Skip to content

SOC 2 Type 2 (Security & Confidentiality) Controls#

Disclaimer

It is important to note that the information provided in this document is for general informational purposes only. Any liability for the completeness, accuracy, timeliness, or reliability of the content is expressly excluded. Organizations are advised to consult with legal, compliance, or technical experts to ensure that their specific compliance and security needs are adequately addressed.

SOC 2 Type 2, a critical standard for service organizations, evaluates the effectiveness of controls over a period of time across five Trust Service Criteria (TSC): Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy. SAAP (Stakater App Agility Platform) supports organizations in meeting SOC 2 Type 2 requirements through its robust Kubernetes-native capabilities.

  • Total Trust Service Criteria (TSC): 5
  • Total SOC 2 Controls: Varies by organization and auditor-defined scope; mapped to TSC.

Controls Addressed by SAAP#

  • Directly Applicable Controls SAAP enables the implementation of critical controls required for SOC 2 compliance through Kubernetes features, policies, and integrations. These controls span:
    • Security (TSC 1):
      • Access Control: Enforces fine-grained Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and network policies to restrict unauthorized access.
      • Logging and Monitoring: Implements centralized logging and real-time alerting with tools like Prometheus and Grafana.
      • Change Management: Ensures controlled deployments via GitOps and validates configurations with admission controllers.
    • Availability (TSC 2):
      • Resilience and Redundancy: Supports pod replication, auto-scaling, and disaster recovery tools for backup/restore.
      • Fault Tolerance: Configures readiness and liveness probes, ensuring high availability of workloads.
      • Monitoring Uptime: Provides SLA monitoring using Kubernetes-native observability tools.
    • Processing Integrity (TSC 3):
      • Error Detection: Facilitates real-time error detection through logging and alert systems.
      • Controlled Operations: Aligns CI/CD pipelines with secure and validated release mechanisms.
    • Confidentiality (TSC 4):
      • Data Encryption: Secures data at rest (e.g., etcd encryption) and in transit (e.g., TLS for communication).
      • Secrets Management: Manages sensitive data using encrypted Kubernetes Secrets with KMS integration.
      • Network Security: Ensures inter-service communication is protected through service meshes like Istio.
    • Privacy (TSC 5):
      • Access Restrictions: Supports namespace-based multi-tenancy and granular RBAC policies for workload isolation.
      • Policy Enforcement: Aligns Kubernetes policies with privacy frameworks via tools like OPA/Gatekeeper.
  • Partially Applicable Controls SAAP offers flexibility to address additional controls through configuration and integration, supporting broader compliance efforts. Examples include:
    • Information Governance: Aligns technical policies with overarching organizational governance frameworks, ensuring consistency across the environment.
    • Third-Party Assurance: Validates compliance of external dependencies and enforces controls for secure integration with external systems.
    • Incident Management: Provides mechanisms to integrate with organizational incident response workflows for timely detection, reporting, and remediation.

SAAP addresses approximately 40–60 controls associated with SOC 2 Type 2, depending on the specific scope and operational requirements of the organization. It achieves this by:

  • Enabling seamless enforcement of security and compliance controls through technical measures.
  • Streamlining operational processes to align with SOC 2 principles.
  • Supporting continuous monitoring, reporting, and auditing to demonstrate compliance effectively.

By focusing on core technical enforcement and operational resilience, SAAP equips organizations with the tools necessary to achieve SOC 2 Type 2 compliance in a modern, scalable environment.