Overview of common compliance standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.
Compliance refers to adhering to a set of rules, standards, or regulations. In the context of cloud computing, it means ensuring that your use of cloud services meets the specific regulatory requirements of your industry or jurisdiction. Major cloud providers invest heavily in achieving and maintaining compliance with a wide array of international and industry-specific standards. This is a significant benefit for customers, as it would be prohibitively expensive and complex to achieve this level of certification on their own. Some of the most common standards include: 'PCI DSS' (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), which is required for any organization that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data. 'HIPAA' (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in the United States sets the standard for protecting sensitive patient data. Any company that deals with protected health information (PHI) must ensure their cloud environment is HIPAA-compliant. 'GDPR' (General Data Protection Regulation) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. Cloud providers offer services and contractual commitments to help customers meet these requirements. It's crucial to understand, however, that compliance is a shared responsibility; the provider secures the underlying infrastructure, but the customer must configure the services and build their applications in a compliant manner.