These days, online web properties and enterprises increasingly opting for a cloud-based storage over in-house backup storage solutions due to the economic and operational benefits of cloud-based storage. However, these benefits cannot be unlocked without addressing new data security compliance challenges posed by cloud-based storage solutions.
True that cloud-based storage help organizations cut the operational costs to a large extent, but the issues related to compliance have utmost gravity. And compliance issues surface the moment you start using a cloud-based storage and backup services. When you move the data from your internal storage systems to cloud-based storage solutions, you will be forced to check meticulously how the data will be stored there to remain compliant with the laws and industry regulations.
Needless to say, the infrastructure of cloud storage and the data that resides on that infrastructure are vulnerable to be intercepted, to be modified, to be leaked. This can pose major compliance issues in the cloud-based storage solution. Legal and compliance officers may ask where your data is located, how the data is sent to the cloud, and how the data is going to be secure on that cloud.
Data transmission and storage are abided by many regional and national regulations. All organizations are required to adhere to the data compliancy laws prescribed by HIPAA in the United States and Data Protection Directive in the European Union (whatsoever is applicable), throughout the life of the data. And there are multiple ways in which the cloud-based storage makes it complicated to adhere to regulations, especially for those companies offering multi-national storage solutions. For example: if a telecommunication group based in the US stores backup data with an EU-based cloud provider, is the data subject to the US HIPAA regulations or the EU DPD regulation, or both?
There is no doubt that cloud storage solutions have benefited many online web properties and enterprises in much different geography. When data is moved beyond an organization’s geographic and technological boundaries, the organization always runs the risk of losing control how the data complies with regulatory compliance. However, if the legal and regulatory challenges are addressed, cloud-based storage solutions can meet any organization’s needs and cut the operational costs.