Top 5 SOC 2 Backup Requirements You Must Know

What Are SOC 2 Data Backup Requirements?

Data backups are a critical component of SOC 2 compliance, directly tied to the Availability Trust Services Criteria (TSC). They are designed to ensure that your systems and data remain accessible and recoverable, even in the face of disruptions such as server crashes, ransomware attacks, or natural disasters.

To ensure compliance and resilience, organizations need more than just a backup system. They need a structured, well-documented, and regularly tested approach that proves their ability to recover from disruptions while maintaining service availability.

Here are some of the SOC 2 data backup requirements you must follow:

1. Data Retention Policy

Under SOC 2, particularly within the Confidentiality and Availability Trust Services Criteria, having clear data retention policies is a critical expectation. Auditors want to see that your organization has thoughtfully determined how long data should be kept, why it’s retained, and how it’s securely disposed of when it’s no longer needed.

How to build and maintain data retention policies aligned with SOC 2

• Inventory your data. Catalog the types of data you handle (customer records, audit logs, emails, payment details), since SOC 2 auditors will expect you to demonstrate awareness of your data landscape.
• Know your regulatory drivers. Map out any federal, state, or industry-specific rules that govern data retention. For example, IRS requirements for financial data or HIPAA standards for sensitive information.
• Align with SOC 2 criteria. Define retention periods and secure deletion processes as part of your internal controls framework. This helps meet SOC 2’s expectations for documented data management policies.
• Draft a written policy. Create a formal, accessible document that outlines retention timelines for each data type, describes how personal information will be archived, and specifies when/how it will be destroyed.
• Implement technical security controls. Utilize data lifecycle management tools to automate the enforcement of retention schedules, triggering archiving or secure deletion as data reaches its expiration date.
• Educate your teams. Make sure employees understand both the policy and their role in maintaining SOC 2 compliance through targeted training.
• Audit and update regularly. Include data retention reviews in your internal audit process to confirm you’re following your own rules, and update policies when laws or your business change.

2. Regular, Scheduled Backups

As part of meeting SOC 2’s Availability and Confidentiality Trust Services Criteria, backups ensure that if something goes wrong, you can restore systems quickly and keep your operations running with minimal disruption.

The frequency of backups shouldn’t be arbitrary; it needs to be guided by a careful risk assessment. For some organizations, daily backups are enough. For others that handle constantly changing transactional data, near real-time replication is critical. 

How to establish and manage regular, effective backups

• Start with a business impact analysis. Identify which systems and personal data are mission-critical and estimate how long you can afford to be without them. 

• Document a clear backup schedule. Spell out what data is backed up and how often. For example, “customer transaction database: incremental backups every 15 minutes, full backup nightly; email system: full backup nightly.”
• Use a mix of backup types. Incorporate full backups (a complete copy of your data) and incremental or differential backups (which only capture changes since the last backup).
• Leverage secure, off-site or cloud storage. Store backups in a separate physical location or a secure cloud environment.
• Encrypt backups. Ensure that your backups are encrypted both in transit and at rest.
• Monitor and log backup jobs. Set up alerting to catch failures or missed backups immediately, and maintain logs for your SOC 2 evidence files.
• Review your backup strategy at least annually. Revisit your backup frequency and methods as your data, infrastructure, or compliance requirements evolve.

Your backup schedule shouldn’t be based on gut feel. It should be based on a clear business impact analysis and documented risk assessments. These are the areas where The Pun Group can provide practical, third-party expertise to help define what’s truly mission-critical.

3. Secure Storage and Encryption

Storing your backups securely is a non-negotiable part of SOC 2 compliance, especially under the Confidentiality and Availability Trust Services Criteria. It’s not enough to have frequent backups; you must also ensure that if someone gains access to your backup files, they can’t read or misuse the data.

That’s where encryption plays a key role. Even if backup media are stolen or an unauthorized party intercepts data during transfer, the content remains scrambled and useless without the decryption keys. Techniques like AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) are industry gold standards for this.

How to secure and encrypt your backups

• Encrypt all backups at rest. Whether backups are stored on local servers, removable drives, or in the cloud, apply AES-256 or another strong encryption standard.
• Encrypt data in transit. Use secure transfer protocols like SFTP or HTTPS to prevent interception when moving backups between systems or to off-site locations.
• Separate encryption keys. Store encryption keys in a secure key management system, separate from the data itself.
• Restrict access. Use a role-based access control environment and multi-factor authentication for extra protection.
• Audit access and changes. Maintain logs showing who accessed or modified backups. Review these logs regularly for suspicious activity.
• Vet your vendors. If using a third-party or cloud provider for storage, ensure they comply with encryption and access standards that meet or exceed yours.
  

4. Disaster Recovery Planning

SOC 2 also requires organizations to have robust disaster recovery (DR) plans. These plans serve as a playbook for restoring critical systems and data after unexpected events. 

