Bit-Wizards is proud to announce the completion of an SSAE 18 Certification (Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 18). One of the catalysts to launching the third-party audit for the SOC 2 Type 1 (Service Organization Control) Reports to meet the SSAE 18 requirements is Bit-Wizards' long-standing partnership with TSA Consulting Group for the continued design, development, maintenance, and hosting of their EPARS tool. EPARS performs the electronic transmission of 403B and 457 payroll retirement contributions for public school employees to retirement fund managers like Fidelity and ING. Additionally, within in financial and insurance sectors, Bit-Wizards will continue to work with institutions like TSA Consulting Group, Landrum HR, Vystar Credit Union, Space Coast Credit Union, and Pilot Catastrophe.
Along with extensive experience in the financial and insurance industries, Bit-Wizards' completion of the SOC 2 Type 1 Audit ensures they will continue to work with trusted professional services companies like Landrum HR, for whom they recently built an employee management and benefits portal, called MyLandrum to help manage PII information.
What is SSAE 18?
The Standards for Attestation Engagements 18 (SSAE 18) Certification was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) as a series of enhancements to the preceding SSAE 16 Certification. The new standards established in the SSAE 18 certification process include the implementation of a formal third-party vendor management program and a formal annual risk assessment process. The SSAE 18 standards now bring all the varying degrees of compliance standards previously existing in the U.S. up to the international standards of compliance. The SOC 2 Type 1 (Service Organization Control) audit is widely recognized for the intensive scrutiny it puts systems of the organization through, in terms of their control activities related to business processes and related Information System General Controls. This audit provides customers with guaranteed security and reliability for their systems and data.
Auditing firms must follow AICPA rules when conducting an audit of a company's internal controls. Warren Averett, an independent auditing firm, performed the audit for Bit-Wizards and validated the security controls and processes involved in storing, handling, and transmitting data securely. Various controls related to logical access, physical security, back-up and recovery, business processes, etc. were checked to ensure that the internal stakeholders follow all the right governance and compliance practices and procedures.
Why SSAE for Bit-Wizards?
The successful completion of this voluntary audit illustrates Bit-Wizards' ongoing commitment to create and maintain the most stringent controls for the protection and security of confidential information for its customers, partners, and internal stakeholders. Internally, Jennifer Kraus, the Managed IT Services Manager for Bit-Wizards, championed this one-year project to achieve the certification. Jennifer worked closely with Warren Averett, as well as key stakeholders in Finance, IT, Software Engineering, Marketing, Human Resources, Operations, and the COO and CEO to set the systems and controls in place.
"At Bit-Wizards we continually re-invent and add new programs and systems that provide value to our current and potential customers. Our investment in the SSAE 18 SOC-2 Certification ensures we have the necessary controls to service highly regulated industries such as banking, finance, and insurance. All of our customers benefit from this certification. In 2020 we are working to achieve a SOC-1 Certification. This new certification will hold our systems and processes to an even higher standard, guaranteeing that we have the most beneficial controls and measures in place for the benefit of our customers' success." -Vince Mayfield, CEO
Security, privacy, and performance are fundamental to
each line of business at Bit-Wizards. The need for safety and controls for custom applications deployed to the
cloud, the daily management, and continuous monitoring of client's
IT networks, websites, and other digital assets is paramount to the continued success of each client project.
Bit-Wizards adherence to the most stringent, industry-accepted auditing standards for service companies provides additional assurance to clients and partners that both its business process controls, and information technology controls are operating securely and effectively.