Been diving deep into cybersecurity compliance lately and one thing that consistently comes up is SOC 2. For companies handling sensitive customer data-especially SaaS providers-it's becoming a kind of gold standard.

SOC 2 isn't just a checkbox; it focuses on five trust principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. What stood out to me is how it doesn't just look at the tech side, but also how an organization operates and manages data internally.

I was researching practical implementation approaches and came across this guide on SOC 2 compliance consulting. It helped break down what's needed at each stage, especially if you're starting from scratch or scaling toward enterprise-level compliance.

Anyone here gone through a SOC 2 audit? Curious how painful (or not) the process was and what kind of tools or external help you found actually useful. Also wondering if it's something even smaller startups should prioritize early on, or only when they're customer-facing at scale.

SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are both valuable for building trust-SOC 2 is key for SaaS, while ISO 27001 suits global compliance. Starting early helps, especially if GDPR applies too.