SOC 2 Training Requirements

How to administer and prove compliance with SOC 2 training requirements.

Scribble line

Do you need SOC 2 training?

SOC 2 is a framework for auditing the internal processes and procedures for an organization. It is an increasingly popular standard, especially for technology companies that sell software and services to businesses.

SOC 2 offers two types of reports:

  • Type 1 reports audit the defined policies and procedures of an organization; and
  • Type 2 reports audit the implementation of those policies and procedures.

SOC 2 is divided into five services categories - 1) Security, 2) Availability, 3) Integrity, 4) Confidentiality, and 5) Privacy. Organizations can choose one or more services categories to be audited against.

SOC 2 is not prescriptive. Each SOC 2 report is customized to the organization. As such, there is much interpretation and application of the required controls within each service category. Only organizations that are approved by AICPA can issue SOC 2 reports, which adds standardization into the process.

Regardless of the service categories to which your organization attests in their SOC 2 reports, training is a required component. The type of training can be tailored, to some degree, to your organization.

What training does SOC 2 require?

SOC 2 is flexible to allow organizations to set their own goals and objectives. The important thing for SOC 2 is to ensure that the organization has policies and procedures, that are implemented, to meet the organization’s goals and objectives. With privacy regimes such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA, many organizations need to meet objectives specifically to comply with those regimes.

The compliance training aspects of SOC 2, much like GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA, require educating employees about policies and procedures and measuring the competency of employees in regards to those policies and procedures.

Here is the specific language from the SOC 2 criterion:

  • CC1.4: Attracts, Develops, and Retains Individuals — The entity provides the mentoring and training needed to attract, develop, and retain sufficient and competent personnel and outsourced service providers to support the achievement of objectives
  • CC1.4: Considers the Technical Competency of Individuals — The entity considers the technical competency of potential and existing personnel, contractors, and vendor employees when determining whether to employ and retain the individuals.
  • CC1.4: Provides Training to Maintain Technical Competencies — The entity provides training programs, including continuing education and training, to ensure skill sets and technical competency of existing personnel, contractors, and vendor employees are developed and maintained.
  • CC2.2: Communicates Information to Improve Security Knowledge and Awareness — The entity communicates information to improve security knowledge and awareness and to model appropriate security behaviors to personnel through a security awareness training program.

SOC 2 Type 1 reports assess the organizational policies and procedures while SOC 2 Type 2 reports assess the execution of these policies and procedures. Training is required for both types of SOC 2 reports. For SOC 2 Type 1 reports, organizations need policies and procedures in place to train employees. For SOC 2 Type 2 reports, organizations need to show they are following their policies and procedures regarding training.

In order to successfully attest to any of the five service categories of SOC 2, training, should be conducted at onboarding for new employees, when changes are made to compliance policies and procedures, and on a regular cadence, with annual being the longest acceptable interval.

What does effective SOC 2 training look like?

Most organizations do not offer effective SOC 2 training to their workforces. Current approaches to SOC 2 training, and compliance training in general, are outdated, generic, infrequent, and do not practically apply to the day-to-day work of employees. With the growing acceptance of SOC 2 in the market and the risk of privacy violations in GDPR and CCPA. it has never been more important to get compliance training right.

In order to be successful with training, and to limit the risk to organizations, SOC 2 and privacy training needs to be built into the culture of the organization. In our experience, the following elements are essential aspects of effective SOC 2 training.

  • Simple words. Technical jargon should not be used. Most employees don’t need to talk to auditors or interpret compliance frameworks. They need training they can understand.
  • Ongoing. Training starts at onboarding but should be continually delivered in snippets on a regular, at least monthly basis.
  • Scenario-based. Training needs to be relatable. Regulations, policies, and procedures need to be mapped to the situations in which employees find themselves.
  • Adaptive. Training software developers on how to handle medical records are useless. Training doctors on secure development lifecycle is equally useless. Training customer support in designing compliance programs is useless. Specific training curriculum and snippets should be tailored to the specific roles of employees.
  • Engaging. Training should not be static. Employees should be asked to participate with feedback and fun quizzes.
  • Relevant to modern work. Work is done on computers in the office and on employee-owned phones at home. SOC 2 training needs to take this into account and incorporate lessons that apply to all of these settings.

Day Zero offers SOC 2 training that ensures all of the above. In addition, we provide metrics to continually gauge and improve compliance training. Our customers lean on us to build a culture of privacy across their entire workforce. We are 100% focused on making sure your employees are properly trained and you have the proof you need to comply with HIPAA.

Resources for SOC 2 training

Below are some links to learn more about SOC 2 and SOC 2 training: