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Fri, January 5, 2007

SAS 70 Has Nothing To Do With Security

By Rich

Richard expresses a little shock upon discovering that SAS 70 audits don’t evaluate security.

I’d be shocked if any service provider, or other organization for that matter, claimed to me a SAS 70 made them secure. As in I’d consider them totally fracking worthless.

All a SAS 70 does is certify that a control works as documented. Kind of like Common Criteria (my other favorite puppy to kick). If you document a single control, a SAS 70 will certify it works as documented. Nothing more. A lot less if it’s a Type I; since the auditor just signs off on management’s assertion that the control works as management documented (cool, eh?).

SAS 70 has nothing to do with security. For SOX some orgs are certifying using the COSO Internal Controls Framework, which is as close as you can get to a SOX audit. It works for that since they certify to the same standard used for the SOX audits. Sort of; it can be grey depending on the auditor.

For security the best we have is the imperfect ISO 27001 and 27002. If nothing else, they’re a good baseline. I’d also ask your provider for their latest penetration test results from a third party.

Really, none of these checklists prove you’re secure. But they are very useful tools in designing and evaluating your security program.

Except SAS 70- at least where security is concerned.

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