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The software development process is an integral part of SOC 2 examinations. Enabling protected branches and implementing native security policies on these branches will make these audit experiences tolerable and less painful. GitHub defines protected branches in the following manner, “Protected branches ensure that collaborators on your repository cannot make irrevocable changes to branches.” Protecting a branch eliminates the risk of a planned or unplanned catastrophic event where a branch is deleted. This is the first step in enabling guardrails to secure your branch. Some additional checks or requirements can be enabled with a protected branch.