How to Get SOC 2 Certified: A Complete Guide to SOC 2 Attestation

CyberCrest supports cloud and SaaS teams with a clear plan from readiness to report. We map boundaries, design controls, coach owners, and curate artifacts that withstand questions. You will see the SOC 2 attestation process step by step, a practical control map for engineers and operations, and a checklist for leadership. Use this page to align product, security, and compliance around one playbook. The goal is simple: protect data and present a clean, credible report to customers and partners.

Read also: How To Get SOC 2 For Startups

Quick answer: What SOC 2 means to buyers

SOC 2 is an attestation by a licensed CPA firm that your controls meet selected trust services criteria and that those controls operate as described. Buyers use your report to judge risk and speed onboarding. Market language can be loose. Some people use inaccurate terms; keep your wording precise in sales conversations and agreements (1; 2).

“Type I” and “Type II” in plain words

SOC 2 offers two report types:
Type I reviews the design of controls at a point in time.
Type II reviews design plus operating effectiveness across a defined audit period, then issues a Type II report.
When teams talk about a SOC type 2 report, they mean passing a Type II audit with evidence that controls worked over months. Type II carries more weight for procurement, due diligence, and renewals, because it tests operational effectiveness during real work (1).

What buyers expect to see in a report

• A complete SOC 2 package includes:
• Management assertion
• Independent auditor’s report and opinion
• System description: services, components, boundaries, and audit scope
• Control objectives mapped to trust principles (Security plus any selected criteria)
• Tests of controls with results
• Complementary user entity controls (what your customers must do)
• Subservice carveouts or inclusions for third-party vendors

Teams also maintain a controls matrix that maps each criterion to policy, process, and proof. This matrix becomes your daily guide during operations and your index during evidence collection (3).

The Five Trust Services Criteria

Pick the categories that match your commitments. Security is always in scope. Add more when customer needs or contracts require them.

• Security (common criteria): access, logging, change, and incident handling that protect systems from unauthorized use.
• Availability: resilience, capacity, and recovery commitments.
• Processing integrity: accurate and timely data processing that preserves data integrity.
• Confidentiality: safeguarding nonpublic business data and intellectual property.
• Privacy: collection and use of personal data aligned to promises and rules.

Each category maps to specific points of focus that guide internal controls and tests (2).

Core controls that pass audits and help teams

Build depth where auditors spend time and where risk is highest.

Access controls

Use SSO across admin tools. Enforce multi-factor authentication. Grant least privilege. Review access on a fixed cadence. Remove access at exit. Log every privileged action.

Change and configuration

Adopt code-based baselines for systems and infrastructure. Require peer reviews before deployment and track differences with documented approvals. Detect and correct configuration drift promptly. Link each change to a ticket that includes clear rollback steps to maintain control and accountability.

Logging and detection

Ship logs from apps, hosts, and network paths. Retain them with tamper protection. Alert on admin, auth, and high-risk data moves. Investigate alerts and record closure notes.

Backups and recovery

Back up critical stores. Isolate backup access. Test restores and record times. Keep downtime runbooks that frontline teams can follow.

Vendor management

List each provider. Store agreements, controls summaries, and reports. Record shared duties. Track reviews and findings. Vendor-related issues are a common risk area; ensure vendor controls are evaluated alongside internal controls.

Security policies

Keep one page per topic with a short summary. Link to procedures that staff can follow. Policies guide work only when people can read and act on them.

These themes show a strong security posture to auditors and help reduce risk exposure.

Who does what during the audit

A SOC 2 report must be issued by certified public accountants. The independent auditor plans and performs testing, then expresses an opinion. In practice, CPAs conduct testing; internal teams provide evidence; legal and product roles vary by organization (1).

Read also: How Much Does a SOC 2 Audit Cost?

Readiness: map scope and close gaps

A short, focused readiness phase prevents churn later.

• Define the system: services, regions, tenants, identities, networks, and cloud services.
• Decide report type and categories.
•  Write a simple narrative of the system. Include service organizations you rely on.
• Draft or update policies and procedures.
• Run a gap review against selected criteria.
• Fix high-value items in identity, logging, change, and recovery.
• Stand up an evidence library with a naming rule: criterion_system_date.

