No, SOC 2 is not a law or a government-mandated legal requirement like GDPR or HIPAA. Instead, it is a voluntary industry standard. However, in the modern B2B SaaS landscape, it is often a ‘de facto’ requirement. Most enterprise-level companies will refuse to sign a contract with a vendor that handles their sensitive data unless that vendor can provide a recent SOC 2 Type II report. While you won’t be fined by a regulator for not having a SOC 2, you will likely lose significant business opportunities. It serves as a critical component of the ‘due diligence’ process during procurement, acting as a shortcut for the customer’s legal and security teams to verify that you are a safe partner.
