In the modern world of business operations, versatility is a major strength. Teams can pivot from in-person to remote to hybrid schedules as needed because so many of the functions and data storage required to complete key tasks can be accessed and completed via just about any device — be it a desktop, laptop, or mobile device.
Additionally, an increasing number of industries are working with partners based in different parts of the world. The world has never been more interconnected, for better and for worse.
The ability to operate and collaborate with anyone anywhere in the world brings its own challenges, though. With data storage in the cloud, cloud data privacy must be made a top priority. The problem that arises with that, is that every state and just about every individual country has its own data protection laws.
Navigating the areas where these laws overlap and where they do not without accidentally falling out of compliance is a major challenge. Failing to take cloud data security seriously can leave you and your customers vulnerable to digital attacks as well as opening you up to the consequences of noncompliance.
While there are many different data privacy laws in the world — with more being written and adopted as utilization of cloud technology becomes more and more ubiquitous — a few laws stand out as the most detailed. These laws have served as the basis for many of the state and national laws that have followed.
Data privacy regulations push organizations to prioritize cloud risk management. Because if they don’t follow the laws and wind up compromising the data of their client base, they can be hit with major repercussions.
Let’s take a look at some of the most comprehensive regulations that you may encounter.
The data privacy law that governs every nation in the European Union, the GDPR is viewed by many as the most comprehensive cloud data privacy regulation in the world. Being able to claim GDPR compliant cloud storage is one of the best ways to foster trust in your organization from your client base.
Some of the key requirements of the GDPR focus on user consent for data collection, minimization of the amount of personal data that can be collected (meaning only collecting relevant data to your organization), right to demand data erasure, and cross-border restrictions for data collection.
The GDPR ensures that users know that their data is being used and by whom. It also gives those users the right to demand that their data be scrubbed from a system at any time and for any reason.
The CCPA is the gold-standard of data protection laws in the USA. It was one of the first consumer data protection regulations that arose in America and has been the basis for similar laws in other states.
There is some overlap between CCPA protections and those provided by the GDPR. CCPA regulations require consumer rights over personal data, clear opt-out options, and enforce strict disclosure policies regarding how someone’s personal data is used.
HIPAA is one of the most robust data protection laws the United States has ever put forward. As its name implies, HIPAA is a specific regulation for the health industry. It outlines who can be given patient information not just from a cloud data privacy standpoint, but in person-to-person communication as well.
HIPAA compliance in the cloud requires encryption to secure healthcare data protection as well as requiring very specific conditions to demonstrate patient consent. Because securing personal data relating to healthcare is so important, the consequences of non-compliance with HIPAA are severe.
PIPEDA is Canada’s answer to the GDPR and CCPA. It outlines the requirements Parliament laid out for lawful data processing. Major focuses of PIPEDA are data use transparency and user access rights.
According to the IAPP, 144 countries have put data security regulations on their books. From Singapore to Brazil and everywhere in between, the increased reliance on data to conduct business has led to increasingly specific regulations to protect that data.
This can lead to challenges based on where data originates and where it is put into use. Understanding the intricacies of cross-border data transfer laws is incredibly important when implementing compliance processes. There are times when the same piece of data will need to be secured according to multiple regulations from multiple jurisdictions.
With all of the overlapping laws specifying different encryption in cloud computing requirements for different types of data, it pays to work with a partner that understands the intricacies and challenges of conducting a secure data migration to the cloud.
With the variety of cloud data privacy regulations by which you need to abide, it is important that you follow best practices. Here are a few examples that will help you ensure that you are taking every possible step to stay in compliance in every applicable jurisdiction.
Before committing to a cloud service provider, make sure that they have the necessary certifications to demonstrate their dedication to data security. You want to work with a partner that is GDPR-compliant, as well as qualifying for SOC 2 and as ISO 27001 compliant.
You also want to be sure of the data localization policies of your cloud provider. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud — all of these providers have slightly different approaches and you need to know how that approach fits with the security you are obligated to provide for the data you utilize.
Encryption in cloud computing is an absolute necessity. You should be implementing end-to-end encryption to protect data both in transit and at rest. Also, it pays to identify those team members that will hold the keys to your encryption so you know who to contact if encryption issues arise.
A zero trust security model relies on multi-factor authentication and identity management practices to ensure that every user is properly identified and that only those with proper credentials have access to your data.
Read More: Understanding Social Engineering: How to Protect Yourself
Whether you use a zero trust model or a shared responsibility model for your primary security model, you need to run audits and assessments regularly. Compliance audits and risk assessments can catch gaps in your security or respond to new tech being deployed by online data thieves.
You have policies for cloud access control, but that is just the beginning. You need to establish processes to identify sensitive and non-sensitive information that are consistent and automatable. Additionally, establishing a timeline to auto-delete data based on compliance requirements is essential.
Eventually, you will probably have an incident where your compliance is compromised. These things happen. You need to have protocols in place for each jurisdiction in which you operate (such as GDPR or CCPA, etc). Identify steps to take in case of a breach and put a process in place to ensure that you make all legal disclosures promptly.
The interactions between differing compliance regulations around the world and across the country can be frustrating to decipher on your own. TEAM IM can help you.
With collective decades of experience migrating data securely to the cloud, the experts at TEAM IM will ensure your migration is smooth and painless while putting robust and detailed cloud data privacy plans in place.
The cloud is not just the future of data management — it is the present. Reach out to TEAM IM to make sure you are using your cloud optimally and are not at risk of falling out of compliance.
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