9 ways to ensure regulatory compliance in cloud storage

1.     Understand which regulations apply to the organization

Defining compliance as a strategic, organization-specific responsibility allows the assignment of a data management team that includes legal, compliance and IT members. Begin by recognizing the specific regulations that apply to the organization.

Compliance requirements vary by industry, geography and data type. Common regulations include:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)/California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).

It's essential to map data types to applicable regulations, paying careful attention to storage locations. Remember that cloud service providers distribute data across data centers in different regions, impacting data sovereignty compliance.

2.     Choose the right cloud storage provider

Evaluate cloud vendors beyond cost and service alone. Investigate storage compliance management and certification options.

Specific points include:

• Understanding how the shared security model applies to data storage compliance.
• Provider certifications and attestations.
• Transparency around data residency, audits, and security controls.
• Evaluating support for efficient and comprehensive regulatory reporting.

Vendor selection criteria must include more than price and features. The risks associated with failing to comply with data regulations are too severe to ignore when choosing a cloud vendor.

3.     Encrypt data at rest and in transit

Encryption is a key pillar of data protection. Recognize that data exists in three states: At rest, in transit and in use. Encryption options exist for all three states, and cloud storage encryption applies here.

Most regulations, including GDPR, mandate encryption directly or imply its use as a best practice. Cloud storage vendors offer encryption at rest options to protect stored data even if unauthorized access occurs at the infrastructure level. Equally crucial is data-in-transit encryption, which reduces the risk of interception and tampering.

Effective key management is crucial, including secure storage, rotation and access control.

Enforcing encryption across cloud environments strengthens the overall security posture, reduces compliance risk and demonstrates due diligence during audits. This practice turns what's often considered a technical control into a measurable compliance advantage.

4.     Implement role-based access control and identity management

The principle of least privilege is a fundamental component of access control, stating that only the minimum necessary access should be granted to resources. Role-based access control (RBAC) and identity management practices support this principle.

RBAC enables IT teams to assign permissions based on defined roles rather than individual user identities, reducing administrative complexity and minimizing mistakes that lead to excessive access and insider risk.

Centralized identity management, combined with multi-factor authentication, enables stronger oversight and visibility.

Regular access reviews and auditability are crucial for verifying effective identity management and access control by providing clear evidence that data stored in the cloud is governed, monitored and aligned with compliance requirements.

5.     Implement data classification and retention policies

Data classification and retention policies are crucial to maintaining regulatory compliance for cloud storage. Regulations such as GDPR require organizations to understand what data they collect, where it is stored and for how long. Without this capability, organizations could face compliance violations and security risks.

Classification examples include sensitivity, regulatory categories and business value. These classes enable access restrictions, encryption standards and other protections. Retention policies strengthen data protection and reduce storage costs by ensuring organizations don't store data longer than required. Data classification and retention policies demonstrate proactive data governance and cloud compliance.

6.     Maintain visibility into cloud storage usage

Maintaining visibility into data storage, whether cloud or on-premises, is critical to compliance and effective data management. Cloud storage continues to become more distributed, so it's easy to lose track of where data resides, who accesses it and how it is used. This lack of visibility increases policy violation risks and unauthorized access, leading to breaches and compliance violations.

Critical factors include centralized monitoring, logging and reporting across all cloud storage environments. Such strong visibility simplifies compliance reporting, supports audit readiness and ensures that cloud data usage aligns with compliance, security and data protection standards.

7.     Centralize compliance policies across cloud environments

Maintaining compliance controls becomes increasingly complex as organizations adopt hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. Disparate cloud platforms typically have different native security tools, configurations and reporting mechanisms, making centralized compliance and security reporting difficult. Data protection gaps could emerge, weakening cloud compliance efforts.

Centralized compliance policies across cloud environments offer many advantages, including:

• Consistent data protection.
• Effective access control.
• Encryption for data at rest and in transit.
• Enforceable retention standards.

Centralized compliance management ensures that regulatory requirements are applied uniformly, regardless of where data is stored. This approach reduces operational overhead, improves visibility and simplifies governance.

8.     Manage third-party and vendor risks

Third-party vendors often need access to cloud storage to support business operations, but this access also multiplies compliance and security risks. Regulatory standards hold organizations accountable for how partners and vendors access and work with sensitive data.

Organizations must define clear vendor due diligence processes, including security controls, compliance certifications and data protection practices. Ongoing monitoring is required, as vendor risk changes over time. Contractual agreements should clearly define compliance responsibilities, data-handling requirements and incident response obligations. Proactively managing third-party risk reduces the likelihood of compliance violations and ensures data protection standards extend beyond internal teams.

9.     Continuously review and stay current with compliance standards

Like other compliance and organization-wide structures, cloud storage is not a standalone project but an ongoing operational discipline that evolves alongside industry standards, regulations, security practices and cloud storage technologies. Failing to treat data storage compliance as a continuous improvement loop causes organizations to fall behind quickly and exposes them to security and regulatory gaps.

Various practices that help avoid these gaps include:

• Regular compliance reviews.
• Risk assessments.
• Internal standards assessments.
• Cloud storage configuration validation.

Most essential is monitoring regulatory updates and changes across cloud storage environments, recognizing that physical storage locations can span regions and differing data residency requirements.

Wrap up

Start turning cloud storage compliance into a competitive advantage by aligning it with business strategy and positioning it as a driver of trust, security and resilience. A proactive approach enables IT leadership to manage cloud risk rather than react to it, potentially avoiding penalties or damages.

 Damon Garn owns Cogspinner Coaction and provides freelance IT writing and editing services. He has written multiple CompTIA study guides, including the Linux+, Cloud Essentials+ and Server+ guides, and contributes extensively to Informa TechTarget, The New Stack and CompTIA Blogs.