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Conducting such a thorough security audit of an organization may seem like a lot of time and effort. Preparing a SOC 2 Type 1 report typically takes about two months, while preparing for soc 2 compliance requirements can take six to 12 months.
However, the benefits of SOC2 certification more than compensate for the time and effort involved. Here are three main reasons why conducting a SOC 2 audit can benefit companies in the long run.
Enhanced security
One of the biggest benefits of a SOC2 audit is that it can help companies strengthen their security defenses. By conducting a security audit, they can identify their security strengths and weaknesses and determine where they are at the highest risk of a security incident.
Then, using the knowledge gained from the audit, they can plan and implement security practices that will help them address their company’s top cybersecurity concerns.
In this way, organizations can gain confidence that they have robust data protection and security policies in place to better handle security breaches.
Improved compliance with local and international laws
An additional benefit of undergoing a SOC2 audit is that its requirements often overlap with other important security standards.
Therefore, by conducting a SOC2 audit first, organizations can make it easier to achieve regulatory compliance:
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001
- Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) or other PCI regulations
- International privacy standards, such as the European GDPR or the California CCPA
For companies that want to comply with SOC2 and HIPAA, for example, the AICPA has also created several guides on how to do so.
Increase customer confidence
With all the headlines about database hacks, it’s no wonder that customers are increasingly concerned about the security of their data.
By displaying the SOC2 audit badge, a company can reassure its customers that it has already taken steps to strengthen the security of its services and protect the data in its systems. And seeing that the service provider has passed a SOC2 audit, customers (especially those who deal with sensitive material) can feel more comfortable using the service.
The role of SOC2 compliance in email verification
To get the most out of your email list, it’s important to regularly remove invalid and inactive email addresses from your list. Why send newsletters or offers to someone who won’t even open the email?
As we mentioned in the introduction, manually cleaning your list isn’t the best solution when you have several thousand names on it. This is where UnderDefense’s SOC2 audit services come in handy, as they can handle most of the heavy lifting.
The answer is to use a SOC2-compliant verification service. Here are a few reasons why.
Protecting sensitive email data
When you work with a SOC2-compliant email verification service provider, you can rest assured that they know how to take care of sensitive information in your email lists and within your emails.
Reduce the risk of data breaches
Observance of the soc 2 type 2 compliance requirements confirms that service providers adhere to industry security practices and know how to handle contingencies. This minimizes the risk of a data breach (whether due to employee error or a cyberattack).
Maintain data integrity during the verification process
Using a list verification tool, you want a clean list with verified email addresses that you can send emails to right away. Not a list with damaged or missing emails that you have to clean up yourself.
SOC2-compliant service providers can guarantee that this won’t happen because their services have already been tested for such issues. So you can rest assured that the tool will save you time (and nerves) rather than waste it.
Get accurate and consistent verification results
Another thing that a SOC2 audit checks is how reliable the service is and how well it can perform under load. Therefore, when you use a SOC2-compliant service, you can be sure that you will get accurate results, no matter how large your list is or how many people are using the service at any given time.
Demonstrate commitment to data security
What better way to prove to a customer that a service provider takes cybersecurity seriously than by displaying the SOC2 compliance badge on their website?
By passing an audit, service providers can demonstrate that they know how to protect the data in their systems from corruption and that they have all the necessary tools and procedures in place to protect their infrastructure from cyberattacks.
Increase customer trust and reliability
Having a SOC2 audit report available to all visitors is a great way to answer some of the availability or security questions that visitors may have.
For example, if they are concerned about potential service outages or require a certain level of encryption, the information in the audit report should put their minds at ease. And when they see that they can rely on the service provider to keep their data safe, they’re also more likely to trust them with their email lists.
Meeting customer expectations
Given the number of cyberattacks that occur every day and how serious the consequences can be, customers expect companies to make cybersecurity and data protection a top priority.
That’s why more and more companies looking for business services are asking if a service provider is SOC2 compliant before making a decision to purchase a service – to ensure that their business data is fully protected.
Thus, having the SOC2 badge and audit report on your website can give you an edge over your competitors.
How UnderDefense meets SOC2 requirements
What exactly have we done to make our service reliable, resilient, and secure?
Keeping track of the new soc 2 compliance requirements is a must-have integrated approach. And we conduct regular security audits and assessments at least once a year:
- Risk assessment audit
- A penetration test (performed by an external company)
- Review of our access control policy and organizational structure.
- Once a quarter, we conduct a vulnerability scan of our production environment.
Conclusion
UnderDefense provides comprehensive, next-generation online security for small, medium, and large businesses looking to protect their devices and data from the latest cyber threats. UnderDefense provides robust, real-time, easy-to-install, cost-effective and reliable protection, so you can focus on running your business with complete confidence and peace of mind.
