Key SOC 2 Audit Automation Trends in 2024

For organizations that collect and store sensitive data in the cloud, obtaining a SOC 2 report is one of the most effective ways to communicate to customers, partners, and stakeholders that keeping their data secure is a top priority.

Before issuing a SOC 2 report, auditors take a close look at a cloud service provider’s internal controls to determine whether they’ve been designed, implemented, and maintained effectively to ensure their services remain safe and reliable for consumers. 

While the reporting period for a SOC 2 report can vary, all SOC 2 examinations report on one or a combination of the Trust Services Criteria outlined by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA): security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

Once issued by an accredited CPA firm, SOC 2 reports remain valid for one year. This means cloud service organizations must continually demonstrate the effectiveness of their controls—and their auditors must review and test dozens (or even hundreds) of controls each year.

As systems continue to grow more complex, automation tools play a critical role in simplifying the auditing process, providing auditors with a more streamlined approach to evidence collection and testing, and giving auditees a better understanding of what documentation is needed and when.

The Evolution of SOC 2 Audit Automation

SOC 2 was first introduced by the AICPA in 2010, setting a new standard in IT assurance. Since then, demand for SOC 2 engagements has skyrocketed. A 2021 report from the AICPA indicated demand for the yearly security assessment was up nearly 50%, and the numbers have only continued to climb.

With the volume of organizations seeking SOC 2 reports on the rise, auditors have spent more than a decade looking for ways to make the SOC 2 auditing process more efficient—and at every step of the way, automation has been the answer. Over the years, automation tools have helped auditors and auditees work more efficiently by:

• Providing additional flexibility. With automation tools, auditors and their clients can work asynchronously, speeding up the evidence collection process and allowing for smoother communication across multiple regions and time zones.

• Allowing teams to be more prepared for meetings. Instead of waiting for email updates, automation tools allow auditors and auditees to easily see what documentation has been provided, what’s still missing, and what issues may have arisen that need to be addressed.

• Helping teams keep up with shifts in the regulatory landscape. With less time spent chasing down documents, auditors are able to spend more time helping clients understand and prepare for future updates in government and industry requirements and standards for information security.

• Making way for smoother concurrent and subsequent audits. Automation tools like Audora allow auditors to map controls to multiple cybersecurity frameworks, meaning cloud service providers can seamlessly undergo multiple IT audits simultaneously. In addition, by keeping logs of past years’ audits, automation tools significantly cut down on the amount of time needed to complete subsequent engagements in years to come; there’s no need to start from scratch every time.

While automation tools have come a long way over the last decade, new developments are always on the horizon. Let’s take a closer look at three emerging trends in compliance automation.

SOC 2 Automation Trends to Watch in 2024

1. AI and Machine Learning in SOC 2 Audits

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the modern business world cannot be understated. With the advent of machine learning, professionals across industries have found new and innovative ways to improve the accuracy and efficiency of their work. And the field of compliance automation is no exception. AI tools can quickly analyze huge swaths of data and report discrepancies before they spiral into bigger issues. With the right tools, auditors can read between the lines to recognize patterns that might not have been immediately obvious otherwise.

AI can also work in tandem with compliance automation tools to help cloud service providers improve their overall security postures. For instance, machine learning tools can help detect and even prevent threats by monitoring user activity and automatically blocking potentially unauthorized attempts to access sensitive data. 

2. The Rise of Real-Time Compliance Monitoring

As technology continues to grow more sophisticated, so do the tactics being employed by bad actors aiming to wreak havoc on businesses around the world. Even organizations that regularly undergo rigorous compliance audits can’t be complacent. Real-time compliance monitoring plays an increasingly critical role in ensuring business continuity, mitigating security risks, and minimizing the damage caused by cyberattacks.

Auditing teams that want to provide additional value to clients can take advantage of tools provided by compliance automation platforms to help organizations identify areas of weakness and quash potential breaches early on. 

3. Adoption of Cloud-Based Audit Solutions

As regulators in industry and government scramble to keep up with new advancements in technology, auditors and their clients have been forced to contend with frequent shifts in the regulatory landscape. This has led some experts to suggest that there is a growing need among businesses of all sizes to have a dedicated security and compliance team on the payroll. For organizations that haven’t yet reached that stage of growth, compliance automation tools can help bridge the gap.

Even internal audit teams are increasingly turning to cloud-based audit solutions in order to make the best use of limited resources. Automation tools allow auditors and their clients to spend less time on check-the-box exercises and evidence collection, and more time looking at the big picture—as well as planning for what’s to come.

Impacts on Auditors and Their Clients

The rise of trends such as AI, real-time compliance monitoring, and the widespread adoption of cloud-based audit solutions has helped to propel the cybersecurity industry as a whole forward, opening the door for auditors to better serve their clients and improving overall security outcomes for businesses. 

For instance, AI tools allow auditors to offload repetitive, monotonous tasks and spend more one-on-one time with clients fine-tuning their security programs. In addition, cloud-based audit solutions like Audora can shorten the SOC 2 auditing process significantly, allowing auditors to complete more audits concurrently and resulting in huge cost savings for their clients.

And it’s not just auditors. Cloud service providers are also feeling the positive impacts of trends like AI. Machine learning is helping to make achieving and maintaining compliance more accessible to start-ups and other fast-growing businesses. AI tools can even be trained to break down complex regulatory requirements into more digestible language to make it easier for security practitioners to design effective controls in accordance with the latest standards. These developments put security practitioners in a better position to achieve their compliance goals and make smart decisions that reduce risk for their organizations.

A Look Ahead

As more organizations across all industries transition their systems to the cloud, experts predict cyberattacks will become more complex—and more frequent. More than 80% of breaches studied by IBM for its 2023 Cost of a Data Breach report involved data stored in the cloud, underscoring the need for cloud service providers to understand and implement best practices for managing risk.

Cybersecurity experts also predict that cloud-based and hybrid organizations will face more stringent regulations regarding data security in the years to come. A May 2022 report from Gartner claims that by the end of 2024, 75% of the world’s population will have their data covered by some sort of data privacy regulation. And the rise of AI is only accelerating the adoption of these new rules.

In fact, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just announced new rules in July 2023 that could have a sweeping impact on public companies and their cybersecurity incident response plans. The rules require publicly traded companies to disclose “material” cybersecurity incidents within four days of determining the incident occurred. The SEC defines “material” incidents as those that a “reasonable shareholder” would consider “important in an investment decision.” 

With tightening regulations and the value of data rising, auditors and their clients can expect compliance needs to increase across industries. More companies will need to maintain compliance in order to adhere to customer or government standards; at the same time, achieving compliance will be a more complicated process. Embracing automation will be key in order for auditors and the organizations they serve to keep up with the rapid changes.

The Bottom Line

In sum, automation has proven to be a powerful tool in helping auditors and their clients stay up-to-date on developments in security and compliance, including those brought about by innovations like artificial intelligence and real-time monitoring. For security practitioners and compliance officers who want to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, understanding the modern cybersecurity landscape is crucial.

Whether you’re an auditor looking to increase productivity and reduce costs, or an organization undergoing a SOC 2 audit, Audora saves time and resources so you can focus on staying ahead of the curve. Book a free demo today.