Comply with SOC 2 penetration testing requirements with Heyhack

SOC 2 Penetration Test Requirements

SOC 2 is developed by the AICPA and aims to define controls at a service organizations relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy.

What is SOC 2?

SOC 2 is an abbreviation of Service Organization Control 2 and is developed by the American Institute of Chartered Public Accountants (AICPA). It is a security and trust framework that defines common criteria for service organizations related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy. The standard for regulating these five issues was formed under the AICPA Trust Services Principles and Criteria.

The fundamental pillar in AICPA's Trust Services Criteria is Security. It covers nine subcategories that range from criteria for the Control Environment (CC1) to requirements related to Risk Mitigation (CC9). The most interesting criteria related to penetration testing are Monitoring Controls (CC4) and System Operations (CC7). Both CC4 and CC7 set standards for penetration testing.

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What is required by SOC 2?

The two main Common Criteria of interest defined by SOC 2 are CC 4.1 and CC 7.1. CC 4.1 requires that "management uses a variety of different types of ongoing and separate evaluations, including penetration testing, independent certifications made against established specifications (for example, ISO certifications), and internal audit assessments."

CC 7.1 states that for a service organization "to meet its objectives, the entity uses detection and monitoring procedures to identify (1) changes to configurations that result in the introduction of new vulnerabilities, and (2) susceptibilities to newly discovered vulnerabilities."

It is ultimately up to the auditor you have engaged with to assess the specific risk and need for penetration testing in your specific scenario. Though, most software development organize are required by the vast majority of auditors to conduct frequent penetration tests of the software they develop.

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Solve SOC 2 requirements for penetration testing

Heyhack is an easy-to-use platform for continuous penetration testing of web applications and APIs. Heyhack's solution is fully automated and you get started with your first penetration in less than 5 minutes—literally!

To run a penetration test with Heyhack, you simply need to provide the web address of your web application along with one or two test users that Heyhack can use to log in and test your application. After verifying your ownership of the domain that hosts you web application, you can start your very first penetration test.

A penetration test of an average-sized web applications takes somewhere between 2 and 4 hours. Once the test is completed, you can generate the required documentation needed to live up to SOC 2 requirements. Heyhack has worked with Prescient Assurance to ensure that the report generated by Heyhack lives up to the standards expected by SOC 2 auditors.

Benefits of automated penetration testing for SOC 2 compliance

Heyhack's automated penetration testing platform is designed on the same principles of continuous monitoring and testing as defined by SOC 2.

SOC 2 is continuous—so is Heyhack

Getting a SOC 2 certification is simply not a one-time event but, rather, a commitment by a service organization to continuously live up to its chosen Trust Service Criteria as defined by SOC 2.

Comprehensive testing required by SOC 2

The Common Criteria in SOC 2 require service organizations to comprehensively test its IT infrastructure and software products. Heyhack helps you live up to this requirement.

Generate documentation in seconds

After completing the first penetration test, you can generate the required documentation needed by your SOC 2 auditor. Simply define the sections of your PDF report and generate it on the fly.

Integrating with leading trust automation platforms

There are number of great trust automation platforms out there to help you generate the policies you need and continuously check and collect the evidence required to pass an audit. Some of the most popular products are Vanta, Drata, Accountable, Secureframe, Sprinto, Tugboat Logic, and Laika. If you would like to learn more about each of their pros and cons, we recommend checking out Nira's excellent blog post.

Heyhack automatically generates evidence compliant with the requirements in SOC 2 and ISO 27001. In addition, we offer integrations with third party compliance tools in order to easily collect and store required evidence alongside your policies and audit reports.

Moreover, from the Heyhack portal you can easily generate executive summaries of your completed scan reports and include only the sections you need for your customers (e.g., Methodology, Scope of Testing, List of Vulnerabilities, etc.). We generate PDF reports that you can either download and send yourself or email to customers directly from Heyhack.

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Minimize your attack surface

Book a meeting with one of our security experts and learn how Heyhack can help you secure your web applications and services across your domains.

Put penetration testing on autopilot and immediately reduce your AppSec risk.

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“Heyhack helps us gain a complete overview of the security of our application and patch vulnerabilities early.”

Søren Viuff

CPO of Openli