What SOC 2 Type II Certification Really Means for Digital Signage Providers
SOC 2 Digital Signage: Why This Certification Should Be on Every Buyer's Shortlist
If you've been evaluating digital signage vendors recently, you may have noticed a new line-item creeping into RFPs and security questionnaires: "Do you hold SOC 2 Type II certification?"Five years ago, that question almost never came up in signage procurement. Today, it's becoming a dealbreaker, especially for buyers in healthcare, financial services, education, and government. And for good reason. Digital signage platforms now sit on corporate networks, run on cloud infrastructure, and handle data integrations that touch sensitive business systems. They're no longer just screens on a wall. They're SaaS applications with the same risk profile as any other cloud service your IT team manages.
The problem is that most digital signage providers don't hold SOC 2 Type II certification. The handful that do are still a small minority in an industry that has traditionally focused on content features and display hardware rather than security compliance. So, when a vendor tells you they "take security seriously," how do you actually verify that? And what does SOC 2 Type II really prove that other claims don't?
Let's break it down.
What SOC 2 Actually Is (Without the Jargon)
SOC stands for System and Organization Controls. It's a suite of auditing frameworks developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and SOC 2 is the one built specifically for service organizations that store, process, or transmit customer data. If your digital signage provider hosts content in the cloud, manages your player fleet remotely, or handles any of your data through their platform, they fall squarely within the scope of SOC 2.The framework is built on the AICPA's Trust Services Criteria, organized into five categories: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Security is the only mandatory category. Organizations then select which additional criteria apply based on the nature of the services they provide and the commitments they make to customers. A signage provider handling sensitive content scheduling and remote device management might include availability and confidentiality, while one with deeper data integrations might add processing integrity or privacy.
One thing that separates SOC 2 from many other security frameworks: it doesn't prescribe a standard set of controls. Instead, each organization designs and implements its own controls to satisfy the criteria. The auditor then evaluates whether those controls actually meet the requirements. This makes SOC 2 both flexible and rigorous, because a company can't hide behind checkbox compliance. Their specific controls have to hold up under independent examination.
And that independence matters. Only licensed CPA firms can conduct SOC 2 audits and issue the formal attestation report. This isn't a self-assessment, a vendor questionnaire, or an internal review. Either the controls survive outside scrutiny from qualified auditors, or they don't.
Type I vs. Type II: The Difference That Actually Matters
This is where a lot of buyers get tripped up, and where some vendors are less than forthcoming.SOC 2 Type I is a point-in-time snapshot. An auditor shows up, reviews your security controls as they exist on a specific date, and confirms they're designed properly. Think of it as a photograph. It tells you what was in place at that moment, but nothing about whether those controls were actually working last week, last month, or six months ago.
SOC 2 Type II is fundamentally different. The auditor evaluates the same controls, but over an extended observation period, typically three to twelve months. They sample evidence from across that entire window. They're not just asking "do you have an access control policy?" They're pulling records to confirm that access reviews actually happened on schedule, that terminated employees were removed within the defined timeframe, that encryption was consistently enforced, and that monitoring alerts were investigated and resolved.
Type II proves operational discipline over time. That's a very different thing from showing up well on audit day.
For digital signage buyers, this distinction is critical. A Type I report can tell you a vendor had the right policies on paper as of a particular Tuesday in March. A Type II report tells you those policies were consistently followed for three months or more under real operating conditions. When you're trusting a vendor with access to your network, your content pipeline, and potentially your data integrations, you want the second one.
It's also worth knowing that many enterprise security questionnaires explicitly require Type II. When a vendor responds to that question with "We have Type I," the procurement team often treats it the same as not having SOC 2 at all. Type I is a stepping stone. Type II is the destination.
What the Audit Process Actually Involves
Earning SOC 2 Type II isn't something a company knocks out in a few weeks. For a digital signage provider, the process typically unfolds over many months and touches nearly every part of the organization.It starts with scoping. The company and the auditing firm work together to define which systems, processes, and trust service criteria will be covered. For a signage provider, this usually includes the cloud CMS platform, the infrastructure hosting it, the player management systems, data storage and transmission, and the internal processes around access control, change management, incident response, and employee onboarding.
Then comes the observation period. During this window (again, three to twelve months minimum for a meaningful Type II report), the company operates under its documented controls while the auditor periodically tests and samples evidence. This isn't passive. The auditor is actively pulling records, reviewing logs, checking that scheduled activities were performed, and looking for gaps between what the policy says and what actually happened.
Some of the specific areas an auditor will examine for a cloud-based signage provider include:
- How user access is provisioned, reviewed, and revoked
- Whether data is encrypted in transit and at rest
- How code changes are tested, approved, and deployed
- Whether vulnerability scans and penetration tests are conducted on schedule
- How security incidents are detected, escalated, and resolved
- Whether backup and recovery procedures are tested regularly
- How employees are vetted during hiring and trained on security policies
- Whether monitoring and alerting systems are actually generating and responding to alerts
The cost isn't trivial either. Mid-size companies can expect to invest anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 on a Type II audit, depending on scope and complexity. For a digital signage company, it's a significant financial and operational commitment. Which is precisely why so few in the industry have pursued it.
