Secureframe Implementation Guide for SOC 2

We have guided numerous organizations through Secureframe implementations, and its 300+ native integrations and strong multi-framework control mapping make it one of the most capable compliance automation platforms we recommend for SOC 2. A well-run Secureframe setup — integrations connected, the Secureframe agent deployed, policies published, personnel onboarded, and automated monitoring active — can be fully configured in two to three weeks with focused effort. This guide walks through every stage of that process, from account initialization through audit readiness, with the platform-specific workflows and configuration recommendations we share with our own clients.

This playbook is designed for compliance leads and engineering teams that have selected Secureframe and need step-by-step instructions for platform configuration. Every section follows the recommended setup order, with specific decisions explained and common configuration pitfalls we see teams encounter flagged throughout.

Implementation Timeline

In our experience, Secureframe's implementation runs about two to three weeks — slightly longer than some competitors, but the additional time reflects a more granular control configuration process that pays off during audit fieldwork. The following timeline assumes a team of one compliance lead with part-time engineering support, which is how most of our clients start.

Phase	Timeline	Key Activities
Account initialization and framework configuration	Day 1-2	Workspace setup, framework and criteria selection, company profile
Cloud and identity integrations	Days 2-5	Connect AWS/GCP/Azure, identity provider, initial scan
Agent deployment	Days 3-8	Deploy Secureframe agent to all employee endpoints
Extended integrations	Days 5-10	Code repositories, HR platform, MDM, monitoring, vulnerability scanning
Policy and control configuration	Days 8-14	Policy templates, control mapping customization, framework alignment
Personnel management	Days 10-16	Employee onboarding, training assignment, background check tracking
Gap remediation and readiness verification	Days 14-21	Dashboard review, control remediation, evidence verification

Step 1: Account Initialization

Workspace Configuration

When you first access Secureframe, configure your workspace with foundational settings. We walk our clients through this step-by-step:

1. Company profile: Enter company name, legal entity, industry, employee count, headquarters location, and description of services. This information populates your system description and informs control recommendations.

2. Framework selection: Select SOC 2 as your primary compliance framework. Secureframe supports 35+ frameworks — if you plan to pursue ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, or other frameworks, we recommend enabling them during initial setup to activate cross-framework control mapping from the start.

3. Trust Service Criteria: Select which SOC 2 criteria to include. Security (Common Criteria) is mandatory. Evaluate whether to add Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, or Privacy based on customer requirements.

4. Audit configuration: Set your intended audit type (Type I or Type II), observation period dates (for Type II), and target report delivery date. Secureframe tracks your compliance progress against these dates.

Configuration Recommendations

• Enable multi-framework mapping immediately if you anticipate ISO 27001 or HIPAA within twelve months — in our experience, Secureframe's cross-framework engine is most efficient when configured from the start rather than retrofitted later
• Start with Security criterion only for first-time audits unless customers specifically require additional criteria. What we tell clients is: you can add criteria in future audit cycles without losing existing evidence, so there is no reason to over-scope your first audit.
• Set realistic audit dates and adjust later if needed — we see teams create unnecessary stress by setting aggressive dates before their program is actually ready. Having dates in the system helps Secureframe track progress and alert on overdue tasks.

Step 2: Connect Cloud Infrastructure

Cloud provider integrations deliver the highest volume of automated evidence and should be connected first. We always advise clients to start here.

AWS Integration

1. Navigate to the Integrations section and select AWS
2. Create the required IAM role using the CloudFormation template or Terraform module Secureframe provides
3. Grant the role read-only permissions to scan your AWS configuration
4. Verify the connection and review the initial scan results

Secureframe scans AWS configurations including IAM policies, S3 bucket settings, encryption status, VPC configurations, CloudTrail logging, security groups, and other security-relevant settings.

GCP Integration

1. Create a service account with the required read-only roles
2. Enable the APIs that Secureframe needs for scanning
3. Provide service account credentials through the Secureframe integration page
4. Verify connectivity and initial scan

Azure Integration

1. Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID with the required read permissions
2. Assign the Reader role at the appropriate scope level
3. Enter application credentials in Secureframe
4. Verify the connection and review initial findings

Post-Connection Review

After connecting cloud providers, review the initial compliance findings on your Secureframe dashboard. Expect several failing checks — unencrypted storage, overly permissive access policies, or disabled logging are common initial findings. We tell clients not to panic at this stage. These are expected findings that you will remediate during the gap resolution phase, and they are exactly why you connected the integration early. Catalog these for remediation during that phase.

Step 3: Connect Identity Provider

The identity provider integration is essential for access management evidence — user roster, MFA enforcement, authentication configuration, and access lifecycle tracking. In our experience, this is where many teams underestimate the cleanup work involved.

