When businesses moved to the cloud, they expected everything to become much simpler. And for many companies, this has been the case. However, moving their processes to cloud providers also introduced a new type of risk that the organization might have overlooked: cloud compliance.
For any business that processes financial transactions, stores personal customer or employee data, or is involved in regulated industries, cloud compliance will be a constant challenge. This has a lot to do with potential legal liability, uninterrupted operation and maintaining good relationships with partners and consumers.
This article explains what cloud compliance is, why certain compliance frameworks should concern all businesses working in the cloud, and what compliance risks organizations commonly overlook.
What “Cloud Compliance” Really Means
Cloud Compliance is a constant effort to ensure that your infrastructure, services and cloud storage meet all necessary legal, regulatory and industry requirements. This is not a process that stops once the organization receives certification: it involves ongoing attention.
The biggest misconception about cloud compliance is thinking that your cloud provider is responsible for your cloud compliance. However, this is a rather misleading idea: each cloud platform operates based on a shared responsibility model, which means that even if the cloud provider takes care of the security of its own infrastructure, the company remains responsible for everything else.
Almost all cloud security incidents are caused by human error. According to Gartner, 99% of these cases are caused by customers rather than the cloud service providers themselves. Incorrect configuration, lax access controls, or insufficient monitoring are some common causes of cloud vulnerabilities.
Frameworks You Really Need to Know
Although cloud compliance involves compliance with certain legal requirements and regulatory requirementsthere are specific frameworks that are almost universally applicable, such as:
- SOC 2 – a crucial framework for any software company, including companies providing various solutions to other companies. It consists of criteria for five areas: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. More and more companies are requiring SOC 2 compliance to enter into a contract.
- GDPR – a law that regulates the processing of personal data throughout Europe, including the territory of Great Britain. Companies processing data from EU residents should pay particular attention as fines amount to €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover (whichever is greater).
- HIPAA – a set of requirements related to health care. Any company that works with medical information must comply with this regulation and faces a fine of $1.9 million per year.
There are also other important compliance frameworks. For example, PCI DSS becomes mandatory once a business begins accepting payments. The latest version, 4.0, is mandatory from March 2025. Additionally, ISO 27001 is useful if the company operates across borders.
AI governance has become an issue recently: European AI law requires organizations using AI to make critical decisions to also comply with this framework.
Where Businesses Most Often Fail
Many businesses spend significant amounts of money to secure cloud resources, but remain highly vulnerable when it comes to cloud compliance. This is mainly due to common errors.
Most compliance issues are related to misconfiguration. According to the Tenable 2025 Cloud Security Risk Report9% of cloud storage is accessible to everyone online. Additionally, 97% of this data is highly sensitive, including restricted and confidential information. Such misconfiguration is usually the result of neglecting security measures.
Another common reason for cloud compliance issues is inadequate access control. Every time the company leaves permission unchanged and avoids performing access audits, the risk of data exposure increases. Additionally, businesses often neglect to consider third-party vendors, which can increase the risk of non-compliance. In the 2025 Data Breach Investigations report released by Verizon, third parties doubled their share of cloud breaches compared to previous years.
Finally, it is necessary to mention that compliance auditing of organizations’ cloud infrastructure is becoming a regular activity. Many companies view this as just an annual task, trying to pull together the necessary documentation at the last minute. Yet modern requirements imply continuous compliance, and organizations are expected to demonstrate this at all times.
Data Governance and Privacy-Focused Storage in 2026
One of the biggest changes to cloud compliance practices recently concerns good data governance. Although having appropriate compliance policies helps mitigate risksIt is also important that cloud storage prevents access to data by any unauthorized person. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.
Data sovereignty and control have also become critical considerations in cloud decisions. Organizations are increasingly assessing whether professional cloud storage providers allow them to define where their data is stored and how it is governed in different jurisdictions, especially when operating in multiple regulatory environments.
This change reflects a broader shift toward reduced reliance on vendor-managed compliance models and toward tighter corporate control over sensitive information.
End-to-end encryption at the storage layer has become a requirement that most cloud solutions will soon begin to implement. When files are encrypted on users’ devices, the cloud breach will not leave any readable files. This trend will define the market.
Practical Steps to Strengthen Your Cloud Compliance Program
Start by collecting data about your organization’s infrastructure. It’s essential to understand what data it holds, what types of data you have, who can access it, and what regulations the company is subject to.
Make sure you control access management. Implementing role-based access controls with minimal privileges will minimize risk if something goes wrong.
Implement continuous monitoring of infrastructure. There is no denying the benefit of using automated tools for this purpose. Additionally, deploying AI and security automation will help minimize the potential costs of the breach.
Keep an eye on all the providers that interact with the cloud infrastructure. Ensure each third party complies with required regulations, has appropriate certifications, and authorizes audits.
Collect all relevant data throughout the year and keep good logs. This will avoid a lot of trouble during the audit or in the event of security incidents. The documentation will prove your compliance.
Compliance is a business function, not just a security function
The biggest mistake companies make in their cloud compliance programs is delegating this task to IT specialists. However, cloud compliance concerns everyone organizational functionsnotably legal, financial, HR, purchasing, etc.
When compliance is shared across multiple departments, the results will be more sustainable. Companies that use compliance specialists in their purchasing, product development and other aspects spend less money on remediation than others.
Sometimes the benefits of cloud compliance cannot be quantified. However, a company will lose a transaction to a competitor who has a SOC 2 compliance report ready. Or the customer may simply decide to work with a company that has demonstrated GDPR compliance.
A comprehensive cloud compliance program will allow you to close deals faster, retain your regulated customers, and operate with fewer barriers to expansion. Start implementing the program in advance, even without an audit in sight.