Why SOC 2 Type II Matters Specifically for Digital Signage
You might be wondering: isn't SOC 2 more of a concern for financial software companies or healthcare SaaS platforms? Why does a digital signage provider need this level of certification?Fair question. And the answer comes down to how fundamentally the signage industry has changed.
Today's digital signage CMS platforms are full SaaS applications hosted on cloud infrastructure. They store login credentials, manage network-connected devices, handle API integrations with third-party systems, and in some cases process scheduling data, wayfinding information, or real-time data feeds from business systems. The attack surface of a modern signage deployment looks nothing like the USB-stick-and-a-screen setups of a decade ago.
When a hospital selects a signage provider for patient wayfinding, they need assurance that the vendor's platform meets the same security standards as their other cloud vendors. When a financial institution deploys lobby displays, their compliance team wants documentation that the vendor's data handling practices have been independently validated. When a university rolls out campus-wide signage connected to room booking and emergency notification systems, the IT security team needs to know the vendor isn't introducing unmanaged risk to the institutional network.
SOC 2 Type II provides that documentation. It gives IT and compliance teams a standardized, third-party-validated report they can review and present to their own auditors. Without it, buyers are left relying on the vendor's own claims, security questionnaires filled out by the sales team, and whatever marketing language appears on the website. Those aren't bad starting points, but they're not evidence.
What Secure Signage Providers Look Like vs. Everyone Else
There's a noticeable gap in how SOC 2 Type II certified signage providers operate compared to those who haven't gone through the process. It shows up in small details that add up over time.Certified providers tend to have formal change management processes. Code changes go through documented review and approval before deployment. Uncertified providers often push updates on an ad hoc basis with minimal documentation.
Certified providers run regular access reviews. Former employees and deactivated accounts get cleaned up on a defined schedule. Uncertified providers might have dormant admin accounts sitting untouched for months.
Certified providers have incident response procedures that have been tested and documented. When something goes wrong, there's a defined playbook. Uncertified providers often handle incidents reactively, making it up as they go.
Certified providers monitor their systems with real alerting. Logs aren't just collected; they're reviewed. Uncertified providers might generate logs but never look at them unless a customer reports a problem.
None of this means an uncertified provider is necessarily insecure. But the certification process forces a level of operational rigor that's hard to maintain voluntarily. When nobody's auditing your access reviews, it's easy to skip a quarter. When nobody's checking your incident response logs, it's easy to let things slide. SOC 2 Type II removes that ambiguity by making the auditor's findings a matter of record.
What This Means for Reseller Channels
For buyers who work with resellers or channel partners rather than purchasing directly from the software provider, SOC 2 Type II certification takes on an additional layer of importance.When you buy through a reseller, the security of your deployment still depends on the underlying software platform. Your reseller might provide excellent installation, training, and ongoing support, but if the CMS they're selling runs on infrastructure that hasn't been independently audited, the security risk flows downstream to you.
This is why smart buyers ask the reseller a specific question: "Does the CMS provider behind your solution hold SOC 2 Type II certification?" If the answer is no, or if the reseller doesn't know, that's a signal worth paying attention to.
For resellers themselves, partnering with a SOC 2 Type II certified CMS provider makes their own sales conversations easier. Enterprise procurement teams are going to ask about security. Being able to point to an independently audited certification from the upstream platform provider eliminates friction and builds credibility that the reseller couldn't generate on their own.
Where Corum Digital Fits
Corum Digital is one of a small number of digital signage companies in the industry to hold SOC 2 Type II certification. The certification covers both the firmChannel reseller platform and the MediaTile direct-sales brand.Corum pursued this certification deliberately, not because a single customer demanded it, but because the company's leadership recognized that cloud-managed signage platforms carry the same security responsibilities as any other SaaS application. The audit process covered the full stack: CMS infrastructure, player management, data handling, access controls, change management, incident response, and employee security practices.
For buyers evaluating signage providers, Corum's SOC 2 Type II report is available upon request and provides the kind of independently validated evidence that internal compliance teams and auditors expect. For reseller partners selling firmChannel, the certification serves as a trust foundation they can reference directly in customer-facing security conversations.
In an industry where most providers still rely on marketing claims rather than audited evidence, Corum's certification represents a measurable commitment to the kind of operational discipline that enterprise and regulated-sector buyers require.
The Bottom Line for Buyers
SOC 2 Type II certification isn't a silver bullet. It doesn't guarantee that a breach will never happen. What it does guarantee is that an independent auditor examined the provider's security controls over an extended period and found them to be suitably designed and operating effectively. That's a higher bar than anything else the digital signage industry currently offers.If you're evaluating secure signage providers for a deployment that connects to your corporate network, integrates with business systems, or operates in a regulated environment, SOC 2 Type II should be on your requirements list. Not as a "nice to have." As a qualifying criteria.
Ask the question early. Ask it directly. And don't accept "we take security seriously" as a substitute for the report.
This article is the second in Corum Digital's series on digital signage cybersecurity. For a broader look at why networked signage has become a legitimate attack surface, read 7 Alarming Reasons Digital Signage Has Become a Real Cybersecurity Threat.
