Soc2 trust services criteria

SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria

Overview

This skill maps technical and operational controls to AICPA Trust Services Criteria (TSC) used in SOC 2 examinations. The Security category (Common Criteria CC1.0–CC9.0) is mandatory for all SOC 2 reports. Additional categories apply based on report scope:

Category	Prefix	When in scope
Security	CC	Always
Availability	A	Uptime/performance commitments
Confidentiality	C	Confidential information protection
Processing Integrity	PI	Complete/valid processing
Privacy	P	Personal information lifecycle

For AI agent and MCP architectures, focus areas include CC6 (logical access), CC7 (system operations/monitoring), CC8 (change management), CC9 (risk mitigation), and category-specific criteria when processing customer or PHI-adjacent data.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Scoping a SOC 2 audit or readiness assessment
• Gap analysis against TSC for agent platforms, MCP integrations, or compliance tooling
• Mapping existing controls (IAM, logging, change management) to CC/A/C/PI/P points of focus
• Preparing control narratives for auditors
• Determining which TSC categories apply to a product or internal system
• Cross-walking HIPAA or PCI controls to SOC 2 for unified compliance programs

Do not use this skill when:

• Collecting screenshots and exports (use soc2-evidence-collection)
• Implementing CCM dashboards (use soc2-ccm-continuous-monitoring)
• HIPAA BAA legal review (use hipaa-baa-vendor-assessment)

Core Process

Execute steps in order.

Step 1: Report scope definition

1. Document system description boundaries:
   • Agent runtime, skills repository, MCP servers, evidence store, identity provider
   • Cloud regions, subservice organizations (carve-out vs inclusive method)
2. Select TSC categories in scope (minimum: Security).
3. Define trust boundaries: where customer data enters, processes, exits.
4. Artifact: soc2-scope-{id}.json.

Step 2: Security (CC) — mandatory mapping

Map controls to each Common Criteria series:

Series	Focus	Agent/MCP examples
CC1	Control environment	Security policies, roles for agent admins
CC2	Communication	Internal security awareness, customer security docs
CC3	Risk assessment	LLM vendor risk, MCP tool risk assessments
CC4	Monitoring	CCM alerts, quarterly access reviews
CC5	Control activities	Skill validation, redaction gate enforcement
CC6	Logical access	MFA, RBAC, MCP OAuth scopes
CC7	System operations	Logging, incident response, capacity
CC8	Change management	Skill/MCP deployment approval, CI/CD
CC9	Risk mitigation	Vendor management, insurance, BCP

For each CC point of focus (e.g., CC6.1, CC6.2), record:

• Control description
• Control owner
• Evidence source (link to soc2-evidence-collection artifacts)
• Design effectiveness: PASS / FAIL / NOT IMPLEMENTED

Step 3: Availability (A) — if in scope

1. Map A1.x criteria: capacity planning, recovery, environmental protections.
2. Document SLAs for agent API and MCP availability.
3. Test failover for critical MCP dependencies (Playwright, Postgres evidence DB).

Step 4: Confidentiality (C) — if in scope

1. Map C1.x criteria: confidential information identification, disposal, access restriction.
2. Align with PHI redaction pipeline and encryption standards.
3. Verify confidential data (API keys, tokens) not in agent logs or Slack alerts.

Step 5: Processing Integrity (PI) — if in scope

1. Map PI1.x criteria: processing complete, accurate, timely, authorized.
2. Agent-specific: skill steps executed in order, deterministic audit workflows, hash verification.
3. Document QA for compliance skill outputs (validate=True in SkillsCapability).

Step 6: Privacy (P) — if in scope

1. Map P1.x–P8.x to privacy notice, choice, collection, use, retention, disclosure, quality, monitoring.
2. Distinguish Privacy (personal information) from Confidentiality (broader confidential data).
3. Cross-reference HIPAA privacy rule if ePHI overlaps—document dual mapping.

Step 7: Subservice organization mapping

1. List vendors (LLM, cloud, MCP hosts) as subservice organizations.
2. Choose SOC report method: carve-out (auditor relies on vendor SOC 2) vs inclusive.
3. Map CC9.2 vendor management to vendor inventory and review cadence.

Step 8: Gap analysis and remediation plan

1. Consolidate FAIL/NOT IMPLEMENTED items by TSC ID.
2. Prioritize by auditor likelihood and risk (CC6/CC7 gaps are high priority).
3. Assign remediation owners and target dates.
4. Produce control matrix export: tsc-control-matrix-{id}.csv.

Common Rationalizations

Excuse the agent might generate	Required rebuttal
"We're a small team—CC1 control environment doesn't apply."	CC1 applies to all SOC 2 examinations regardless of size—scale controls appropriately.
"Security category is enough; skip Availability even with SLA."	If product commits to uptime SLAs, A criteria are in scope—omission is an audit gap.
"MCP tools are dev infrastructure, not in system boundary."	If MCP processes customer data in production audits, they are in boundary unless explicitly carved out with evidence.
"Privacy and Confidentiality are the same."	TSC treats them as distinct categories with different points of focus—map separately.
"We can mark NOT IMPLEMENTED as PASS with a note."	NOT IMPLEMENTED requires remediation plan or scope exclusion with auditor agreement—not PASS.
"Vendor SOC 2 covers our CC6 obligations entirely."	Vendor reports cover subservice controls—you remain responsible for oversight (CC9.2).

Red Flags

• SOC 2 scope excludes MCP servers that process customer data in production
• CC6 MFA gap on agent admin or deanonymization functions
• CC8 change management bypassed for skill/MCP hotfixes in production
• CC7 logging gaps for agent tool invocations
• Privacy category omitted while processing personal information
• Control matrix cites evidence that does not exist or lacks dates
• Carve-out claimed for critical LLM subservice without reviewed SOC 2 report

Verification

• System description and trust boundaries documented
• TSC categories in scope explicitly selected (minimum Security)
• CC1.0–CC9.0 mapped with control owner and evidence source per point of focus
• Optional categories (A/C/PI/P) mapped if in scope—or exclusion documented
• Subservice organizations listed with carve-out/inclusive method
• Gap analysis completed with prioritized remediation plan
• Control matrix exported with PASS/FAIL/NOT IMPLEMENTED status
• Cross-references to HIPAA/PCI controls documented where dual compliance applies
• Auditor-ready narratives drafted for each FAIL gap remediation
• Evidence cross-reference IDs link to soc2-evidence-collection artifacts