SOC 1 for Data Centers & Hosting

When you host the systems that run your customers' financial processes, their auditors need assurance over your physical and environmental controls.

The carve-out question

Data centers are usually a subservice organization in their customers’ SOC 1 reports -- carved out, with your own SOC 1 (or SOC 2) report provided for reliance. Deciding whether to pursue your own report, and whether customers need it inclusive, is the strategic decision: it determines whether your report unlocks enterprise deals or just checks a box.

The controls that matter

Physical access controls, environmental monitoring and alarming, power and cooling redundancy, media handling, and change management for facility systems. For colocation, the logical-access boundary with customers needs crisp definition in the system description.

Multi-facility scoping

Each facility in scope gets tested -- or defensibly sampled. Standardize controls, evidence, and monitoring across sites before the examination: variance between facilities is a finding generator.

Realistic costs

Single-facility Type 2: $25K–60K planning estimate; multi-facility programs scale with site count and sampling. Many data centers pair SOC 1 with SOC 2 under one program.

Assessors that fit this vertical