Question

Difficulty: EasySecurity Audits, Assessments, and Attestations

An enterprise security manager is evaluating a third-party cloud service provider and requires an independent audit report that verifies the operational effectiveness of the provider's security controls over a six-month testing period. Which of the following attestation reports should the security manager request?

  1. SOC 2 Type II reportAnswer
  2. B
    SOC 2 Type I report
  3. C
    SOC 1 Type II report
  4. D
    Vulnerability assessment report

Answer

SOC 2 Type II report
The SOC 2 Type II report is specifically designed to provide an independent audit of a service organization's security controls, evaluating both the design suitability and operational effectiveness over a specified testing period (typically 6 to 12 months).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary criteria specified in the requirement
The scenario calls for assessing security controls over a testing period (six months).
Security audits differentiate between point-in-time assessments and period-of-time evaluations.
2
Differentiate between SOC 1 and SOC 2 reports
SOC 2 targets Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy criteria, whereas SOC 1 targets financial reporting controls.
Cloud service provider security evaluations require SOC 2 criteria.
3
Distinguish between Type I and Type II attestation reports
Type I tests design at a single point in time, while Type II tests operational effectiveness over a duration.
The requirement specifically calls for verifying operational effectiveness over a six-month window.

Key Concept

SOC 2 Type II reports provide third-party attestation of the operational effectiveness of security controls over a specified time period.
Rate this question