{"id":195642,"date":"2026-07-17T17:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factorialhr.com\/blog\/?p=195642"},"modified":"2026-07-17T17:52:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:52:42","slug":"iso-27001-vs-soc2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factorialhr.com\/blog\/iso-27001-vs-soc2\/","title":{"rendered":"ISO 27001 vs. SOC 2: What’s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISO 27001<\/strong> and SOC 2<\/strong> almost always show up together, named in the same breath as if they were interchangeable. Both prove to outside parties that your company protects its information well, but they come from different continents, they’re built differently, and they don’t carry the same weight depending on who’s reading them. Mix them up and you can sink months of work and a serious chunk of budget into the one your market isn’t even asking for.<\/p>\n

And yet they have a lot in common. Both rely on an external audit, share around 80% of their controls<\/strong>, and aim for the same thing, earning the trust of your customers and partners. The difference isn’t so much in what they protect as in how they prove it, and to whom.<\/p>\n

In this article, we’ll walk through what each one is<\/strong>, how they differ, and when it makes sense to go with one, the other, or both, so you know exactly what the market expects and what your company actually needs.<\/p>\n

What is ISO 27001?<\/h2>\n

ISO 27001<\/a> (officially ISO\/IEC 27001) is the international standard that sets out the requirements for building, running, and improving an Information Security Management System (ISMS)<\/a>. Its current version dates from October 2022, and it’s the most widely recognized reference in the field, used in more than 150 countries.<\/p>\n

What sets it apart is that it’s certifiable. Any organization, whatever its size or industry, can go through an external audit by an accredited body (in the US, accreditation runs through the ANAB<\/strong>) and earn an official, internationally recognized certificate<\/strong>. That certificate is valid for three years, with annual surveillance audits.<\/p>\n

The standard is organized into two parts. On one side are the mandatory clauses<\/strong> (4 through 10), which define how to build and operate the ISMS. On the other is Annex A<\/strong>, with 93 security controls grouped into four categories. Each organization documents which ones apply to it in its Statement of Applicability (SoA). It’s also a common starting point for other frameworks, since much of the groundwork carries straight over to SOC 2, HIPAA, or NIST.<\/p>\n

ISO 27001 key points<\/h3>\n