SOC 2 Audit Prep

Operational playbook for SOC 2 audit preparation. Designed to be picked up 4-12 weeks before an audit and run as a sprint to closure. Pairs with our deep ra-qm-team/soc2-compliance-expert skill (which builds the program from scratch).

When to use this skill vs. soc2-compliance-expert:

• This skill: audit scheduled in 4-12 weeks; gaps known; need to execute the sprint
• soc2-compliance-expert: building the SOC 2 program; designing controls; multi-quarter effort

When to use this skill

The audit-prep sprint at a glance

4-week sprint (Type I, mostly ready)

Week 1: Inventory + scoping
  - Confirm Trust Services Criteria scope (always Security; plus chosen others)
  - Pull current evidence per criterion
  - Identify gaps via scripts/evidence_gap_finder.py
  - Auditor kickoff scheduled

Week 2: Gap closure
  - Policy updates / approvals
  - Technical control fixes (MFA universal, logging coverage, etc.)
  - Evidence retrieval (access reviews, change tickets, on-call records)
  - Auditor information request preparation

Week 3: Evidence finalization
  - All evidence packets compiled per criterion
  - Walkthroughs / interviews scheduled with key control owners
  - Findings remediation
  - Pre-audit checkpoint with auditor (informal)

Week 4: Audit week
  - Walkthroughs executed
  - Sample testing
  - Q&A
  - Management responses to findings

8-week sprint (Type I, gaps remaining)

Weeks 1-2: Inventory + scoping + gap identification (same as 4-week W1)
Weeks 3-5: Gap closure (policies, technical, process)
Weeks 6-7: Evidence finalization + walkthroughs
Week 8: Audit week

12-week sprint (Type II observation prep)

Weeks 1-2: Inventory + scope + gap identification + auditor kickoff
Weeks 3-4: Gap closure
Weeks 5-12: Observation period (controls operating; evidence accumulating)
After observation period: audit week

See references/evidence-collection-sprint-plan.md for the detailed week-by-week plans.

The pre-audit punch list

Standard pre-audit punch list, organized by Trust Services Criterion:

CC1-CC5 (Common Criteria — control environment)

• Information security policy approved + dated within 12 months
• Org chart current (reflects actual reporting lines)
• Risk assessment performed + documented within 12 months
• Board / leadership oversight evidence (minutes referencing security)
• Code of conduct signed by all employees
• Background checks documented for all hires

CC6 (Logical and Physical Access)

• SSO enforced for all production systems
• MFA universal (no exceptions documented for production access)
• Access review evidence (quarterly minimum)
• Privileged access management (PAM) for admin/root accounts
• Physical security evidence (office badge logs, data center attestation)
• Encryption at rest / in transit verified

CC7 (System Operations)

• Vulnerability management evidence (scans, remediation tracking)
• Monitoring and alerting documented + tested
• Incident response plan + documented incidents from past period
• Business continuity / DR plan + test evidence
• Backup verification (not just configured — tested restore)

CC8 (Change Management)

• Code change tickets with peer review + approval
• Production deployment evidence (who, what, when, approvers)
• Emergency change process documented + sample tickets

CC9 (Risk Mitigation / Vendors)

• Vendor inventory current
• Vendor due diligence evidence per vendor
• Vendor SOC 2 reports collected (annual)

A1 (Availability — if in scope)

• SLA monitoring + actuals
• Capacity planning evidence
• Recovery objective testing (RTO/RPO)

PI1 (Processing Integrity — if in scope)

• Data validation controls documented
• Error handling + reconciliation evidence

C1 (Confidentiality — if in scope)

• Data classification + handling procedures
• Encryption verified

P1 (Privacy — if in scope)

• Privacy notice published + dated
• Data subject rights process documented
• Consent management evidence

See references/soc2-pre-audit-punch-list.md for the detailed punch list with evidence templates per item.

Clarify First

Before running the audit-prep sprint, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Audit type — Type I (point-in-time) vs Type II (observation period) (sets the 4/8 vs 12-week sprint and the evidence-over-time requirement)
• TSC scope — which Trust Services Criteria beyond mandatory Security (Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, Privacy) (determines which punch-list sections apply)
• Readiness score / gap level — picks the 4-week vs 8-week vs 12-week sprint (or postpone)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the sprint plan.

Quick start

1. Run readiness score: python3 scripts/soc2_readiness_score.py --config controls.yaml
2. Identify evidence gaps: python3 scripts/evidence_gap_finder.py --evidence evidence.yaml --tsc CC6
3. Pick sprint length based on score:
   • Score > 90: 4-week sprint
   • Score 75-90: 8-week sprint
   • Score < 75: 12-week sprint or postpone audit
4. Execute sprint per references/evidence-collection-sprint-plan.md
5. Pre-audit checkpoint with auditor 1 week before

Common audit-prep failures

• No designated audit owner. Sprint flounders. Assign one person Day 1.
• Treating evidence as one-time. Type II requires controls operating over observation period. Evidence must accumulate continuously, not just at the end.
• Untested backups. Configuring backups isn't enough; you need restore test evidence.
• Access review checked but not enforced. Reviews happen; access not actually removed when flagged.
• Vendor SOC 2 reports missing or stale. Audit checks subservice org evidence.
• No incident in observation period. Looks suspicious to auditors. Either you had none (unusual) or you're not detecting them.
• Late discovery of carve-out vs inclusive subservice orgs. Re-scoping mid-sprint is painful.

Tooling

References

• soc2-pre-audit-punch-list.md — detailed punch list per TSC with evidence templates
• evidence-collection-sprint-plan.md — 4/8/12-week sprint plans with week-by-week deliverables

Related skills

• ra-qm-team/soc2-compliance-expert — deep SOC 2 program management (multi-quarter)
• ra-qm-team/audit-prep/compliance-readiness — multi-framework readiness (SOC 2 + ISO 27001 + NIST)
• ra-qm-team/infrastructure-compliance-auditor — automated infra scanning for evidence
• engineering/observability-designer — logging / monitoring evidence