SOC 2 doesn't specify exact technical controls the way PCI DSS does - it's an attestation that you've designed and consistently operated controls meeting the Trust Services Criteria, which leaves genuine room for interpretation. For an early-stage SaaS startup, that flexibility is often more confusing than helpful: "what do I actually need to build" doesn't have a single canonical checklist. This is a practical version scoped to what a small engineering team implements. For how SOC 2 compares to ISO 27001 specifically, see our ISO 27001 vs SOC 2 guide.

Security Is Mandatory - the Rest Is Optional

SOC 2 has five Trust Services Criteria: Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy. Security is required in every SOC 2 report; the other four are added only if relevant to your service and your customers' expectations. Most early-stage SaaS startups scope their first audit to Security alone, and add Availability or Confidentiality later once a customer contract specifically requires it - there's no requirement to include criteria your product and customer base don't need yet.

Type I vs Type II: A Timeline Decision, Not Just a Rigor Decision

A Type I report attests that controls are suitably designed at a single point in time. A Type II report attests that they operated effectively over a period, typically 3-12 months. Many startups start with Type I to satisfy an urgent customer deal, then move to Type II once controls have had time to run - Type II is what most enterprise customers actually expect for a vendor handling their data, so treat Type I as a bridge, not a destination.

The Core Technical Controls

  1. Access control and least privilege. Role-based access to production systems and customer data, with access reviewed periodically (quarterly is a common cadence) and revoked promptly on offboarding. Document who has access to what and why - auditors ask for this list, not just the access control system's existence.
  2. Multi-factor authentication on every system with access to customer data or production infrastructure - not just the main application, but your cloud provider console, database admin tools, and CI/CD pipeline.
  3. Encryption in transit and at rest. TLS everywhere externally-facing, and encryption at rest for your primary datastore - most managed database and object storage services enable this with a configuration flag, but it needs to be confirmed, not assumed.
  4. Vulnerability management on a schedule. Regular vulnerability scanning (not a one-time pre-audit scramble) with a documented process for triaging and remediating findings by severity. This is one of the controls auditors most commonly find gaps in, because it requires ongoing evidence, not a point-in-time screenshot.
  5. Logging and monitoring with alerting. Centralized logs for authentication events, access to sensitive data, and infrastructure changes, with alerting on anomalies - not just log retention for after-the-fact investigation.
  6. Change management. A documented process for how code changes reach production - code review, a CI pipeline, and a record of who approved and deployed each change. Most startups already do this through normal engineering practice (PR review, CI) and just need to make sure it's consistently followed and evidenced, not built from scratch.
  7. Incident response plan. A written plan for what happens when something goes wrong - who's notified, how customers are informed, how the incident is documented - even if it has never been exercised in practice. Auditors check that a plan exists and is realistic for your team's size, not that you've had (or fabricated) an incident to respond to.
  8. Vendor and subprocessor risk management. A list of third-party services that touch customer data (your cloud provider, your email service, your error tracking tool) and basic confirmation that each one has its own appropriate security posture - this is frequently the most overlooked control at small companies, since it involves vendors rather than your own code.

The Mistake Almost Every Startup Makes

Waiting until a customer deal is blocked on a SOC 2 report before starting evidence collection. A Type II audit period requires controls to have been operating for months before the audit - starting the clock only when it becomes urgent adds that same number of months to how long the deal is blocked. Automating evidence collection early (scheduled vulnerability scans, logged access reviews) turns an annual scramble into a byproduct of normal operations.

Where Continuous Scanning Fits

Vulnerability management and the documented evidence it produces are exactly the kind of control that's painful to assemble manually right before an audit and straightforward if it's already running continuously. Shieldome's SaaS application security scanner runs scheduled scans, exports SARIF for your GitHub Security tab, and keeps a timestamped scan history - the audit trail a SOC 2 auditor asks for, generated as a side effect of scans you'd want to be running anyway. See our pricing, or create a free account to start building that history now.