Although I have written about these relatively new reports frequently, and for some time now, it still remains a topic of great interest to financial institutions. Fully 20% of all searches on this site over the past 6 months include the terms “SOC” or “SOC 2”, or “SAS 70”. Some of this increased interest comes […]
FFIEC Handbook Update – SAS 70 Transition
The FFIEC has just updated their online IT Examination InfoBase to address the AICPA phase-out of the SAS 70 reporting format. All references to “SAS 70” have now been replaced, and the SAS 70 sections of the Audit and Information Security Handbooks have been completely removed. Previously there were a total of 31 references to […]
2012 Compliance Trends, Part 2 – Vendor Management
In my first post in this series I discussed training (employee and customer) as a good candidate for increased regulatory scrutiny in 2012. Although these posts are in no particular order, I had initially intended to list “Management” as the next trend. However a comment made to me by a banker at a recent conference […]
SOC 2 vs. SAS 70 – 5 reasons to embrace the change
The SOC 2 and SOC 3 audit guides have recently been released by the AICPA, and the SAS 70 phase-out becomes effective tomorrow. The more I learn about these new reports the more I like them. First of all, as a service provider to financial institutions we will have to prepare for this engagement (just […]
Vendor Management and the SAS 70 Replacement
I’ve written about the replacement for the SAS 70, which officially phases out on June 15th, previously. But because this one report is being replaced with 3 new reports, financial institutions have an additional challenge that they didn’t have before. Your vendor management program must now determine the most appropriate report to request based on […]
SOC Report Selection & Evaluation Aids
With the SAS 70 phasing out on 6/15, financial institutions have a dual challenge; determining the best report to request, and evaluating the report they are provided. To assist with this challenge, I’ve created two documents. The first, or Step 1, is a SOC Selection Flowchart, which is available here. This will assist in determining […]
AICPA finalizes SAS 70 replacement
I wrote about this here as well, but it’s now official: The AICPA has clarified the SAS 70 replacement reports. They are actually officially being referred to as “Service Organization Control Reports (formerly SAS 70 reports)”. The new SOC reports provide a framework for auditors to examine controls and to help senior management understand the […]
Top 5 Compliance Trends for 2011 – Part 3
What do Social Media, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Data Vaulting, Mobile Banking, and Core Services have in common? For most community financial institutions, all these products or technologies involve outsourcing, either wholly or in part. When it comes to offering the latest products and services, outsourcing allows even the smallest institution to compete with the largest. […]
SAS 70 replacement…3 alternatives
I’ve written about this here, here and here, and we are still waiting on additional guidance from the AICPA, now expected March/April 2011. But of greater interest to financial institutions is the opinion of the FFIEC, which refers to the SAS 70 in the IT Examination Handbooks 30 times, and has yet to officially […]
SAS 70 vs. SSAE 16 from the service provider perspective
Although it’s unclear what, if anything, the FFIEC* will say about the new standard before it is officially adopted in June of next year, one thing is certain…both vendors and financial institutions will need to become familiar with the differences in the interim. And one of the most significant differences between the two reporting standards […]
The FFIEC Handbooks and the SAS 70
I’ve written about the 6/15/2011 phase-out of the SAS 70 report in favor of the SSAE 16 series (SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC3) here and here. The AICPA isn’t expected to update their audit guide until sometime early next year, but financial institutions are anxious to get the FFIEC to comment, as the SAS 70 […]