SOC 2 Penetration Testing: What Auditors Actually Want to See

Summary

• SOC 2 audits assess control design (Type I) and operating effectiveness over time (Type II, typically 3–12 months).
• Pentesting isn’t mandatory, but auditors often expect it as evidence for the security portion of the Trust Services Criteria (TSC).
• Auditors may request pentest scope/methodology, recent reports, and proof that high/critical findings were remediated promptly.
• Regular pentesting helps identify gaps early and demonstrate real-world resilience to clients.

Key Terms

• SOC 2: A voluntary compliance framework for reporting on controls relevant to security and related criteria developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
• SOC 2 Type I: Report on control design at a point in time.
• SOC 2 Type II: Report on control effectiveness over a period (often 3–12 months).
• Trust Services Criteria (TSC): Security (required), Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, Privacy.
• Audit evidence: Artifacts demonstrating controls operated as stated (e.g., pentest reports, remediation tickets).

How SOC 2 Penetration Testing Strengthens Your Security Posture and Audit Readiness

In 2025, the United States witnessed a record high number of data breaches, with 3,322 reported incidents.¹ Around 80% of these incidents were a direct result of cyberattacks. Not only are breaches occurring at a higher frequency, they also have become more costly.¹ In 2025, the average breach cost touched $4.4 million.² As organizations continue to prioritize resilience, offensive security has become a cornerstone of forward-thinking teams.

Modern firms are adopting robust and proactive measures to safeguard their information assets. They also expect their service providers to do the same. To satisfy this demand and earn their clients’ business and trust, service vendors must demonstrate that they have implemented controls to securely manage their clients’ data. A SOC 2 Type II (or Type 2) report can help them to meet this objective.

So, how can service firms implement strong information security controls and demonstrate their effectiveness to clients?

In other words, how can they pass the SOC 2 Type II audit and achieve SOC 2 compliance?

The answer is SOC 2 penetration testing.

What Is a SOC 2 Audit?

Developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Service and Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) is a security framework designed to assess and demonstrate the security of information systems. A SOC 2 audit applies to service organizations that store, transmit, or process customer data, such as SaaS product vendors, cloud services providers (CSPs), and data hosting providers.

Independent auditors, such as CPAs and AICPA-accredited organizations, including BreachLock, conduct SOC 2 audits. On completing the audit, we generate a SOC 2 Type I or Type II report. These reports enable service companies to prove that they have implemented strong controls to protect client data from unauthorized access and compromise. A successful audit can also help prove the ability to detect security incidents, promptly respond to attacks, and minimize damage to client information in the event of such attacks.

SOC 2 Type I Report vs SOC 2 Type II Report

There are two types of SOC 2 reports. Each serves a different purpose depending on where an organization is in its compliance journey and what level of assurance its clients or prospects require.

SOC 2 Type I Report

A SOC 2 Type I report evaluates and describes a service organization’s information security controls at a specific point in time. It enables these companies to quickly prove that they are secure to clients. However, due to the shorter audit window and a less thorough audit, it provides less assurance about the firm’s information security capabilities.

SOC 2 Type II Report

This report evaluates and describes the effectiveness of information security controls over a sustained period of time (typically 3-12 months). The longer audit window and a more comprehensive audit results in a more thorough report. Consequently, it is more effective at communicating the service firm’s security maturity and long-term commitment to proactive information security.

SOC 2 Type II Report: What Are Auditors Looking For?

When preparing a SOC 2 Type II report, the auditors check if the service organization’s security and data protection controls are designed properly, that is, if the controls are in line with the AICPA’s five Trust Services Criteria (TSCs):

• 1. Security (mandatory): Controls to protect systems and information from unauthorized access.
• 2. Availability (optional): Controls to ensure system availability as stipulated by a contract/SLA between the organization and its client.
• 3. Confidentiality (optional): Controls to restrict data access and disclosure to a defined set of authorized parties.
• 4. Processing Integrity (optional): Controls that consistently ensure complete, valid, accurate, and timely data processing.
• 5. Privacy (optional): Controls to ensure that clients’ Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is collected, used, retained, disclosed, and disposed as per the AICPA’s generally accepted privacy principles (GAPP).

During Type II audits, auditors also assess control effectiveness, that is, if the controls are working over a period of time to consistently safeguard client data from breaches and cyberattacks.

Benefits of SOC 2 Penetration Testing

Pentesting is not mandatory to attain SOC 2 compliance. However, auditors often recommended pentesting assessments because they can benefit services organizations in many ways.

Proactive Identification of Security Gaps

Pentesting enables security teams to uncover exploitable security weaknesses early and prioritize remediations. Through proactive vulnerability identification and remediation, service firms can strengthen their security posture and maintain resilience against emerging threats. They can also demonstrate that their security controls actually work against real-world attack scenarios, thus garnering the trust of both current and prospective clients.

Support for the Security TSC

Pentesting directly supports the mandatory Security criterion of the SOC 2 Type II report. Under this, organizations must demonstrate that their systems are protected against unauthorized access, compromise, and abuse. With pentesting, they can validate whether their network defenses, WAFs, MFA, and intrusion detection systems can actually resist attack in the real world.

Provide Audit Evidence

During Type II audits, auditors may request recent pentest reports and remediation evidence, details about the testing scope and methodology, and proof that high-risk/critical issues were resolved promptly. A documented pentesting report provides this evidence. It also shows high security maturity. This empowers service firms to avoid undesirable qualified or adverse opinions from the SOC 2 auditor. A qualified opinion means that the company is not completely compliant, while an adverse opinion means that the company has failed the audit.

Accelerate SOC 2 Compliance with BreachLock SOC 2 Penetration Testing

BreachLock’s continuous, certified SOC 2 penetration testing is designed to ease common SOC 2 compliance challenges for service organizations.

Leverage our hybrid pentesting service that combines automated analysis with human ingenuity, enriched with AI and delivered through the BreachLock Unified Platform to:

• Assess the security of your network infrastructure
• Validate security controls
• Demonstrate that you can protect your customers’ data
• Satisfy SOC 2’s 5 TSCs: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy

BreachLock pentesting services can help you achieve and maintain SOC 2 compliance. Tell us about your testing scenario to get started.

References

1. Barracuda (February 2026). Reported U.S. data breaches hit record high in 2025. https://blog.barracuda.com/2026/02/23/reported-us-data-breaches-record-high-2025

2. IBM (2025). Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025. https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach

Author

BreachLock Labs