Maintaining regulatory compliance is essential for companies in virtually all market sectors. Businesses have to prioritize compliance or risk the consequences. Failure to meet compliance obligations can result in substantial monetary fines, negative public relations, and put sensitive customer data at risk. It can be extremely hard to regain public trust after a data breach due to non-compliant IT practices.
Achieving compliance can be a difficult task in any computing environment. Multiple moving parts must be effectively addressed to ensure the safety and privacy of sensitive regulated data. Diverse environments, such as those typically found in cloud computing, can increase the difficulty of meeting regulatory compliance. Working with an experienced partner can mitigate the challenges of maintaining compliance.
Does Your Company Need to be Concerned About Compliance?
Businesses may question whether they need to be concerned about compliance. The answer in most cases is yes. Multiple compliance regulations can be in play for your company depending on your business model and customer base. The following are some of the most common regulatory standards that may affect your company.
- HIPAA – Companies operating in the U.S. healthcare sector need to protect patient privacy through compliance with HIPAA regulations. This includes healthcare providers as well as businesses that process patient data.
- PCI-DSS – Businesses that process credit cards for their customers need to abide by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Compliance with PCI-DSS has become more important with the rise of ecommerce, making companies rely on credit card payments for goods and services.
- GDPR – The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affects companies with customers in EU countries. The law gives EU citizens rights regarding data collected and stored about them that need to be addressed by a company’s IT systems.
The Challenges of Regulatory Compliance in the Cloud
Regulatory compliance in a cloud environment presents multiple challenges. These challenges are exacerbated when companies adopt a multi-cloud approach to optimize their infrastructure.
- Shared security responsibility – Cloud providers share responsibility with customers for securing the computing environment and the data it contains. Typically, the cloud provider is responsible for securing the infrastructure, including networks and operating systems. Customers assume responsibility for the data stored in the cloud environment. Misunderstanding these responsibilities can lead to noncompliance and data breaches.
- Dynamic environments – Cloud computing may involve a dynamic environment where resources change fairly regularly. These changes can introduce security gaps that may result in compliance issues. Compliance must be verified when new services or upgrades are applied to cloud resources.
- Lack of visibility – Effective compliance requires visibility into the complete digital estate. This can be difficult in a complex cloud environment, particularly if multiple providers are involved. Effective management and visibility of cloud resources are imperative for maintaining compliance.
- Complex compliance regulations – Compliance regulations can be difficult to understand and constantly evolve. In some cases, substantial changes to the environment may be required to address regulatory changes. Companies must stay abreast of these changes or risk non-compliance.
- Third-party involvement – Introducing third parties into the compliance mix comes with a degree of risk. You must ensure that all third parties such as CSPs meet compliance standards because you are ultimately responsible for data security. It is important to enter into legal agreements with providers that define their compliance responsibilities.
- Data sovereignty – Data is bound by the laws and governance requirements of the country where it is gathered, stored, or generated. Companies with international customers may need to abide by multiple data privacy and security rules. Further complications can arise from laws such as the California Consumers Privacy Act (CCPA) which gives citizens of the state more rights over their data than in other parts of the United States.
- Data breach notification – Data breaches must be reported according to specific time frames defined in regulatory standards. Failure to make the appropriate notifications is a compliance violation that can result in fines from the regulating body.
- Skill gaps – Small and medium businesses may not have the necessary in-house skills to maintain compliance in the cloud. Many companies have migrated to a cloud environment to take advantage of its benefits. They may need assistance identifying, implementing, and supporting compliance initiatives.
- Compliance costs – Addressing compliance without a plan and the requisite expense can be an expensive proposition. Companies may need to designate a compliance focal and expend the human resources required for other business objectives. It may make sense to engage a trusted partner to assist with compliance activities.
- System integration – Integrating cloud services with existing infrastructure elements can impact compliance. Care must be taken to ensure that new applications preserve the data security required by compliance regulations. Cloud migration presents potential integration issues that must be identified and addressed to meet compliance requirements.
How VAST Helps You Maintain Compliance in the Cloud
The cloud experts at VAST IT Services have the experience and tools necessary to help your business successfully navigate compliance in the cloud. We partner with the major cloud providers and are familiar with using their services to support regulatory compliance.
VAST View
Our proprietary VAST View cloud visibility and management tool simplifies effectively implementing regulatory compliance in complex cloud environments. Specific aspects of VAST View that address compliance concerns include the tool’s data discovery, assessment, and governance capabilities.
VAST View helps you identify the data that needs to be protected to ensure compliance. The tool helps develop and implement compliance policies and provides real-time monitoring to detect potential security issues.
Managed public cloud services
We offer managed public cloud services that can prove essential in helping your company remain compliant with all regulatory standards. We manage backups and disaster recovery which are both essential components of virtually all compliance regulations. Our security assessments will help identify potential vulnerabilities so they can be addressed before resulting in a data breach. VAST will manage your cloud environment so you can focus on your core business objectives.
Get in touch with our team today and let us help you meet your compliance obligations.
