Sooner or later, a large customer's security questionnaire asks: "Do you have SOC 2 or ISO 27001?" Both show that you manage security seriously, but they work differently and suit different markets.
ISO 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is an international standard for an information security management system (ISMS). You define the scope, assess your risks, choose controls to treat them, and prove the system runs and improves over time. The 2022 version of its Annex A lists 93 controls, grouped into organisational, people, physical and technological themes.
- Result: a certificate issued by an accredited certification body, valid for three years with yearly surveillance audits
- Recognised: worldwide, and especially common in Europe, India, the Middle East and Asia
- Strength: a clear, public certificate that procurement teams understand
SOC 2
SOC 2 is an attestation framework from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). A licensed CPA firm examines your controls against the Trust Services Criteria: security, which is always included, plus optionally availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.
- Type I: are controls designed properly at a point in time?
- Type II: did they operate effectively over a period, usually 3 to 12 months? Most customers ask for Type II.
- Result: a detailed report shared with customers under NDA, not a public certificate
- Recognised: mainly in North America, especially by SaaS buyers
How to choose
| Your situation | Start with |
|---|---|
| Selling mainly to US companies, especially SaaS | SOC 2 Type II |
| Selling in India, Europe, the Middle East or globally | ISO 27001 |
| A specific customer is asking | Whatever that customer asks for |
| You expect to need both | Build controls once, map them to both |
What both have in common
The controls overlap heavily: access management, MFA, logging, vulnerability management, vendor risk, incident response, backups, and security awareness training. Both expect regular penetration testing and evidence that you fix what's found. Doing the groundwork once makes the second framework much faster.
Don't start with a tool, start with a gap assessment. Knowing exactly where you stand turns a vague year-long project into a clear plan.
We run ISO 27001 and SOC 2 gap assessments and provide the penetration testing evidence auditors ask for. Request a quote.