Supported Identity Providers

Secureframe integrates with:

• Okta: User directory, MFA enrollment, application assignments, group memberships
• Google Workspace: User accounts, MFA status, admin roles, organizational units
• Microsoft Entra ID: Users, conditional access policies, MFA configuration, groups
• JumpCloud: User directory, MFA status, device management
• OneLogin: User provisioning, MFA configuration, application assignments

Configuration Steps

1. Select your identity provider from the integrations page
2. Authenticate with admin credentials and authorize Secureframe's access
3. Verify the employee roster imports correctly — all employees should appear in Secureframe's personnel section
4. Confirm MFA enforcement status is accurately reflected
5. Review any users flagged as non-compliant (missing MFA, inactive accounts)

Personnel Synchronization

Secureframe's automated personnel management syncs employee lifecycle events across connected HR and identity systems. When an employee joins or leaves, the platform tracks their compliance status automatically — onboarding tasks for new hires, deprovisioning verification for terminations. We recommend verifying that this sync is working correctly within the first few days of setup, because personnel data issues compound quickly if left unaddressed.

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Step 4: Deploy the Secureframe Agent

The Secureframe agent verifies endpoint compliance on employee devices — disk encryption, screen lock, firewall, OS updates, and antivirus status.

Deployment Options

Method	Best For	Complexity
MDM push (Jamf, Kandji, Intune)	Organizations with existing MDM infrastructure	Low — silent deployment to all managed devices
Self-service installation	Teams without MDM	Moderate — employees install individually
Hybrid approach	Mixed managed and unmanaged devices	Moderate — MDM for corporate devices, self-service for others

We recommend the MDM push approach whenever possible. In our experience, self-service deployment creates a long tail of follow-up work chasing down employees who have not installed the agent.

Deployment Process

1. Download the Secureframe agent for macOS, Windows, and Linux from the Secureframe dashboard
2. Distribute via MDM or provide installation instructions to employees
3. Employees install and authenticate with their company email
4. The agent begins reporting device compliance status within minutes

Achieving Full Coverage

Track deployment progress in Secureframe's personnel dashboard. Every employee device that accesses company systems should have the agent installed. What we tell clients is: follow up individually with employees who have not installed within one week. Target 100% coverage before your audit date — auditors will ask about any gaps.

Step 5: Connect Extended Integrations

After cloud, identity, and endpoint integrations are established, connect the remaining tools in your stack.

Integration Priority Order

Based on what we see across our client engagements, we recommend connecting integrations in this order:

1. Code repositories (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket): Provides change management evidence — branch protection, code review requirements, deployment records
2. HR platform (BambooHR, Gusto, Rippling): Synchronizes employee data for personnel security controls
3. Endpoint management / MDM (Jamf, Kandji, Intune): Supplements agent data with device management evidence
4. Monitoring tools (Datadog, PagerDuty): Provides system operations and incident detection evidence
5. Vulnerability scanning (Snyk, Qualys, Crowdstrike): Provides vulnerability management evidence

Secureframe's Integration Approach

Secureframe ties pre-built controls directly to specific integrations. When you connect a new integration, the platform automatically activates the controls that can be evidenced by that tool and begins collecting relevant data. This reduces manual control configuration — the platform knows which evidence each integration provides and maps it to the appropriate Trust Service Criteria. In our experience, this automatic mapping is one of Secureframe's strongest features, though we always recommend reviewing the mappings rather than accepting them without verification.

Step 6: Configure Policies and Controls

Policy Setup

Secureframe provides a comprehensive policy template library covering all SOC 2 required policies. We walk our clients through this process carefully because policy quality directly impacts audit outcomes:

1. Review each template: Read through the ten core policies (Information Security, Access Control, Change Management, Incident Response, Risk Assessment, Data Classification, Acceptable Use, Vendor Management, Business Continuity/DR, HR Security)
2. Customize for your organization: Update sections that reference your specific tools, team structure, and processes. What we tell clients is: do not use templates without customization — auditors verify that policies reflect actual practices, and generic policies are a red flag.
3. Route for management approval: Send policies to CTO, CEO, or security leadership for formal sign-off
4. Publish and distribute: Use Secureframe's policy distribution workflow to send policies to all employees
5. Track acknowledgment: Monitor acknowledgment completion until 100% of employees have acknowledged all policies

Control Framework Review

Secureframe's control framework is pre-configured based on your selected Trust Service Criteria. We recommend reviewing the control list to:

• Verify all controls are mapped to the correct integrations
• Identify any custom controls you need to add for organization-specific requirements
• Review control descriptions to ensure they match your actual practices
• Check for any controls marked as not applicable and confirm the exclusion is appropriate

AI-Assisted Evidence Review

Secureframe's AI features include evidence review capabilities that validate whether collected evidence satisfies the corresponding control requirements. The platform flags evidence that may be insufficient or misaligned, allowing you to correct issues before your auditor reviews the evidence. In our experience, this feature catches legitimate gaps, but we still recommend a manual review pass — automated evidence validation is helpful but not a substitute for human judgment.