How to build and maintain your disaster recovery plan

• Identify critical systems and data. Determine which operations must be restored first to minimize business disruption.
• Set clear recovery objectives. Establish your RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective).
• Document step-by-step recovery procedures. Include who’s responsible for each task, contact lists, and escalation paths.
• Keep off-site or cloud backups ready. Ensure that backups are stored off-site and can be accessed quickly in the event of a crisis.
• Test the plan regularly. Run mock disaster scenarios to see if recovery times and data restoration meet expectations.

5. Access Controls

Limiting who can access or restore your backups is one of the simplest yet most critical ways to protect sensitive data and maintain SOC 2 compliance. It’s not uncommon for breaches to happen internally, by mistake or through malicious intent. When too many people have broad access, the risk of accidental deletion, tampering, or unauthorized data leaks grows significantly.

Strong organization controls ensure that only trusted, properly trained individuals can handle backups. 

How to implement effective access controls for your backups

• Use role-based access. Set permissions so employees only see and handle the data necessary for their job. 
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA). Require a second form of verification, like a one-time code or security token, to access backup systems.
• Maintain detailed access logs. Record every instance of who accesses or restores backups, along with timestamps.
• Limit administrative privileges. Only a small, carefully vetted group should have admin-level access to modify backup settings or data encryption keys.
• Separate duties. Split responsibilities so no single person has unchecked control over the entire backup and restoration process.

Key SOC 2 Criteria Around Data Protection

When it comes to SOC 2, many of the Common Criteria (CC) controls directly tie back to how you protect and manage data. It can be from who can physically access it, to how you back it up, recover it, and keep business operations running under stress. 

Here’s a breakdown of some of the most relevant areas, what they look like in practice, and how modern cloud-based strategies can help meet these expectations.

1. Restricting Physical Access (CC6.4)

This control requires that only authorized personnel can physically access facilities or assets that store sensitive data. It could be the servers in a data center, off-site backup media, or even locked office filing rooms.

If you’re using a cloud provider like AWS, much of this physical security is handled for you, thanks to their highly controlled data centers. However, remember that your backups, such as snapshots or EBS volumes, remain within your AWS account, under your administrative control. If an attacker gains access to your account, they also get direct access to those backups.

2. Protect Data During Transmission and Movement (CC6.7)

This criterion emphasizes not only who is allowed to transmit or remove data, but also that data is secured during these processes. That includes encrypting removable media such as USB drives or backup tapes.

Modern backup platforms help by providing built-in encryption, both at rest and in transit. Some even allow you to bring your own encryption keys (BYOK), giving you more direct control over who can decrypt and access your data.

3. Recovering From Security Incidents (CC7.5)

This control centers on how effectively you can recover from a security event. It’s not enough to have backups; you must demonstrate the ability to restore systems, rebuild affected environments, apply necessary patches, and adjust configurations to prevent recurring issues.

It also expects that you learn from incidents, updating your response and recovery playbooks based on real-world lessons. Crucially, these plans shouldn’t remain untested. SOC 2 type 2 requires evidence that you routinely test your incident recovery procedures and refine them over time.

4. Planning For Business Disruptions (CC9.1)

This control focuses on broader resilience, urging organizations to identify potential disruptions (such as cyberattacks or hardware failures) and have robust risk mitigation plans. 

That often means documented procedures, alternative processing setups, and clear lines of communication to keep the business running smoothly under pressure.

5. Availability Criteria and Data Backup (A1.2 & A1.3)

These availability-focused controls dive deep into backups and continuity:

• Under A1.2, organizations must determine which data actually needs to be backed up, have reliable processes to perform and monitor those backups, and store them far enough away from primary systems to avoid a single event taking out both.
  

Under A1.3, you must test it periodically, using realistic scenarios that may involve unavailable key personnel or major system outages. You’ll also need to verify the integrity and completeness of backup data, proving you can recover fully and accurately.

Are Your Backups SOC 2 Compliant? 6 Checks You Should Run Today

You’ve probably invested time in setting up backups, but with a fresh look, do they truly meet SOC 2’s rigorous expectations? Are they just frequent, or also secure, tested, and access-controlled? If a breach or audit were to occur tomorrow, could you demonstrate that your systems are as resilient as they should be?

Here’s a practical checklist to help you find out:
Have you set a documented backup schedule that matches your critical systems’ risk and recovery needs, daily, weekly, or even near real-time?
Are your backups encrypted at rest and in transit, using standards like AES-256 and secure transfer protocols (SFTP, HTTPS), so stolen data stays unreadable?
Do you store backups offsite or in the cloud with strong physical and logical security measures?
Have you restricted access through role-based controls and MFA, with clear logs showing who accessed or restored backups and when?
Do you regularly test restoring data from backups, to confirm they work and meet your recovery time objectives (RTOs)?
Is all of this documented in your disaster recovery plan, with clear steps and responsibilities that your team can execute under pressure?

