C1.2 Disposing of confidential information
Confidential information is disposed of in line with confidentiality objectives. Points of focus: confidential information whose retention period has ended is identified for destruction; and it is erased or otherwise destroyed.
Source: SOC 2 (2017 Trust Services Criteria), C1.2. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open SOC 2 (2017 Trust Services Criteria) in the compliance library.
These are criteria, not controls: you design controls that meet them, and which criteria are in scope follows the categories your report covers (Security always; Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity and Privacy only if chosen). A Type 2 report tests that the controls operated across the period, so the evidence asked for is samples across that period, not one copy.
These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.
system holds itEvidence a system already holds
none for this control
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Evidence of scheduled deletion jobs or destruction logs · SIEM / log platform
- Customer data deletion records on contract termination · HR system / LMS
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Data disposal procedure · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Data kept indefinitely past its retention period
- No evidence customer data was deleted after offboarding
- Deletion does not reach backups or replicas within a defined time
Do this for your whole sheet
Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.
Build my evidence sheetC1.1 Identifying and maintaining confidential information · CC1.1 Commitment to integrity and ethical values (COSO principle 1)