NEW! Data443 Acquires Vaikora – Real-Time AI Runtime Control & Enforcement for AI Agent
SOC 2 is the AICPA audit standard for service organizations covering the Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Type I covers control design at a point in time; Type II covers operating effectiveness over a period, typically 6 to 12 months. SOC 2 is the default security credential for SaaS vendors selling to North American enterprises. Vaikora ships SOC 2 compliance presets.
SOC 2 is required by most enterprise procurement processes in 2026. Vendors without a SOC 2 report face longer security review cycles or get filtered out entirely. The Type II report is the credential that gets accepted; Type I is treated as a step on the path to Type II.
For AI workloads specifically, auditors began asking AI-specific questions in 2025: how the organization manages AI agent identity, how it audits AI agent actions, and how it controls AI access to customer data. Runtime control products like Vaikora produce the evidence directly.
SOC 2 is one of several enterprise security credentials. ISO/IEC 27001 covers similar ground at the management-system level. ISO/IEC 42001 is the AI-specific counterpart. HIPAA applies to protected health information specifically. Many vendors hold multiple credentials.
A SaaS vendor pursuing SOC 2 Type II maps each Trust Services Criterion to its control library. Vaikora policy decisions on AI agent actions become evidence for processing integrity and confidentiality controls. A second example: a healthcare AI vendor uses Vaikora’s SOC 2 preset to generate audit evidence automatically, producing the artifacts the auditor requests without manual collection.
An audit. The auditor produces a report (Type I or Type II) describing the controls and their operating effectiveness. The vendor distributes the report to customers under NDA.
Typical path from policy authoring to first Type II report is 9 to 14 months: 3 to 6 months of preparation, then a 6 to 12 month audit period.
Vaikora’s SOC 2 preset maps policy decisions to specific Trust Services Criteria. Audit evidence is generated as a normal side effect of policy enforcement, eliminating manual evidence collection for AI agent controls.
Many enterprises require SOC 2 specifically. Some accept ISO/IEC 27001 plus a bridge letter. Check the buyer’s procurement requirements; in practice many vendors hold both.
Last updated: 2026-05-20.