If reading this makes you question whether your backups could withstand a real-world breach or a tough auditor, you’re not alone. The Pun Group partners with organizations to conduct readiness assessments, develop practical remediation roadmaps, and guide them through every step of the SOC audit lifecycle.

SOC 2 Backup vs. Disaster Recovery: What’s the Difference and Why It Matters?

Under SOC 2, simply having backups is not enough, and is just drafting a disaster recovery plan. These two safeguards serve different but equally critical roles in protecting your organization’s data and ensuring operations continue to run smoothly when things go wrong. 

Backups focus on making sure your data is safely stored and can be restored if lost or corrupted. Disaster recovery goes further, detailing how you’ll get entire systems, applications, and business functions back online after a major disruption.

Here’s a quick comparison to help you see how they complement each other and why you need both.

Parameters	Backup	Disaster Recovery
Primary purpose	Copies data to restore if it’s lost, corrupted, or deleted	Restores entire systems, applications, and operations after major disruptions
Scope	Focuses on data (files, databases)	Covers infrastructure, networks, apps, and data together
Frequency and timing	Typically runs daily, weekly, or real-time	Activated after a serious incident, like a cyberattack or natural disaster
SOC 2 link	Tied to protecting data availability & integrity	Tied to demonstrating business continuity and rapid recovery
Testing needed?	Yes, you test restoring files/data	Yes, you test full recovery scenarios to meet recovery time objectives (RTOs)

The Most Common Backup Gaps Found in SOC 2 Audits

If you think regular backups alone keep you safe in a SOC 2 audit, you might be overlooking the finer details that often trip organizations up. Auditors frequently uncover gaps that seem minor on the surface but signal more profound weaknesses in how you’re protecting your data.

Here are some of the most common trouble backup gaps and how you can tighten things up before an audit does it for you:

1. Missing or Outdated Backup Policies

Many teams are diligent about backing up data, but they often lack a formal, documented policy that outlines what is backed up, how often, where it’s stored, and who is responsible. This lack of structure can make your efforts look ad hoc.

How to fix it. Develop a clear, written policy tied to your operational and regulatory requirements, and ensure it’s reviewed (and updated) at least once a year.

2. Unsecured Backups and Encryption Gaps

It’s surprisingly common to see robust encryption on live systems, but none applied to backup files. If a data storage device or cloud bucket is compromised, that’s an open invitation for data breaches.

How to fix it. Encrypt all backups at rest and in transit using standards like AES-256, and manage your encryption keys in a secure, separate system.

3. No Evidence of Restoration Tests

A backup isn’t a backup until you’ve proven it can restore. Many organizations can’t show logs or documentation of successful test restores, which is something auditors look for immediately.
 

How to fix it. Run and document restoration drills regularly (quarterly is a good baseline), and adjust your procedures if any issues arise during testing.

4. Too Many People With Access

Broad access to backups is another frequent red flag. When everyone from IT contractors to junior staff can access backup files, it raises serious questions about confidentiality.

How to fix it. Use strict role-based access controls, enforce MFA, and regularly audit who has access so it’s always limited to only those who truly need it.

5. Backups Stored Only On-Site

Relying on a single data center or local server means one flood, fire, or ransomware attack could wipe everything out, including your backups.

How to fix it. Implement offsite or geographically diverse cloud backups to maintain continuity even if your primary location is compromised.

Achieve SOC 2 Compliance With Expert Support From The Pun Group

Looking over the common gaps and rigorous expectations tied to SOC 2, it’s worth asking: if an auditor showed up tomorrow, or worse, if you faced a real data breach or system outage —

• Could your backups prove their worth? 
• Are they securely encrypted, regularly tested,
• Are they integrated into a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that functions effectively under pressure?

Here is what you should be doing next without delay:

• Start by reviewing your current backup strategy, retention policies, and disaster recovery procedures.
• Identify weak spots, like missing documentation, unclear responsibilities, or backup tests that haven’t been run in months.
  
• Engage your internal team to map improvements and set a realistic timeline for closing these gaps.

That’s exactly where The Pun Group comes in. We help organizations like yours by:

• Running detailed SOC 2 readiness assessments to spotlight hidden vulnerabilities in your backup and recovery controls before auditors or incidents do.
• Designing tailored remediation plans and internal control frameworks so your backup strategy aligns with the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria.
• Guiding you through the full SOC audit lifecycle from security policies refinement and technical testing to delivering your final SOC 2, SOC 3, or cybersecurity reports that give customers and partners full confidence.

Contact The Pun Group today for a customized consultation and discover how our specialized SOC audit services can help you meet compliance expectations.

FAQs