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SOC 2 or ISO 27001?
Answer six questions about your buyers and what you hold, and see which one to start with, why, and what each takes.
Our reading
Answer the questions to see which one to start with.
Neither the DPDP Act nor the CERT-In Directions require either one. DPDP asks for reasonable security safeguards (s. 8(5), Rule 6), which either can evidence.
Infofacility's own services: SOC 2 Type 2 readiness and ISO 27001 certification support.
What each takes
From the library's comparison of the two. Both are voluntary.
| SOC 2 (AICPA) | ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An attestation report, not a certificate. A licensed CPA firm examines a service organisation's description of its system and its controls against the Trust Services Criteria, and gives an opinion on management's assertion.AT-C section 205; TSC 2017 | A certifiable management system standard. An accredited certification body audits the organisation's information security management system (ISMS) against clauses 4 to 10 and issues a certificate for a defined scope.clauses 4 to 10; ISO/IEC 17021-1 |
| Who issues it | A CPA firm licensed in the United States and independent of the service organisation. The AICPA writes the criteria and the attestation standards; it does not issue or register reports.AT-C section 205 | A certification body, normally accredited under ISO/IEC 17021-1 by a national accreditation body (in India, NABCB under the Quality Council of India). ISO itself does not certify anyone.ISO/IEC 17021-1 |
| What you receive | A restricted-use report: the auditor's opinion, management's assertion, the system description and, in a Type 2, the tests performed and their results. Shared with customers under NDA. The general-use summary is a SOC 3.AICPA SOC 2 guide (Oct 2022) | A certificate naming the organisation, the scope, the sites and the edition of the standard, usually verifiable with the certification body. The audit reports behind it stay private.ISO/IEC 17021-1 |
| Types or stages | Type 1: the design of controls at a point in time. Type 2: design and operating effectiveness over a review period that the service organisation chooses.AICPA SOC 2 guide (Oct 2022) | Stage 1 (readiness and documentation) and Stage 2 (implementation) make up the initial audit; then surveillance audits during the cycle and a recertification audit before the certificate expires.ISO/IEC 17021-1, clause 9 |
| How long it holds | The opinion speaks to the review period only. There is no expiry date and no renewal; customers ask for a fresh report each cycle.AT-C section 205 | The certificate runs for a fixed cycle and is kept valid by surveillance audits, then renewed by recertification; a missed surveillance audit can suspend it.ISO/IEC 17021-1, clause 9.6 |
| Public claim you can make | There is no certificate, so there is no 'SOC 2 certified'. You can say you hold a SOC 2 Type 1 or Type 2 report for a stated period and share it under NDA.AT-C section 205 | You can say you are certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for the stated scope, and show the certificate and the certification body's accreditation mark.ISO/IEC 17021-1 |
When to do both
Do both when your buyers sit on both sides: US enterprise procurement asks for a SOC 2 report, while Indian buyers and regulators, public tenders and EU and Middle East buyers ask for ISO 27001.
A company with a clean SOC 2 Type 2 usually has most Annex A controls in place already. What it lacks is the management system: a documented scope, a risk methodology, measurable objectives, an internal audit programme under clause 9.2 and management reviews under clause 9.3. Going the other way, an ISO-certified company adds the system description, management's assertion and a period of evidence an auditor can sample.
A SOC 2 report can cover another framework's criteria as additional subject matter, but the ISO certificate still needs its own Stage 1, Stage 2 and surveillance audits by an accredited certification body.
Sources: AICPA, System and Organization Controls: SOC suite of services; AICPA, 2017 Trust Services Criteria with revised points of focus (2022); ISO/IEC 27001:2022, Information security management systems: Requirements; SEBI circular SEBI/HO/ITD-1/ITD_CSC_EXT/P/CIR/2024/113 (CSCRF), 20 Aug 2024
This page explains the law in plain English. It is not legal advice.