This set puts structure around your controls and makes testing smoother.

The SOC 2 attestation process as a step-by-step plan

Use this ladder to keep momentum. It also answers buyers who ask how to get a SOC 2 report.

1. Pick scope and type

Select Type I or Type II and the categories you will include. Align with sales commitments and customer requests.

2. Write the system description

Keep it short and clear. Name components and boundaries in the same way they appear in consoles and code.

3. Design controls

Map points of focus on policies, procedures, and technical controls. Assign owners.

4. Run a readiness check

Sample controls. Pull artifacts with dates. Close immediate gaps in access, logging, and change paths.

5. Select your auditor

Choose external auditors with sector experience. Confirm calendar, artifacts, and communication method.

6. Fieldwork

Walk through controls. Share tickets, screenshots, and exports. Demonstrate live systems.

7. Address exceptions

Fix gaps fast. Post diffs, release notes, and new scans. Explain root causes and prevention steps.

8. Report draft and review

Review wording and carveouts. Confirm that descriptions match reality.

9. Final report

Deliver to customers under NDA. Store safely with version and date.

10. Operate and improve

Keep a monthly rhythm for scans, access reviews, and backup tests. Prepare for the next period.
This is the reliable path teams follow across soc reports and years.

Evidence that carries weight

Auditors test design and operating effectiveness. Strong artifacts include:

• Access reviews with decisions and timestamps
• Admin logs from identity, cloud, and source control
• Change tickets with approvals and deployment IDs
• Baseline exports from hosts and network gear
• Backup job history and successful restore notes
• Vendor files with contracts and reports
• Incident records with timelines and actions

Store each artifact once, label it cleanly, and link it to the relevant criterion.

SaaS, cloud, and shared responsibility

SaaS companies rely on cloud computing vendors, making shared responsibility a central part of compliance. Capture these responsibilities clearly in the system description, specifying what the platform secures and what your team secures. Keep platform attestations readily available. Map controls to tenant settings, network policies, and pipelines. This is the point where technical security controls and operating processes intersect.

Privacy, PII, and confidentiality

Many teams process personally identifiable information and sensitive customer data. Apply least data principles. Limit exports. Encrypt at rest and in transit. Tokenize or mask where possible. Use clear retention rules. These steps protect customer data and reduce exposure during a data breach.

Availability and business continuity

Availability commitments create tests. Measure uptime. Track capacity trends. Practice recovery. Keep service diagrams current. Link monitoring alarms to on-call paths. Treat resilience as engineering work, not only compliance text.

Processing integrity for data-driven products

If you claim integrity, show it. Validate inputs. Reconcile key transactions. Monitor queues and jobs. Record detection and correction steps. This work proves processing integrity and supports customer trust.

Controls for confidentiality

Define what is confidential in your environment. Restrict access to repositories and workspaces. Log access to confidential sets. Apply secure wipe for retired media. Keep confidentiality promises tied to contracts.

Privacy category notes

If privacy is in scope, align promises to controls in product flows and support desk paths. Give users clear choices. Record fulfillment of requests. Keep logs that show request timelines and outcomes.

Vendor and subservice oversight

Your report will name subservice providers. Keep a short file for each:

• Purpose and data flows
• Contract and control summaries
•  Locations and region notes
• Incident contacts and response paths
•  Review date and findings

Vendor strength becomes your strength when customers read your report.

Metrics leadership cares about

• Publish a small set of numbers:
• Time to remove access at exit
• Patch coverage across fleets
•  Restore test pass rate and time to recover
• Age of open findings
•  Vendor reviews on time
• Alert triage and closure time

Metrics show control health and keep teams on track.

Common pitfalls and simple fixes

• Drift between docs and consoles: standardize names and update narratives after every major change.
• Sparse logs: verify coverage and retention. Add alerts on high-risk events.
• Privilege sprawl: prune roles and keys. Enforce just-in-time elevation.
• Weak vendor files: add reports and contacts. Note shared duties.
• Backup only on paper: run restores and record times.

Small fixes here prevent larger issues during fieldwork.

Cost, schedule, and staffing

Budget for controls, tooling, and the audit. Reserve time for owners to gather proof. Type II adds months of operation and a longer window for testing. A calendar with owners and dates prevents last-minute scrambles.

