What does SOC 2 compliance involve?

• A. Adhering to standards for managing customer data
• B. Ensuring employees have proper access controls
• C. Limiting the number of third-party vendors
• D. Reducing incident response time

Answer: (A)

SOC 2 compliance involves adhering to standards for managing customer data, which is central to the framework established by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). This compliance focuses on the controls related to the Trust Services Criteria—security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy—ensuring that service providers secure customer information and maintain its confidentiality. Organizations that achieve SOC 2 compliance demonstrate that they have rigorous policies, procedures, and practices in place to protect customer data and manage information in a way that builds trust with clients.

While the other options touch on elements that may be part of an overall data security strategy, they do not encapsulate the comprehensive scope of SOC 2 compliance. For instance, ensuring proper access controls is indeed important but is just one aspect of managing customer data. Similarly, limiting the number of third-party vendors and reducing incident response time, while valuable practices in risk management, do not specifically address the holistic approach required by SOC 2, which fundamentally focuses on the governance and management of customer data and overall information security practices.