SOC 2 Type II Certification: Meeting Enterprise Security Standards

What SOC 2 Type II Actually Is

SOC 2 stands for "Service Organization Control 2." It's an audit framework developed by AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) that evaluates how securely a company handles customer data.

Type II specifically means an independent auditor has verified that the company's security controls worked as claimed over a period of time (usually 6-12 months). It's not a one-time checkbox—it's continuous verification.

For enterprise teams, SOC 2 Type II certification signals that a vendor takes security seriously and has proven it through independent verification.

What SOC 2 Auditors Actually Check

Security Controls

How are systems protected from unauthorized access? Are there firewalls, VPNs, encryption at rest and in transit? Can a hacker actually get in?

Access Controls

Who can access what data? Are there role-based permissions? Multi-factor authentication? Are access logs maintained and reviewed?

Change Management

Before deploying new code, is there a review process? Are changes logged? Can the company roll back if something breaks?

Monitoring & Detection

Do they monitor their systems continuously? Can they detect intrusions in real-time? Is there incident response capability?

Data Retention & Disposal

When you delete data, is it actually gone? Are backups handled securely? Is there a documented data retention policy?

How to Audit a Provider's Security

Ask for Their SOC 2 Report

Any legitimate B2B SaaS company should be willing to share their SOC 2 Type II report (or at minimum, their SOC 2 Letter of Attestation). If they refuse, that's a red flag.

Verify the Report

Check the audit date. Is it recent (within the last year)? Who conducted the audit? Look for names of major auditing firms (Deloitte, PwC, etc.). Verify the auditor's credentials on the AICPA website.

Review the Specific Findings

The report will detail which security principles they're compliant with. For domain management, you specifically want to see strong access controls, encryption protocols, and incident response procedures documented.

Ask About Vulnerabilities

Has the provider had any security incidents? What was the response? Good companies are transparent about past incidents and what they learned. Cover-ups are much worse than mistakes.

Red Flags When Evaluating Vendors

• No SOC 2 certification and they can't explain why
• Old or expired SOC 2 reports (over 18 months old)
• Refusal to discuss security practices or share audit results
• No multi-factor authentication or encryption mentioned
• Unclear data residency (where is your data physically stored?)
• No incident response plan publicly documented

The Bottom Line

SOC 2 Type II isn't perfect—it's not a guarantee that a company will never be hacked. But it does mean they've implemented reasonable security controls and been independently verified. For enterprises managing critical domain infrastructure, that verification matters.

Domain management platforms handling millions of dollars of DNS infrastructure should absolutely have SOC 2 Type II certification. If they don't, ask hard questions about why not.