Step 7: Personnel Management

Employee Onboarding in Secureframe

1. Import employee roster from connected HR and identity systems
2. Assign compliance roles: Identify compliance lead, engineering lead, HR representative, and IT administrator
3. Trigger onboarding tasks: New employees receive tasks for security awareness training, policy acknowledgment, agent installation, and background check verification
4. Track completion: Monitor task completion on the personnel dashboard

Security Awareness Training

Secureframe integrates with security training providers and offers training modules. We recommend the following approach:

1. Assign training to all employees with a completion deadline
2. Track completion progress
3. Follow up with employees who miss the deadline — based on what we see, training completion is the most commonly delayed onboarding task
4. Verify 100% completion before audit fieldwork

Background Checks

1. Connect your background check provider if supported
2. Upload documentation for employees screened through other providers
3. Document any exceptions for existing employees who were not screened
4. Ensure background check verification is included in the onboarding process for all future hires

Step 8: Gap Remediation and Readiness Verification

Dashboard Review

After all integrations are connected and policies are in place, we walk clients through a comprehensive review:

1. Review each control category: Check every Trust Service Criteria category for passing/failing/needs-attention status
2. Prioritize failing controls: Address critical failures first (encryption, MFA, logging)
3. Resolve configuration issues: Fix cloud configuration, access policy, and monitoring gaps identified during initial scans
4. Complete manual evidence tasks: Upload any required manual evidence (risk assessment, vendor assessments, tabletop exercise results)

Common Gaps and Resolution

Based on what we see across client implementations, these are the most frequent gaps and how to address them:

Gap	Resolution	Typical Effort
Cloud encryption not enabled	Enable default encryption on storage services	1-2 hours
MFA not enforced for all users	Configure MFA requirement in identity provider	1-2 hours
Branch protection missing	Enable branch protection on production repositories	30 minutes
No vulnerability scanning	Deploy and configure scanner	2-4 hours
Risk assessment not documented	Complete formal risk assessment using Secureframe's risk module	4-8 hours
Vendor assessments incomplete	Send assessment requests to critical vendors	1-3 weeks (vendor-dependent)

Audit Readiness Checklist

Before engaging your auditor, verify:

• All integrations connected and evidence flowing
• Secureframe agent deployed to 100% of employee devices
• All policies approved and acknowledged by all employees
• Security awareness training completed by all employees
• Risk assessment documented
• Vendor inventory populated with assessments for critical vendors
• Access review completed and documented
• All control categories showing passing status
• System description drafted and reviewed

Key Takeaways

• In our experience, Secureframe implementation typically takes two to three weeks from initial setup to audit readiness — plan your timeline accordingly
• We recommend connecting cloud providers and identity provider first because they provide evidence for the highest number of SOC 2 controls
• Secureframe's pre-built control-to-integration mapping significantly reduces manual configuration effort, but we advise reviewing the mappings rather than accepting defaults blindly
• Deploy the Secureframe agent to all employee endpoints and track to 100% coverage — what we tell clients is that auditors will ask about any gaps
• Customize policy templates thoroughly to reflect your actual organizational practices before distributing; generic policies are a red flag in audits
• Secureframe's AI-assisted evidence review helps identify insufficient evidence before auditor fieldwork, though it works best as a supplement to manual review
• Use the personnel management dashboard to track onboarding compliance tasks across all employees — based on what we see, training completion is the most commonly delayed item
• Conduct a comprehensive gap review after all integrations are connected and remediate failing controls before engaging your auditor

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Secureframe's implementation compare to Vanta's?

What we tell clients is that Secureframe's implementation takes two to three weeks compared to Vanta's one to two weeks. The additional time reflects Secureframe's more detailed control configuration options and broader integration evaluation process. Both platforms deliver comparable outcomes — the difference is in setup depth, not capability. Based on what we see, organizations that prefer more granular control over their compliance configuration tend to find Secureframe's approach more thorough, while teams that prioritize speed often lean toward Vanta.

Does Secureframe support multi-framework compliance?

Yes, and in our experience this is one of Secureframe's strongest capabilities. Secureframe supports 35+ frameworks with particularly strong cross-framework control mapping. When you implement a control for SOC 2, Secureframe maps it to corresponding requirements in ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and other enabled frameworks. We recommend enabling all anticipated frameworks during initial setup because the mapping granularity is most effective when configured from the start.

What if an integration I need is not supported?

What we tell clients is that Secureframe provides manual evidence upload capabilities and API options for tools without native integrations. You can upload screenshots, documents, and export files as manual evidence. If a critical integration is missing, we recommend evaluating whether the manual evidence burden is acceptable or whether a platform with broader integration coverage would better serve your needs. In our experience, most organizations can work around one or two missing integrations without significant overhead.

Can I use Secureframe for Type II audits?

Absolutely. Secureframe continuously collects evidence throughout your Type II observation period, monitors for evidence gaps, and organizes evidence chronologically for auditor review. Based on what we see, the platform's audit center provides auditors with structured access to all evidence organized by control category and observation period timeline. We recommend establishing a monthly evidence review cadence during the observation period rather than waiting until audit fieldwork to review everything.

How does Secureframe's pricing compare to other platforms?

Based on what we see across our client engagements, Secureframe pricing is comparable to Vanta at similar company sizes — typically $10,000-$12,000 per year for small organizations, scaling to $20,000-$30,000+ for larger companies. Pricing is based on headcount and number of frameworks. We recommend requesting a quote with your specific requirements for accurate comparison, and we are happy to help clients evaluate pricing against their compliance roadmap.