Discontinued Systrust and SOC 3 Seal Programs

December 23, 2014 |

Reminder for 2015 planning: As announced on October 2, 2014, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CPA Canada have decided to discontinue the SysTrust and SOC 3 SysTrust for Service Organizations seal programs.

See http://www.webtrust.org/item64428.aspx for additional details.

Effective immediately, the organizations will no longer issue new licenses to practitioners to use, or the right of practitioners to permit its clients to use, the seals. Existing licenses will remain in effect until the end of their term, at which point they will not be renewed.

Seals issued under existing licenses will remain active until their expiration date. For engagements currently in progress, including renewals of existing SysTrust and SOC 3 SysTrust for Service Organization seals, the AICPA and CPA Canada will continue to offer seals through December 31, 2014.

Both organizations have stated their recognition of growth in the market for attestation/assurance services in the area of systems reliability and service organization controls and will continue to maintain the underlying Trust Services Principles and Criteria for Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality and Privacy to ensure the effectiveness of these services over time.

At BARR Assurance & Advisory, we remain dedicated to helping our customers understand ever-changing and often complex regulatory issues – contact us today to learn more about what these developments mean for your business.

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