Defined by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and intended for use by service organizations (organizations that provide information systems as a service to other organizations). SOC 2 – describes Trust Services Criteria; Type II – describes a service organization’s systems and whether the design of specified controls meets the relevant trust principles and addresses the operational effectiveness of the specified controls over a period of time. These reports are intended to meet the needs of a broad range of users that need detailed information and assurance about the controls at a service organization relevant to security, availability, and processing integrity of the systems the service organization uses to process users’ data and the confidentiality and privacy of the information processed by these systems.