Question

A financial services firm is negotiating a contract with a large public IaaS provider. The firm's internal audit team insists on including a traditional 'right-to-audit' clause that would allow their auditors physical, on-site access to the provider's data centers to inspect controls whenever needed. The provider refuses this specific demand, citing the multitenant nature of its facilities. As the cloud security advisor, what should you recommend as the most practical way for the firm to obtain the required assurance over the provider's control environment?

Accepted Answer

Rely on the provider's independent third-party attestations, such as a SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certification, to evaluate control design and operating effectiveness

Answer

Escalate the negotiation and refuse to sign until the provider grants unrestricted physical audit access to satisfy regulatory obligations

Answer

Accept the provider's marketing materials and published security whitepapers as sufficient evidence of control effectiveness

Answer

Deploy the firm's own monitoring agents across the provider's hypervisor and physical infrastructure to continuously verify controls