Communications with customers

Share a one-page summary that names the scope, report type, period, and categories. Explain the complementary controls they must run. Provide a secure channel for report delivery. Clear communication builds confidence and reduces back and forth (3).

Language buyers use

You will see phrases like SOC 2 compliance and SOC 2 reports in RFPs and questionnaires. Treat them as requests for a current SOC 2 Type I or Type II report from an accredited firm. Answer in plain language and attach your summary.

Relation to other standards

SOC 2 maps cleanly to many control sets. You can reuse identity, logging, change, and recovery evidence across other reviews. Maintain one evidence library and label artifacts by control ID and program. Reuse reduces effort and keeps quality high.

What an annual rhythm looks like

Month 1–2: refresh system description, update policies, and confirm owners.‍

Month 3–4: run internal sampling and fix gaps.‍

Month 5–6: fieldwork with the auditor.‍

Month 7–8: close exceptions and issue the report.‍

Month 9–12: operate, measure, and improve.

A steady rhythm turns compliance into part of normal work.

Security criteria in practice: a compact control map

• Identity and access: SSO, MFA, least privilege, periodic reviews.
• Change: code-based baselines, approvals, and tracked deploys.
• Logging: central collection, retention, and targeted alerts.
• Vulnerability and patch: scan, prioritize, fix, and report coverage.
• Endpoint protection: hardening and security tools with centralized policy.
• Network: segmentation and filtered egress.
•  Key management: rotation and split duties.
• Incident response: roles, playbooks, and post-incident lessons.
• Training: role-based content with tested understanding.
• Data security: encryption, masking, and safe exports that support data security promises.

This map supports the security framework at the core of SOC 2 (2).

Who benefits inside the company?

• Product and engineering gain clear change paths and fewer surprises.
• Security gets measured, repeatable outcomes.
• Sales move faster through due diligence.
• Customers see reduced risk and smoother onboarding.
• SOC 2 helps more than contracts; it makes work cleaner.

Notes on scope creep

Keep your boundary tight. Add features and regions only when teams can absorb the control work. Document each change, update diagrams, and adjust monitoring. Tight scope prevents last-minute fatigue.

One-page readiness checklist

• System description drafted
• Categories chosen and mapped to owners
• Policies and procedures published
•  Identity hardened (SSO, MFA, least privilege)
•  Logging and alert rules in place
• Change path with approvals live
• Backups tested and recorded
•  Vendor files complete
• Evidence library created with naming rules
• Internal sampling complete with fixes in flight
• Auditor selected and schedule booked

One-page fieldwork checklist

• Presenters named and backups assigned
• Screens staged with masking
• Export commands tested
• Tickets and screenshots in one folder
• Incident summaries and lessons at hand
• Communication channel open with the audit team
• These checklists reduce friction and keep tempo steady.

Conclusion

SOC 2 turns promises into proof through a repeatable audit. Pick scope with care, write a clear system description, and design controls that work every day. Run a focused readiness check, gather dated artifacts, and keep names aligned across code and documents. Partner with experienced auditors, address exceptions fast, and deliver a report your buyers can trust. After the report, keep a monthly rhythm for fixes and reviews. That cadence protects data, reduces risk, and speeds sales. With a single source of truth and disciplined operations, teams meet requests with confidence and keep improving year over year (1; 2).

CyberCrest helps teams reach SOC 2 with less churn

We map your boundary, align categories, and write narratives that match real design. Advisors tune identity, logging, change, and recovery, then build an evidence library that shortens fieldwork. We coach presenters, coordinate with auditors, and set a calendar for the next period. If you need Type I fast or a reliable path to Type II, we design a plan you can run and measure. Schedule a consultation to align scope, reduce risk, and present a credible report to buyers who care about trust and uptime.

Sources

1. AICPA — SOC 2®: SOC for Service Organizations – Trust Services Criteria — https://us.aicpa.org/resources/article/soc-2
2. AICPA — Trust Services Criteria (2017, updated 2022) — https://us.aicpa.org/resources/article/trust-services-criteria
3. AICPA — Illustrative SOC 2 Report and Description Criteria — https://www.aicpa.org/resources/article/soc-illustrative-report

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