Johnston, Iowa – August 3, 2022 – Growers Edge, a provider of data-driven financial technology (fintech) solutions for the agricultural industry, announced today the achievement of Systems Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type I compliance. With the number of reported data breaches in 2021 jumping to a record high of 68%, this confirms the company’s deep commitment to keeping the agronomic, financial and other personal information entrusted to Growers Edge protected.
“Companies in the ag industry face a variety of evolving threats every day,” said Growers Edge CEO Dan Cosgrove. “Achieving SOC 2 Compliance demonstrates that data privacy and security means more to us than a page on our website. It’s the fabric of how we operate!”
Developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), this auditing procedure ensures companies meet a standard degree of security control in five service principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. Growers Edge worked with Des Moines-based LWBJ, now UHY, to conduct the review of security practices and systems. With SOC 2 Type I Attestation, ag partners who conduct or plan to conduct business with Growers Edge can be confident the service commitments and system requirements have been achieved based on the stringent requirements developed by the AICPA and used by financial, healthcare and other organizations who work with private data across the United States.
“This achievement is just the beginning of our security management plans at Growers Edge,” said Todd McCombs, IT Director at Growers Edge. “We will begin the work necessary to achieve SOC 2 Type II during the remainder of 2022, so we are even better positioned to handle the demand for strict information security policies and procedures in the future.”
While SOC 2 Type I identifies security weaknesses and actions to mitigate or address threats, SOC 2 Type II will utilize the established framework and robustly test the strength of these procedures. Throughout the testing, issues will be addressed and retested to help build the strongest security for the company’s systems. Growers Edge collaborated with Pratum, an Ankeny, Iowa-based data security firm, to assist in the preparations and testing of the systems.
“Achieving SOC 2 Type I certification establishes us as an industry leader in agriculture,” added Cosgrove. “We know our work in data security and privacy will be important as we scale our business to provide new fintech solutions for the agriculture industry. We intend to help our ag partners understand the value of this work and how it can be used to strengthen their own security.”
Source: Growers Edge