When Compliance Becomes Theater, Everyone Loses

Sam Li, CEO

There’s a story currently circulating around the industry involving a compliance platform that used an automated system to generate identical SOC 2 reports for multiple, unrelated companies. These reports were then rubber-stamped by their partner audit firms (which themselves had not passed peer reviews) without meaningful validation of each organization’s security controls. 

Whether this story is 100% accurate or not, what’s concerning is that few people would be surprised if it is. For years, parts of the compliance industry have treated security audits as performative. Their offerings are optimized only for speed and cost, neglecting the fact that – by definition – audits are designed to demonstrate trust and assurance. When compliance becomes a race to the bottom, outcomes like this are not just possible; they’re inevitable.

The real issue isn’t automation itself. It’s about cutting corners throughout the process to generate the report as quickly as possible. It’s about the erosion of audit integrity. SOC 2 and similar frameworks exist to establish trust between organizations and their customers. When that trust is undermined, the damage extends far beyond any single vendor—it impacts the credibility of the entire ecosystem.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s this: the industry now has a clear opportunity to reset expectations and return to what compliance is supposed to deliver. This means credible assurance, grounded in evidence, verified by experts who care.

Security compliance is risk management, not a box-check

It’s understandable why speed and cost have become dominant selling points. SOC 2, PCI DSS, and HITRUST reports are often required in the sales cycle, and for many younger companies, timeline and budgets are under pressure, making short-cut audits look more attractive. 

A credible audit requires time, and while automation has drastically reduced audit cycle times over the past decade, there needs to be a balance between speed and rigor. Evidence must be collected, reviewed, validated, and tested against the applicable requirements, and in the case of SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria. Controls must be evaluated not just for existence, but for operating effectiveness over time. No amount of marketing spin changes that reality.

Vendors promising “certification” in a matter of days or hours should raise immediate concerns. While modern platforms can and should streamline evidence collection and reduce administrative overhead, there are no shortcuts around control validation, auditor judgment, and independent verification. When those steps are skipped, the resulting report provides false confidence—and false confidence is one of the most dangerous states in cybersecurity.

Thoropass’s position is straightforward: efficiency matters, but not at the expense of audit integrity. The goal isn’t just to get a report faster; it’s to get it right.

Automation scales compliance, but expertise assurance makes it trustworthy

Automation and AI have transformed the compliance landscape for the better. Leading platforms, including Thoropass, have supercharged organizations to run their compliance function and handle external audits with unprecedented efficiency, and drastically avoid the “audit scramble” once a year.

At Thoropass, we’ve gone further by integrating automation directly into our auditors’ workflows. We use AI to streamline evidence intake, flag inconsistencies, and reduce manual review time. This allows auditors to focus on what actually matters: evaluating risk, exercising judgment, and communicating with our customers .

But automation is an enabler, not a substitute. AI is incredibly effective for streamlining time-consuming manual activities, but to complete an audit with the depth of knowledge and rigor required requires trained auditors with real-world experience. When an auditor signs off on a report, it’s their own name and reputation that’s put on the line.

Every reputable compliance and audit provider understands this distinction. The moment “blind automation” replaces human oversight in auditing, compliance stops being assurance and starts being theater.

Real compliance improves security. Real audits demand real auditors

A SOC 2 report is not a trophy. It’s a byproduct of doing security well.

There’s a growing parallel between compliance shortcuts and self-certification in other areas: you can obtain a document that looks official, but without rigor behind it, the document is meaningless. The true value of a security audit lies in an independent party identifying gaps, validating assumptions, and driving continuous improvement—not in generating a PDF for sales.

That’s why auditors matter. Auditing is a specialized discipline that requires experience, skepticism, and independence. At Thoropass, our audit team includes professionals from the Big Four and other top firms, bringing deep expertise across SaaS, cloud infrastructure, and regulated industries. Our audits are designed to challenge evidence, test controls, and surface real risk—not simply confirm what a GRC platform, whether it’s our own or from other vendors’ outputs.

Choosing an audit partner should be as deliberate as choosing a security platform. Organizations should look for firms with relevant industry experience, strong references, and AICPA Peer Review. Audit firms’ status can be viewed in real-time, and any firm with less than a Pass rating should be viewed with extreme caution.

The path forward: restore trust by raising the bar

Security audits exist to create trust. That trust is earned through rigor, transparency, and independent expertise. As an industry, we can either continue only focusing on speed and cost, or we can recommit to compliance as a foundation of real security.

Thoropass is firmly in the second camp. By combining automation with experienced auditors and an uncompromising approach to audit quality, we believe compliance should strengthen organizations, not just certify them.

The future of security compliance won’t be won by those who move the fastest. It will be led by those who do it right.

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