Also Apple certainly does invest heavily in security and privacy but SOC2's are so commoditized that it's like saying "look I can afford 50k", it's not particularly interesting
SOC2 (Type 2) in theory requires an audit that you're actually doing what you said you'd do in (Type 1).
Both may also allow general lag time.
Note that firms decide on their own which controls to include, meaning, they get to decide to include or exclude various controls, the audit is on only the ones they picked. Pick basic controls, it's cheaper to pass easily, and now you have a logo.
This means SOC2s of either type cannot be compared to one another (and SOC2 Type 1 are roughly logo-ware).
SOC3 is, roughly, SOC2 redacted.
Recap:
SOC2 Type 1 is a firm picking some controls to say they'll do them, SOC2 Type 2 is roughly a firm having someone look at whether they're doing that (warning, screenshots might suffice, audit verification is probably not what you think), and SOC3 is public or non-confidential water down of that, typically without findings.
The only thing that matters is what controls, specifically, they're actually audited on. So ideally you want to know what the controls they picked are, and that a SOC2 Type 2 was audited on those.
Btw, keep in mind that "end to end encryption" means "https" and most controls have similarly basic ways of achieving them. It's difficult to fail SOC2 Type 2 core controls if you know "don't be useless" is how you pass them.
Also, it's not $50K even through the big five DIY SOC2 Type 2 shops. You can use the same ones trillion dollar firms use, by signing up online, and you'll be surprised how inexpensive relative to the cost of failing to let a business check that box in their procurement process.
For context, this is how easy it is to get a SOC2: https://deepdelver.substack.com/p/delve-fake-compliance-as-a...
IME SOC2 is still quite involved for any company, especially smaller ones without specialized security personnel.
Delve used an audit mill they paid to rubber-stamp the cookie-cutter and AI slop reports it authored. I hope it ends up in fraud charges.
But I wouldn't assume that's the case for all SOC2 reports. Any decent auditing firm should be far more rigorous.
A security-only audit for a small company with a narrow product focus can indeed be very inexpensive. A full SOC 2 examination for a large organization with a mix of legacy and modern systems by a name-recognizable public accounting firm can be many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In my opinion, there's not much value to the "cheap" audits... If you're doing enterprise sales to a certain kind of client, your partners who demand an audit are going to want a reputable auditor or they're just going to put you through their own in-depth procurement due diligence regardless.
Or point me to some public critiques within the industry?
https://www.iansresearch.com/resources/all-blogs/post/securi...
Oh no. Looks like you never went through SOC2.
1. No, it does not require 50k, an auditor can cost way less (10k? maybe even less).
2. But the process of preparing for the audit will take a lot of work securing your systems (and increasing reliability and privacy as well), as long as you take it seriously. Of course you can lie to the auditor, but it's up on you. And auditor -- they might lose their CPA license and go to prison. Their job is to catch your lies.
Source -- went through it, and took it seriously. It really did increase our security stance, even though we thought we were good at it.
Admittedly this is on the "real" audit side and not the advisory/consulting side, which would be the ones to handle SOC I imagine, but nonetheless a position I find a bit absurd.
[0]: https://www.ft.com/content/a9deb987-df70-4a72-bd41-47ed8942e...? [1]: https://www.ft.com/content/c25de9fb-a808-4946-ade6-80d76a66a...
I mean, it's not like the supposed "Chinese wall" at the Big 4 has ever been accused of being "illusory" on multiple occasions.
Audits are decidedly imperfect, but on balance people tend to toe the line better on good practices when they know they're being audited.