SOC 2 (AICPA Trust Services Criteria)

Not legal advice

Provision strings are pointers into the instrument, not interpretations of it. Every statement below can serve as evidence toward an obligation; none of them says a system is compliant, and each one states what it does not show.

SOC 2 is an attestation against the AICPA Trust Services Criteria. What the catalog gives a service auditor is a witnessed activity log with an independent timestamp for the criteria the gateway touches (CC4, CC6, CC7, CC8, PI1, C1) — not screenshots, and not an opinion.

Registry id	soc2
Kind	attestation
Jurisdiction	US
Instrument	AICPA Trust Services Criteria 2017 (revised points of focus 2022)
Catalog versions	2026-09 from 2018-12-15 (current) — TSC 2017, points of focus 2022
Verified against instrument	yes
Tagging key (compliance tags)	soc2
Incident deadline rules	none
Retention floors	*: 365 days
Obligations	10

The retention floor *: 365 days is the default attestation (examination) period and applies to every system for which SOC 2 is active; declare a different period on the profile. SOC 2 has no reporting deadline, so incidents.reported_within_deadline is not_evaluable unless you declare an SLA.

Obligations and their evidence

Each obligation lists the statements it is shown against. The basis is one of recomputed, judged, indicator or declared (what the bases mean); the resolver is from the shared library.

Monitoring activities

cc4-monitoring-activities · CC4.1, CC4.2 · applies from 2018-12-15

Ongoing and separate evaluations determine whether controls are present and functioning; deficiencies are communicated. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
Liveness, drift and health were evaluated every day.	recomputed	monitoring.daily_health	Shows the monitoring ran; what a human did with its findings is shown in the inbox trail.
The tenant log’s tree heads covering the window were countersigned by an independent witness.	recomputed	records.witnessed	A receipt shows inclusion at a tree size, not a witness-observed time; a same-operator witness is self-attested.

Logical access security

cc6-1-logical-access · CC6.1 · applies from 2018-12-15

Logical access security software, infrastructure and architectures protect information assets. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
Grants, capability filters and argument policies are bound and sealed.	declared	authz.least_privilege_declared	Whether the grants are the least the system needs is the operator’s judgement, not evaluated.
Approvals were decided by authenticated principals (2FA where policy requires it).	recomputed	authz.human_identity_verified	Authentication is of the console account; who sat at the keyboard is not observable.

System boundaries and transmission

cc6-6-cc6-7-boundaries · CC6.6, CC6.7 · applies from 2018-12-15

Access from outside the system boundary is restricted and data movement is controlled — policy denials and residency blocks at the gateway. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
Every action outside the contract or grant was refused.	recomputed	authz.out_of_grant_refused	Covers actions the gateway observed; the grant itself is a declaration.
Every data-movement refusal (residency block) produced a sealed record.	recomputed	access.sensitive_reads_recorded {"tag": "soc2.cc6.7"}	Counts actions the tagging engine marked; untagged traffic is not in the denominator.

Prevention of unauthorised or malicious software and change

cc6-8-unauthorised-change · CC6.8 · applies from 2018-12-15

Controls prevent or detect the introduction of unauthorised software or configuration. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
No grant was widened without going through the lifecycle gate.	recomputed	change.no_unapproved_widening	Covers configuration held by the gateway; upstream changes (a vendor’s model) are shown as drift.

Monitoring for anomalies

cc7-2-anomaly-monitoring · CC7.2 · applies from 2018-12-15

System components are monitored for anomalies indicative of malicious acts or errors. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
Every guardrail block the tagging engine marked CC7.2 produced a sealed record.	recomputed	access.sensitive_reads_recorded {"tag": "soc2.cc7.2"}	Counts actions the tagging engine marked; untagged traffic is not in the denominator.
Every governed action produced a sealed record, including refusals.	recomputed	records.every_verdict_sealed	Integrity is not completeness: covers actions routed through the gateway only; records sealed late by backfill are reported separately.
The audit row chain over the window recomputes intact, or every gap is a declared prune.	recomputed	records.integrity_verified	Detects alteration after the fact; it cannot show that a row was accurate when written.

Security events and incident response

cc7-3-cc7-4-incidents · CC7.3, CC7.4 · applies from 2018-12-15

Security events are evaluated; identified incidents are responded to under a defined programme. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
An incident register is kept and no open incident is past its deadline.	recomputed	incidents.register_exists	Shows incidents someone entered; an incident nobody recorded cannot be counted.
Incidents were reported within the customer-defined SLA.	recomputed	incidents.reported_within_deadline {"framework": "soc2"}	SOC 2 sets no reporting deadline; without a declared SLA this statement cannot be evaluated. Deadlines are shown, not enforced.

Change management

cc8-1-change-management · CC8.1 · applies from 2018-12-15

Changes to infrastructure, data, software and procedures are authorised, tested and documented. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
Every contract promotion has a sealed epoch-boundary record naming its approver.	recomputed	change.promotions_sealed	Changes made outside the contract lifecycle are not visible here.

Processing integrity of outputs

pi1-4-pi1-5-processing-integrity · PI1.4, PI1.5 · applies from 2018-12-15

Outputs are complete, accurate and timely; stored items are protected from alteration. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

What the gateway cannot show: The accuracy of a model’s output is not recomputable; alteration after the fact is.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
The audit row chain over the window recomputes intact, or every gap is a declared prune.	recomputed	records.integrity_verified	Detects alteration after the fact; it cannot show that a row was accurate when written.
Human approval requests were decided by humans (requested, decided, lapsed).	recomputed	oversight.exercised	Records the fact of human disposition, not its quality.

Confidential information

c1-1-confidentiality · C1.1 · applies from 2018-12-15

Confidential information is identified and protected — records carry digests and an admitted-field allow-list, never bodies or identities. Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
The confidentiality commitments and the never-enters allow-list are declared.	declared	profile.field_declared {"path": "frameworks.soc2.confidentiality_reference"}	The allow-list is a published design property; the customer’s own commitments are declared, not evaluated.

Evidence retained for the attestation period

attestation-period-retention · SOC 2 Type II examination period · applies from 2018-12-15

The records an examination samples must exist for the whole period under review (default 365 days). Applies to every system for which the framework is active.

Statement	Basis	Resolver	Does not show
Logs are kept for at least the attestation period (365 days by default).	recomputed	retention.floor {"floor_days": 365}	The default period is 365 days; a different examination period is declared on the profile. Record identifiers, statements and tree heads are permanent.
Every gap in the retained logs is a declared prune.	recomputed	retention.declared_prunes	A declared prune is shown as a gap with its reason; the pruned content cannot be recovered.

Related

• Framework registry & evidence bases — how catalogs, resolvers and the version in force work
• The Compliance console — the Obligations matrix for this framework
• Incidents, reports & documentation