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GRC & Compliance·Updated 2026-10-21

What is the difference between ISO 27001 and SOC 2?

Short answer

ISO 27001 is an international certification of your information security management system, recognized worldwide. SOC 2 is an attestation report from a CPA firm on specific controls, most common in North America. Both show customers you take security seriously, and their controls overlap heavily.

The details

Choose based on where your customers are and what they ask for. Many organizations pursue one first and map the shared controls to add the other later.

Terms explained

ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the international standard for an information security management system (ISMS), against which organizations can be independently certified.
SOC 2
SOC 2 is an attestation report from an independent CPA firm on a service organization’s controls relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.

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