SOC 2 Evidence Guide: Access Reviews
Access reviews are the most scrutinized part of a SOC 2 audit. Auditors need to see that you've systematically reviewed who has access to what, and that you've removed access for those who no longer need it.
Principal Security & GRC Engineer • CISSP, CISM, CCSP, AWS Security Specialist
What Auditors Look For
User Access Listings
A point-in-time export of all active users from critical systems (AWS, GitHub, GSuite, Slack) including their permission levels/roles.
Auditor Expectation
"Show me the population of all users with access to production systems as of October 1st."
Manager Approval Logs
Documented evidence (Slack, Email, or GRC Tool) that a manager or system owner reviewed the access list and approved or revoked each user.
Auditor Expectation
"Where is the record showing the CTO signed off on this list of GitHub contributors?"
Termination/Offboarding Evidence
A list of employees who left during the audit period, compared against their access removal dates in critical systems.
Auditor Expectation
"This employee left on June 15th. Provide evidence their AWS access was revoked within 24 hours."
Have an existing security policy?
Upload your existing PDF policies to our AI Evidence Gap Analyzer. We'll map your content directly to SOC 2 controls and identify exactly what's missing.
Automating Access Reviews
Connect your HRIS (Gusto, Rippling) to your GRC tool to automatically flag departures.
Use SSO groups (Okta/Google) to manage permissions globally rather than system-by-system.
Set up automated quarterly Slack notifications for managers to "thumb-up" access lists.
Automate the generation of "diff" reports between review cycles to highlight changes.
Reduce Audit Fatigue
90% of Access Reviews evidence can be automated using modern GRC tools. Stop taking manual screenshots and start collecting evidence continuously.
Compare Automation ToolsAbout RiscLens
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SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is a voluntary compliance standard for service organizations, developed by the AICPA, which specifies how organizations should manage customer data based on the Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
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