August 17, 2026

C5:2026 readiness checklist

Written by

Reviewed by

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C5:2026 packs 168 auditable criteria into 17 security domains—enough to stall even a well-resourced compliance team. If you're selling cloud services into Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, C5 attestation is quickly becoming table stakes for enterprise and public-sector deals.

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This checklist gives you a straightforward way to see where you stand. Work through all 17 domains, flag your gaps, and get clear on what's new in the 2026 edition, including post-quantum cryptography, confidential computing, and container security, before you scope your audit.

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Download the checklist to get:

Self-assessment questions across all 17 C5:2026 domains
A breakdown of basic versus additional criteria, so you know what's actually required
What's new in the 2026 edition, and why it matters if you already hold ISO 27001, SOC 2, or NIS2 certifications

Access Review Stage	Content / Functionality
Across all stages	Easily create and save a new access review at a point in time View detailed audit evidence of historical access reviews
Setup access review procedures	Define a global access review procedure that stakeholders can follow, ensuring consistency and mitigation of human error in reviews Set your access review frequency (monthly, quarterly, etc.) and working period/deadlines
Consolidate account access data from systems	Integrate systems using dozens of pre-built integrations, or “connectors”. System account and HRIS data is pulled into Vanta. Upcoming integrations include Zoom and Intercom (account access), and Personio (HRIS) Upload access files from non-integrated systems View and select systems in-scope for the review
Review, approve, and deny user access	Select the appropriate systems reviewer and due date Get automatic notifications and reminders to systems reviewer of deadlines Automatic flagging of “risky” employee accounts that have been terminated or switched departments Intuitive interface to see all accounts with access, account accept/deny buttons, and notes section Track progress of individual systems access reviews and see accounts that need to be removed or have access modified Bulk sort, filter, and alter accounts based on account roles and employee title
Assign remediation tasks to system owners	Built-in remediation workflow for reviewers to request access changes and for admin to view and manage requests Optional task tracker integration to create tickets for any access changes and provide visibility to the status of tickets and remediation
Verify changes to access	Focused view of accounts flagged for access changes for easy tracking and management Automated evidence of remediation completion displayed for integrated systems Manual evidence of remediation can be uploaded for non-integrated systems
Report and re-evaluate results	Auditor can log into Vanta to see history of all completed access reviews Internals can see status of reviews in progress and also historical review detail