.1
Secrets detection
API keys, tokens, and credentials committed to source code, found and pinpointed to the file and line, so logical access is protected where it most often leaks.
CC7.1, CC8.1
Dependency and license risk
An SBOM for every repository, with vulnerable and risky open source components flagged. It shows third-party code is evaluated before and after it ships.
CC6.6, CC7.1
Public surface monitoring
Your domains and forgotten subdomains scanned on a schedule and when you ship, showing that threats and vulnerabilities at the system boundary are identified and fixed.
CC6.1, CC7.2
Dark web monitoring
Company email addresses checked against known breach data, so exposed credentials are found and rotated as part of monitoring for anomalies.
CC6.1, CC7.1
Cloud misconfiguration checks
AWS, Azure, and GCP configurations checked through read-only access for risky settings in encryption, access, logging, and networking.
Beyond SOC 2
One program, several frameworks.
Controls built for SOC 2 carry into the standards your buyers ask for next, so the second framework extends the program instead of starting a new one.
ISO 27001
The certificate European and enterprise buyers expect. Most SOC 2 controls carry over, and ISO 27001 adds a formal management system around them.
HIPAA
If you handle protected health information, the Security Rule safeguards overlap heavily with SOC 2 access, logging, and risk controls.
ISO 42001
Buyers asking about your AI features want to see AI governance, and ISO 42001 reuses the risk and vendor work SOC 2 already requires.
GDPR
The SOC 2 Privacy and Confidentiality criteria cover part of what GDPR expects. GDPR adds lawful basis, data subject rights, and records of processing.
SOC 1
If your service affects customers' financial reporting, their auditors may ask for a SOC 1 report on the controls relevant to it.
SOC 3
A general-use summary of your SOC 2 you can publish openly, useful when the full report is shared with customers only under NDA.
Customer results
SOC 2 results from SecureSlate customers
SaaS and healthcare teams that needed a SOC 2 report for their buyers without pulling engineers off the roadmap.
SOC 2
Meetrics unblocked enterprise deals with SOC 2 readiness a lean team could run
70%
Lower platform cost for Elfie after consolidating SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA on SecureSlate
What used to take weeks now takes days. Automated workflows and real-time tracking eliminated the manual overhead. We always know our compliance status.
Sarah Director of Security at Shortwave
We needed compliance that scaled with us. SecureSlate cut compliance costs while improving audit readiness. The ROI showed up immediately.
Michael CTO at Echonet
Resources
Read up before your scoping call.
Practical guides to SOC 2, from the criteria themselves to what the audit costs.
FAQs
What teams ask before starting SOC 2.
A Type I can follow shortly after readiness because it tests a single date. A Type II needs an observation period, usually 3 to 12 months, before fieldwork starts. Your scoping call gives you a dated plan, including when the report can realistically be in a buyer's hands.
Start with Type I if a deal needs something soon and your buyer will accept it, then move to Type II. If buyers already ask for Type II, start its observation window as early as your controls allow instead of spending time on a Type I nobody will read.
Security is required in every report. Add Availability if customers depend on your uptime commitments, Confidentiality if you handle confidential business data, Processing Integrity if you process transactions for customers, and Privacy if you collect and use personal information. Adding criteria nobody asked for increases scope without winning deals.
One fixed price agreed before work starts, covering the platform, the expert work, and the security scanning. The CPA firm's audit fee is paid to them directly, because the auditor has to stay independent of whoever helped you prepare. We give you a realistic range for that fee on the scoping call.
No. A SOC 2 report can only be issued by an independent CPA firm. We coordinate with the auditor you choose or one from our partner network, prepare evidence for their requests, and support you through fieldwork.
No. SOC 2 is an attestation: the auditor gives an opinion on your controls rather than issuing a certificate. There is no formal expiry, but buyers generally expect a report covering the last 12 months, which is why most companies renew every year.
Exceptions are listed in the report, usually with management's response. A few minor exceptions rarely stop a deal, but repeated failures in areas such as access reviews or change management can lead to a qualified opinion. Continuous monitoring during the window is how you catch them while they can still be fixed.
A lot. Access control, change management, vendor risk, incident response, and monitoring map closely. SOC 2 adds a system description, the criteria-based testing format, and for Type II an observation period. We reuse your existing evidence and build only what is missing.
Much of the evidence work can. Cloud configuration, identity and access data, device checks, training records, vendor tracking, and code and surface scanning are collected and tested continuously. Scoping the report, writing the system description, and deciding how controls should work for your business need people, which is why every engagement includes a compliance lead.
Compliance software gives you templates, integrations, and a dashboard, but your team still runs the program. A consultant brings the expertise, but evidence often stays manual once the engagement ends. SecureSlate combines both: a dedicated compliance lead who does the work on a compliance automation platform, with security scanning inside the same fixed price.
Find out what your SOC 2 report will take
Bring your scope and the buyer asking for it. You will leave the call with a gap summary, a timeline, and a fixed price, whether or not you work with us.
