Security & Compliance Editor · since 2021
I'm US-based and I read security the way an attacker would — follow the incentives, find where it breaks. I write for the founder whose first enterprise customer just sent a security questionnaire: what SOC 2 really costs, what an auditor will ask about your AI feature, and which 'compliance' promises are marketing.
Year 1 of paid Windows 10 security updates ends on October 13, 2026. Year 2 doubles the price, a PC that skipped Year 1 pays for both, and Year 3 doubles again. Here is the bill for 10, 25 and 50 PCs, how to buy and activate it, and when a Windows 11 upgrade or new PC is the cheaper move.
Cipher · 1d ago · 10 min
A script can press your sign-up or AI button thousands of times, and you pay for each press. Where the limits already exist (Supabase Auth, Cloudflare), where they don't, and the spending cap that stops the bill.
Cipher · 3d ago · 7 min
A US buyer sends a SOC 2 request. A German buyer sends an ISO 27001 one. Here is what each proof is, who asks for which on the auditors' own pages, what sellers publish for the cost, and when one control program can feed both.
Cipher · 4d ago · 12 min
Sellers publish $5,000 to $30,000 for a web or SaaS app test and $9,500 and up for an AI chatbot. Many firms print nothing at all. Here is what each firm's own page says, what moves the quote, and what a SOC 2 auditor looks for.
Cipher · 4d ago · 13 min
Four of the five hide their price behind a demo, and none of them sells you the SOC 2 opinion. What each platform publishes about cost, the audit, frameworks and the tools a vibe-coded stack uses, read on each vendor's own site on 3 October 2026.
Cipher · 4d ago · 12 min
The vendor review now has an AI tab. The eight things it asks about an app that calls OpenAI or Claude, where each question comes from (SIG, CSA's AI-CAIQ, NIST, ISO 42001, OWASP, the EU AI Act), a fill-in-the-blanks answer for each, and the evidence to attach.
Cipher · 4d ago · 14 min
The email just landed and you have no report. What to send the buyer this week, the questions that buy you time, a week-by-week plan to a Type 1 audit start in about 90 days, and what it costs. Including the one document founders reach for that doesn't exist yet.
Cipher · 4d ago · 13 min
You built it vibe coding on Lovable, Bolt, Replit or v0, with Supabase and Vercel underneath, and a security questionnaire just asked for SOC 2. Each platform's own report, how to get it, which plan it sits behind, whether it trains on your data, and the half of the audit that is still yours.
Cipher · Sep 27 · 12 min
An auditor just sent you a quote, or you're about to ask for one. What a SOC 2 audit fee really runs for a company your size, Type 1 against Type 2, boutique against Big Four, what moves the number and what the quote quietly leaves out.
Cipher · Sep 27 · 12 min
Your first enterprise customer wants a SOC 2 report and you mostly call the OpenAI or Claude API from a Supabase or Lovable app. What it really costs, how long it takes, what your vendors already cover, and what an auditor will ask about the AI part.
Cipher · Sep 27 · 14 min