Organizations struggle with the decision between selecting the SOC 2 attestation or ISO 27001 Certification. It is important to understand which audit is required & suitable for your organization.

1. SOC2 Attestation
or
ISO27001 Certification
Which is applicable to your organization?
Date:- 29.06.2020

2. Introduction
� Organizations struggle with the decision between selecting the SOC 2
attestation or ISO 27001 Certification.
� Both the audits provide a competitive advantage in today’s Information
security landscape.
� It is important to understand which audit is required & suitable for your
organization.
� Essential to understand which audit can be utilized to gain advantages over
the market competition and achieve compliance with a regulatory
requirement.
� We have drawn out a comparative study between SO2 examination and
ISO 27001 certification for an organization’s better understanding.

3. Explaining SOC2 Audit Report
� SOC 2 audit evaluates the internal controls, policies, and procedures
relating to the AICPA’s Trust Services Criteria.
� Focuses on a service organization’s internal controls, pertaining to
Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy of a
system/process.
� It is a powerful market differentiator that can help companies gain a
competitive edge over others in their industry

4. Explaining ISO27001 Certification
� It is an internationally-accepted Information Security Standard for governing
an organization’s Information Security Management System (ISMS).
� It is a framework of policies and procedures that preserves the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of an organization's information by applying the Risk
Management Process.
� The Standard Regulates how organizations effectively run an ISMS through
policies and procedures and associated legal, physical, and technical
controls.
� An organization needs to integrate ISMS with the company’s operational
process, and overall management structure.

5. Similarities between
ISO27001 Certification and SOC2 Report
Assessors for
Audit
Addresses
Information
Security
Implementation
of Policy and
Procedure
International
Applicability
Management
Roles &
Responsibility-
Demonstrates
Management
Commitment

6. Differences between
ISO27001 Certification & SOC2 Report
Titles SOC2 Attestation ISO27001 Certification
Focus The focus is to measure and validate the
capabilities of the service organization's
control system against Security Principles &
Criteria.
The main focus is to establish, implement
maintain, and improve an ISMS.
Scope &
Applicability
The scope depends on the organization's
service controls which are based on the 5
Trust Service Principles
The scope and applicability of ISO 27001
Certificate can be defined based on an
organization’s objective and priority
Purpose Facilitate service organization
management in reporting to their
customers that they have met established
security criteria that ensure systems are
protected against unauthorized access
Help organizations establish and achieve
certification stating that the company
meets specified requirements and is thus
certified as best practice.
Certification/
Attestation
SOC2 reporting is not a certification but an
Attestation.
ISO27001 is a certification

7. Titles SOC2 Attestation ISO27001 Certification
Deliverables An attestation report which includes an opinion
letter, an assertion letter, a system description
containing an extensive narrative on the five
key components of the organization’s system
under review, organizational procedures, and
finally the applicable trust services criteria,
related control activities, and the testing
performed by the auditor and the related test
results
The deliverable for an ISO 27001 is a
certificate which includes information on
the ISMS scope, in-scope locations,
standard certified against, date of
certificate issued and date of expiration,
etc.
Certifying
Authority
Only a licensed CPA firm can conduct the
SOC2 Audit and provide an attestation for the
same.
Only a recognized ISO27001-accredited
registrar can certify an organization for
ISO27001.
Organization
Applicability
SOC2 Compliance applies to only service
organizations that store, process and transmits
customer data.
The Standard applies to any organization
and industry vertical who wish to
strengthen and secure their Information
Security Systems.
Differences between
ISO 27001 Certification & SOC 2 Report

8. Titles SOC2 Attestation ISO27001 Certification
Market Applicability The SOC 2 attestation is a recognized standard in
the United States, created and governed by the
AICPA
ISO 27001 is an international standard
accepted globally.
Time Frame It typically takes 12-18 months to complete an
entire process from start to finish for SOC 2 Type 1
& Type 2 attestation.
ISO27001 usually takes 12-18 months to
complete, but depending on the
additional process and documentation
required to install an operating ISMS.
Validity SOC2 Attestation is valid only for 1 year and
needs an annual audit
ISO 27001 Certification is valid for 3 years
with basic compliance audits conducted
in the 2nd and 3rd year.
Differences between
ISO27001 Certification & SOC2 Report

9. What applies to your organization?
� Which market does your organization plan to target?
� What assessments are customers requesting?
� What assessments are your competitors undergoing?

10. Conclusion
� Both ISO27001 & SOC2 are excellent compliance efforts for
organizations to demonstrate operating effectiveness of their internal
controls, and their compliance with regulatory requirements.
� Considering the key decision factors may help your organization
determine the appropriate assessment for your organization.
� Looking at the wider coverage, if your organization is going ahead with
SOC2 then you will by default meet the requirements of ISO 27001
Certificate.

11. Thank You
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