Most organizations end up answering to more than one framework. We work out which ones apply to you, then build a single control set that satisfies all of them.
The answer depends on the data you handle and who you handle it for: cardholder numbers, protected health information, personal data of EU and UK residents, controlled federal information, or customer records inside your SaaS platform.
An internationally recognized standard for managing information security risk across customer records, employee data, source code, and intellectual property. Usually pursued when enterprise buyers or public tenders ask for a certificate.
An independent attestation on how a service organization protects customer data in its platform, including production databases, backups, and customer-facing APIs. Typical for SaaS providers answering procurement questionnaires.
Requirements for any organization that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data: primary account numbers, expiration dates, and sensitive authentication data. Scope is set by how far card data travels through your systems.
EU and UK law on personal data about people in those regions: names, contact details, location, device identifiers, and behavioral data. It applies by where your customers are, not where you are based.
Safeguards for ePHI: patient records, billing data, and any system that creates, receives, or stores health information for a covered entity or business associate.
Requirements for organizations that handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) or Federal Contract Information (FCI) for the Department of Defense. Your required level depends on the information your contracts involve.
Most organizations need more than one of these. A single access review or encryption control can satisfy requirements in four frameworks at once. We map the overlap so each control is built and evidenced one time.
Buyers sometimes use these words interchangeably. They are not the same, and asking for the wrong one wastes time and money.
ISO 27001 is a certificate issued by an accredited certification body after an audit. SOC 2 is an attestation report issued by a licensed CPA firm. PCI DSS compliance is validated through a self-assessment questionnaire or a Report on Compliance issued by a Qualified Security Assessor. CMMC Level 2 certification is issued after an assessment by an authorized C3PAO. GDPR and HIPAA have no certification to earn. You demonstrate compliance through documentation, risk analysis, and, if challenged, a regulator's review. We will tell you which one your customers actually need before you spend anything.
Thirty minutes on the phone is usually enough to find out.