Data is the new king of the digital era. Modern AI workloads thrive on massive volumes of information, from sensitive customer records to proprietary business insights. The more valuable the data, the higher the stakes for keeping it secure, private and reliable. According to IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report, 97% of AI‑related security incidents involved organisations without proper access controls and 63% lacked governance policies.
It’s no wonder that new regulations and security standards are emerging across the globe, from GDPR in Europe to AI governance frameworks in the EU and beyond. If you’ve been exploring cloud services or AI platforms, you’ve probably seen the term SOC 2 certified appear everywhere. But what does it actually mean? And why does it matter for companies building or running AI workloads?
Let’s discuss in our latest article below.
SOC 2 stands for System and Organisation Controls 2, a framework created by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants). This certification is designed to evaluate how a company manages and protects customer data using five key Trust Service Principles:
Think of SOC 2 as a seal of trust: when a company is SOC 2 certified, it has proven that its systems, processes and policies are designed to keep your data safe.
|
Attribute |
SOC 2 Type 1 |
SOC 2 Type 2 |
|
Purpose |
Confirms controls are designed correctly |
Confirms controls work effectively over time |
|
Audit Scope |
Design of controls only |
Design and operational effectiveness |
|
Time Frame |
Single point in time |
3–12 months continuous period |
|
Completion Speed |
Faster, can be completed in weeks |
Slower, requires months of observation |
|
Level of Assurance |
Moderate, shows controls exist |
High, shows consistent and reliable operation |
|
Best For |
Early assurance or initial compliance |
Long-term trust and enterprise requirements |
One of the first things to know about SOC 2 is that there are two types of certification:
“Are the right systems and processes in place to protect customer data today?”
“Are these security controls actually working reliably, day in and day out?”
If your company is deploying AI workloads like training models, fine‑tuning LLMs or hosting inference endpoints, SOC 2 certification directly impacts your business in the following ways:
AI workloads often require processing sensitive data like customer records, proprietary datasets or financial information. A breach can lead to massive reputational and financial damage. SOC 2 certification ensures strict data confidentiality through encryption, access controls and secure storage policies, keeping your AI training data safe from unauthorised access or leaks.
Downtime in AI workloads can halt real‑time predictions, disrupt user experiences and delay business operations. SOC 2’s availability principle requires certified providers to implement robust uptime strategies, including disaster recovery and failover mechanisms. This ensures your AI models and APIs remain accessible even during unexpected outages or spikes in demand.
If the data feeding your AI model becomes corrupted or incomplete, predictions and decisions can quickly become unreliable. SOC 2’s processing integrity controls ensure that data pipelines remain accurate and monitored for errors or tampering. This protects the reliability of your AI models and protects your business from costly mistakes.
Many enterprises and regulated industries require strict compliance before trusting third‑party AI services. Without it, adoption becomes a challenge. SOC 2 certification adheres to industry‑standard security and privacy practices, making it easier to meet regulatory requirements and accelerate enterprise adoption of your AI solutions.
Trust is often the deciding factor for winning enterprise clients or securing investment. Deploying AI workloads on SOC 2‑certified infrastructure shows that your company takes data security seriously. This helps you build confidence with customers, partners and stakeholders from day one.
The simple truth is that AI workloads should only run on infrastructure you can trust. If a cloud provider is not SOC 2 certified, you’re taking on unnecessary risk:
By choosing a SOC 2‑certified provider, you ensure that:
At NexGen Cloud, we understand that AI workloads demand more than just compute power. They require secure, reliable and enterprise‑grade infrastructure. We’re proud to share that NexGen Cloud is SOC 2 Type 1 Certified.
What does this mean?
We’re already working toward SOC 2 Type 2 certification to ensure our security practices are effective over time, giving our customers continuous confidence in our platform.
With NexGen Cloud, you can focus on building and scaling AI, while we handle the security and compliance that enterprises demand.
SOC 2 (System and Organisation Controls 2) is a security and compliance framework developed by the AICPA. It evaluates how companies manage and protect customer data across five Trust Service Principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.
There are two types: SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 2 Type 2. Type 1 checks if controls are properly designed at a single point in time, while Type 2 evaluates how well those controls operate over a period (usually 3–12 months).
SOC 2 Type 1 confirms that a company has the right systems, policies and controls in place to secure customer data at a specific point in time. It’s the first step in demonstrating trust to customers and enterprise partners.
SOC 2 Type 2 goes further by validating that security and operational controls are effective over time. It provides stronger assurance for enterprises that need continuous protection and compliance for sensitive workloads, like AI model training and inference.
AI workloads handle vast, sensitive datasets. SOC 2 ensures this data is encrypted, access‑controlled and processed in a reliable, monitored environment. It helps prevent breaches, downtime and compliance issues, making enterprise adoption easier.
Yes! NexGen Cloud is SOC 2 Type 1 certified, meaning our systems and processes meet strict security and operational standards. We are also actively pursuing SOC 2 Type 2 certification to provide continuous, long‑term assurance for your AI workloads.