How long does it take to prepare for a SOC 2 Type II audit?

Most organizations need 3-6 months to remediate gaps and establish the evidence base required for a SOC 2 Type II audit. The audit observation period itself is typically 6-12 months. Starting with a readiness assessment to identify gaps is the recommended first step — it lets you prioritize remediation before engaging a CPA firm.

What is the Common Criteria (CC) for SOC 2 Security?

The Common Criteria (CC) covers the security category, which is required for all SOC 2 examinations. Key criteria include CC6 (logical access), CC7 (system operations and monitoring), CC8 (change management), and CC9 (risk mitigation). CC6 covers access controls, MFA, and encryption — the most commonly cited gap areas.

Do I need to cover all five Trust Services Categories for SOC 2?

Security (CC) is the only mandatory category for SOC 2. However, most enterprise buyers now expect Availability, Confidentiality, and Privacy to be in scope as well — especially for SaaS vendors, financial services firms, and healthcare-adjacent technology. This assessment evaluates all five categories to give you the broadest picture of your audit readiness.

SOC 2 Type II Readiness Assessment

Q: What is SOC 2 Type II?

SOC 2 Type II is an audit standard developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) that evaluates a service organization's controls over security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy over a period of time (typically 6-12 months). Unlike Type I, which assesses design at a point in time, Type II tests operating effectiveness.

Q: What are the AICPA Trust Services Criteria?

The AICPA Trust Services Criteria (TSC) are a set of criteria used to evaluate controls in service organizations. The five categories are: Security (CC criteria), Availability (A criteria), Processing Integrity (PI criteria), Confidentiality (C criteria), and Privacy (P criteria). Security is required; the others are optional add-ons.

Q: Which industries require SOC 2 Type II attestation?

SOC 2 is most commonly required in: SaaS and cloud services, financial services and RIAs (often required by institutional clients), legal technology, healthcare technology, and any sector where enterprise customers conduct vendor security assessments. Enterprise procurement teams increasingly require SOC 2 Type II as a condition of vendor approval.

Q: What is the difference between SOC 2 Type I and Type II?

SOC 2 Type I assesses whether your controls are suitably designed at a single point in time. SOC 2 Type II assesses whether those controls operated effectively over an observation period (typically 6-12 months). Most enterprise buyers require Type II because it demonstrates sustained control effectiveness, not just design intent.

Q: How is this SOC 2 assessment scored?

This assessment covers 12 controls across all five AICPA Trust Services Categories. Each answer is scored: Yes = 1 point, Partial = 0.5 points, No or Don't Know = 0. Your readiness percentage is calculated as (total points / 12) × 100. Audit-Ready: 85%+. Gaps Identified: 60-84%. Significant Work Required: below 60%.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is SOC 2 Type II?

SOC 2 Type II is an audit standard from the AICPA that evaluates a service organization's controls over security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy over an observation period (typically 6–12 months). Unlike Type I (point-in-time design assessment), Type II tests operating effectiveness.

What are the AICPA Trust Services Criteria?

The Trust Services Criteria (TSC) are five categories used to evaluate service organization controls: Security (CC — required), Availability (A), Processing Integrity (PI), Confidentiality (C), and Privacy (P). This assessment evaluates all five for the broadest readiness picture.

How long does SOC 2 Type II audit preparation take?

Most organizations need 3–6 months to remediate gaps and establish the evidence base required. The audit observation period itself is 6–12 months. Starting with a readiness assessment to identify gaps is the recommended first step — it lets you prioritize before engaging a CPA firm.

Which industries require SOC 2 Type II?

SOC 2 is most commonly required by: SaaS and cloud services, financial services and RIAs (institutional clients require it), legal technology, healthcare technology, and any sector where enterprise buyers conduct vendor security reviews. Enterprise procurement increasingly uses SOC 2 Type II as a vendor qualification condition.

How is this assessment scored?

Each of the 12 controls is scored: Yes = 1 point, Partial = 0.5 points, No or Don't Know = 0. Your readiness percentage = (total / 12) × 100. Audit-Ready: 85%+. Gaps Identified: 60–84%. Significant Work Required: below 60%.

Do I need all five Trust Services Categories in scope?

Security (CC) is the only mandatory category. However, most enterprise buyers now expect Availability, Confidentiality, and Privacy to be in scope — especially for SaaS, financial services, and healthcare-adjacent technology. This assessment evaluates all five to give you the broadest picture.

What does the PDF gap report include?

Your personalized PDF includes: your overall readiness score, per-category scores, gap-by-gap remediation guidance with AICPA TSC primary-source citations, and a recommended 90-day audit preparation timeline. It's generated instantly from your answers and emailed to you.

What's the difference between SOC 2 Type I and Type II?

SOC 2 Type I assesses whether controls are suitably designed at a single point in time. SOC 2 Type II assesses whether those controls operated effectively over an observation period (typically 6–12 months). Enterprise buyers require Type II because it demonstrates sustained effectiveness, not just design intent.

Are you SOC 2 Type II audit-ready?
Find out in 4 minutes.

Ready to assess your SOC 2 readiness?

Do you enforce MFA and least-privilege access controls for all systems holding customer data?

Is customer data encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+)?

Do you run formal vulnerability scans and at least annual penetration tests?

Do you have continuous uptime monitoring with documented SLAs and incident response runbooks?

Have you documented, tested, and validated a disaster recovery and business continuity plan?

Do you validate and sanitize all system inputs with audit trails for processing errors?

Do you have automated error detection, alerting, and logging for all data processing failures?

Do you classify data by sensitivity level with access controls mapped to each classification?

Are all employees, contractors, and vendors required to execute NDAs before accessing customer data?

Is customer data logically or physically segregated between tenants?

Do you collect documented affirmative consent for personal data collection with defined retention periods?

Do you have documented processes to handle data subject requests (access, deletion, portability) within 30 days?

Where should we send your gap report?

Generating your gap report…

Sturna's compliance agents auto-document SOC 2 controls

Frequently Asked Questions

Are you SOC 2 Type II audit-ready?Find out in 4 minutes.

Ready to assess your SOC 2 readiness?

Do you enforce MFA and least-privilege access controls for all systems holding customer data?

Is customer data encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+)?

Do you run formal vulnerability scans and at least annual penetration tests?

Do you have continuous uptime monitoring with documented SLAs and incident response runbooks?

Have you documented, tested, and validated a disaster recovery and business continuity plan?

Do you validate and sanitize all system inputs with audit trails for processing errors?

Do you have automated error detection, alerting, and logging for all data processing failures?

Do you classify data by sensitivity level with access controls mapped to each classification?

Are all employees, contractors, and vendors required to execute NDAs before accessing customer data?

Is customer data logically or physically segregated between tenants?

Do you collect documented affirmative consent for personal data collection with defined retention periods?

Do you have documented processes to handle data subject requests (access, deletion, portability) within 30 days?

Where should we send your gap report?

Generating your gap report…

Sturna's compliance agents auto-document SOC 2 controls

Frequently Asked Questions

Are you SOC 2 Type II audit-ready?
Find out in 4 minutes.