SOC 2 Guides
SOC 2 Continuous Monitoring (Post Type II)
How to keep controls and evidence current between audits—without adding bloat.
Access & identity
- •Monthly access reviews on critical systems with approvals.
- •Strict offboarding SLA; monitor stale accounts and MFA coverage.
- •Role hygiene: remove direct permissions, use groups/roles.
Change management
- •Keep approvals + testing evidence on every prod change.
- •Flag emergency changes; require post-review.
- •Review deployment pipeline logs for failed or skipped steps.
Logging & alerting
- •Validate alert thresholds quarterly; avoid alert fatigue.
- •Track MTTR for critical alerts; keep on-call runbooks current.
- •Retain tamper-resistant logs per policy.
Incident response
- •Tabletop twice a year; refresh contact lists and escalation.
- •Document post-incident actions and ensure follow-through.
- •Log notifications to customers/partners when required.
Vendor risk
- •Re-tier vendors annually; update evidence for critical vendors.
- •Monitor new subprocessors and contract clauses.
- •Track remediation for vendor exceptions.
Business continuity
- •Test backups/restores at least annually; log RPO/RTO results.
- •Rehearse failover for critical services if feasible.
- •Update dependency map when architecture changes.
Cadence and ownership
- •Monthly: access/offboarding, alert quality check, critical vendor changes.
- •Quarterly: control owner review of evidence freshness; patch/backup tests.
- •Biannual: incident tabletop; policy refresh; audit readiness spot-check.
- •Annual: BCP/DR test; vendor re-tiering; full evidence vault sweep.
Quick wins
- •Automate access anomaly alerts (dormant accounts, no MFA, privilege drift).
- •Tag evidence with owner + refresh date; remind before it ages out.
- •Track exceptions centrally with due dates and retest proof.
Risks if you pause
- •Evidence goes stale; next audit stretches or fails samples.
- •Access and vendor sprawl create new control gaps.
- •Incident playbooks decay; response time increases.
Keep your Type II steady: refresh evidence on a cadence, track exceptions, and rehearse the controls that matter most.
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