If you’re determined to maintain SOC 2 compliance, appeasing your trusty SOC 2 auditor becomes paramount. Gone are the days of relying on cookie baskets and complimentary foot rubs to win their favor. Instead, the winning combination of mobile device management (MDM) and Cloud Single Sign-On (Cloud SSO) takes center stage. These robust data security protocols offer an array of powerful features and configurations that will propel your journey toward SOC 2 compliance.
Why Would You Want SOC 2 Compliance, Anyhow?
Seriously, why would you not? Your annual SOC 2 audit is an independent assessment of the controls you have in place to keep your client’s data safe. It proves you take data security seriously.
| Benefits of SOC 2 Compliance | |
| Benefit | Explanation |
| Reputation and trust | By achieving SOC 2 compliance, you demonstrate your trustworthiness to potential clients, assuring the safety of their data and their customer’s data. |
| Competitive edge | SOC 2 compliance sets you apart from competitors, making it easier to secure large contracts with fewer questionnaires, thanks to widely accepted audit reports or even contractual obligations. |
| Reduced risk of legal action | SOC 2 compliance provides a layer of protection against legal action, as it validates that any problems are less likely to be caused by your organization. |
| Reduced risk of business outage | SOC 2 controls enhance data and system protection, reducing the risk of business outages and improving overall productivity. It strengthens your Information Security Management System and optimizes your processes, providing security for future growth and evolution |
How Do MDM and Cloud SSO Keep Your Business SOC 2 Compliant?
When you’re aiming for SOC 2, your auditor will check over your data security controls and provide a report in one of two flavors: Type 1 and Type 2. You have the choice of which report to aim for.
| SOC 2 Type 1 vs. Type 2 Reports | |
| A Type 1 report covers your security controls at a single point in time. | |
| A Type 2 report covers the effectiveness of your security controls over a period of time, e.g., six months. |
Supporting Type 1 Reports with MDM and Cloud SSO
If you have MDM and Cloud SSO in place, you’ve checked off a whole load of protective controls that support your Type 1 report, for instance:
- An MDM policy that standardizes device configuration and protocols.
- MDM’s automated encryption stops the bad guys from getting their hands on your clients’ data as it travels between sender and recipient.
- Automated offboarding reduces the risk of ex-employees accessing sensitive data.
- Remote data wiping and device locking keep data on lost or stolen devices secure.
- Role-specific provisioning supports a security-friendly ‘need-to-know’ culture.
- Enforcing passcodes, OS upgrades, and blocking unauthorized apps and websites reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
- Cloud SSO enforces multi-factor authentication, reducing the risk of unauthorized access still further.
These measures not only enhance your data protection practices but also contribute to the overall compliance readiness of your organization.
Supporting Type 2 Reports with MDM and Cloud SSO
Type 2 reports require a comprehensive demonstration of the effectiveness and continuity of your controls over a specific period of time. This is where the combination of MDM and Cloud SSO can play a crucial role.
MDM serves as the central hub of your IT asset management system, providing a robust infrastructure for managing and monitoring data security functions. With a reliable MDM system in place, you can maintain a historical record of your MDM operations, showcasing to auditors how you have implemented and operated the necessary controls. During the audit, you can provide real-time demonstrations of essential information, including:
- Physical location of mobile devices
- User access privileges
- Anti-virus and health-monitoring systems status
- Authorized and blocked programs
- Detection and response to unusual activities
Similarly, Cloud SSO offers audit and logging capabilities that capture access requests, authentication events, and user activities over time. These capabilities enable the generation of custom SOC 2 Type 2 compliance reports, providing additional evidence of your adherence to the necessary security measures.
By leveraging MDM and Cloud SSO in your SOC 2 compliance efforts, you can strengthen your control environment, streamline audit processes, and demonstrate the effectiveness of your security protocols over time.
A Shortcut To SOC 2 Compliance
Yes, you’ll need more than just MDM and Cloud SSO to stay SOC 2 compliant, but these data security powerhouses create a framework and system of configurable controls that will do a lot of the donkeywork for you. For instance, our flavor of MDM checks off at least 28 of SOC 2’s controls. If that sounds good to you, give us a call. We’re here to help.
Ignition is Silicon Valley’s best (and friendliest) IT security, compliance, and support team. Contact us now – chatting about IT support and cybersecurity is our favorite thing to do!