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One vendor says 'SOC 2' and another 'ISO 27001', what is the difference?

SOC 2 is a US audit report by an accountant on operational controls within a defined scope. ISO 27001 is an international certificate covering an information security management system. Both are useful, neither is a free pass.

Try this first

  1. 1For SOC 2: request the Type 2 report (not Type 1), and check the period covered and the audit firm.
  2. 2For ISO 27001: request the certificate and the Statement of Applicability, that shows which controls are in scope.
  3. 3Read the scope in both cases, vendors sometimes claim 'certified' while only part of the organisation is in scope.
  4. 4For heavy processing: ISO 27001 plus SOC 2 Type 2 plus DPA with signed SCCs is the minimum for enterprise customers.

When to bring us in

If you want vendor claims briefly assessed for an upcoming tender or customer question, we can scope it.

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