What Can & Can't Be Automated for SOC 2

What Can and Can't Be Automated for SOC 2 Compliance

For many businesses, achieving and maintaining SOC 2 compliance feels like a monumental task, often involving endless spreadsheets, manual evidence collection, and significant resource drain. The promise of "automation" for SOC 2 sounds like a dream, but what's the reality? Can you really automate your way to compliance, or are there still crucial human elements? The truth is, not all SOC 2 components can be automated, but those that can save your business immense time and money, transforming the compliance journey.

What is SOC 2 Automation?

Compliance automation is the use of specialized software to automate or augment portions of the compliance process. For SOC 2, this means leveraging technology to streamline repetitive tasks, continuously monitor controls, collect evidence, and manage documentation that aligns with the AICPA's Trust Service Criteria (Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, Privacy). It's about shifting from a reactive, manual effort to a proactive, technology-driven approach that integrates compliance into daily operations.

What CAN Be Automated for SOC 2 Compliance?

The good news is that a significant portion of the SOC 2 compliance burden is highly amenable to automation. By deploying an intelligent GRC platform, organizations can gain substantial efficiencies and continuous readiness.

Here's what you can confidently automate for SOC 2:

Evidence Collection and Data Gathering:

This is often the most time-consuming part of an audit. Automation tools connect directly to your systems (e.g., cloud platforms, identity providers, HR systems, ticketing systems, version control) to automatically pull relevant data, configurations, and logs. This eliminates manual screenshots and endless data requests.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: Our Regulatory Compliance Management Software and IT & Cyber Compliance Management Software are designed for this, integrating with your tech stack to continuously collect and verify evidence against SOC 2 controls, ensuring your documentation is always audit-ready.

Continuous Control Monitoring:

Instead of point-in-time checks, automated solutions continuously monitor the operational effectiveness of your controls. If a configuration drifts or a control fails, you receive instant alerts. This means you're always aware of your compliance posture, not just during audit season.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: With our IT & Cyber Compliance Management Software and Cyber Hybrid GRC Software, you gain real-time visibility into control performance across diverse environments, from on-premises to multi-cloud.

Policy Dissemination and Attestation:

Ensuring employees read and acknowledge key security policies is a SOC 2 requirement. Automation streamlines the distribution of policies and tracks employee attestations automatically, providing irrefutable proof.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: Our Policy Management Software and IT & Cyber Policy Management Software centralize your policies, automate their distribution, and manage employee attestations with full audit trails.

Vendor Risk Assessment Tracking:

SOC 2 often requires managing the security posture of third-party vendors. Automation can facilitate sending out security questionnaires, tracking responses, and monitoring vendor compliance status.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: Our Vendor Risk Management Software automates vendor assessments, due diligence, and ongoing monitoring, ensuring your supply chain's security aligns with SOC 2 expectations.

Incident Response Tracking and Reporting:

While incidents require human response, the documentation, tracking, and reporting of security incidents and their resolution can be highly automated, providing clear audit trails.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: Our Case and Incident Management Software helps you meticulously document incidents, link them to policies and controls, and generate reports vital for SOC 2.

Audit Preparation and Reporting:

Organizing all collected evidence, control mappings, and risk assessments into audit-ready reports is a monumental task manually. Automation platforms consolidate this data and generate comprehensive reports at the click of a button.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: Our Internal Audit Management Software capabilities simplify audit planning, execution, and reporting, significantly reducing the time and stress associated with external SOC 2 audits.

Risk Identification and Mapping (Data-Driven):

While strategic risk identification requires human input, linking specific IT assets and vulnerabilities to potential risks, and mapping those risks to relevant controls, can be automated.

• Risk Cognizance Contribution: Our IT & Cyber Risk Management Software helps you connect granular risk data to your SOC 2 controls, providing a clear, evidence-based view of your risk posture.

What CAN'T (Fully) Be Automated for SOC 2 Compliance?

Despite the significant advancements, some aspects of SOC 2 compliance will always require human insight, judgment, and strategic decision-making. Automation is a powerful enabler, not a complete replacement for human expertise.

Here's what remains a human responsibility:

• Strategic Security Leadership & Scope Definition: Defining your organization's security strategy, determining the scope of your SOC 2 audit (which Trust Service Criteria apply), and making high-level decisions about risk appetite are inherently human tasks. A CISO or vCISO is essential here.
• Initial Policy Creation and Philosophical Review: While policy management is automated, the initial drafting of policy content, especially those reflecting your organization's unique values and operational nuances, requires human expertise and legal/compliance review.
• Complex Risk Mitigation Strategy Design: While the software identifies and assesses risks, designing truly effective and creative mitigation strategies for complex or novel threats often requires human ingenuity and problem-solving skills.
• Human Judgment in Incident Response: While incident tracking is automated, the real-time decision-making during a live security incident, communicating with affected parties, and navigating unforeseen challenges require human judgment, empathy, and leadership.
• Engaging with Auditors and Interpretive Discussions: The final auditor's opinion is a human judgment. While automation provides the data, discussions with auditors, clarifying ambiguities, and responding to their questions require human interaction and expertise.
• Fostering a Security Culture: Building a strong security-aware culture within an organization, encouraging best practices, and ensuring employee buy-in are human-driven initiatives that technology can support but not replace.

The Risk Cognizance Advantage: Smart Automation for SOC 2

Risk Cognizance's Integrated Connected GRC Software is designed to provide the perfect balance between automation and human oversight for SOC 2. We empower your teams to focus on strategic decisions and complex problem-solving by automating the time-consuming, repetitive tasks that bog down traditional compliance efforts. Our platform ensures that the "human touch" is applied where it matters most, while the technology handles the heavy lifting. This integrated approach not only accelerates your SOC 2 journey but builds a foundation of continuous security and trust.

Conclusion

Embracing automation for SOC 2 compliance is no longer an option but a strategic imperative. While certain elements will always require human expertise and judgment, the vast majority of the burdensome tasks can be streamlined and managed more efficiently through specialized software. By strategically automating your SOC 2 processes, your organization can significantly save time and money, reduce audit stress, and establish a robust, continuously compliant security posture. This allows your valuable security and compliance teams to focus on genuine risk mitigation and strategic initiatives, fostering a stronger, more resilient organization.

Ready to optimize your SOC 2 compliance with intelligent automation?