Cloud compliance for enterprises: The ultimate guide

Your content is your greatest asset, and keeping it secure and compliant requires a robust approach to data protection that builds trust with partners, employees, and customers. But how do you maintain regulatory compliance when you rely on external systems to store your content?
Cloud compliance ensures that your documents, sensitive files, and digital assets remain protected and adhere to industry laws and standards, even when stored offsite. Whether you’re developing or optimizing your compliance strategy, you should follow our best practices to meet regulatory requirements and safeguard your most valuable information in the cloud.
What is cloud compliance?
Cloud compliance is the adherence to a set of laws, regulations, and standards required for cloud-based services. These rules are often set by governmental bodies, industry groups, or internal policies, certifying that data stored and managed in the cloud is secure and used responsibly.

Achieving cloud compliance is the responsibility of your company’s compliance and legal teams, which assess readiness. Compliance is typically verified by a reputable third party auditor who reviews and confirms the effectiveness of relevant controls, ensuring adherence to regulations and security standards after data is stored in the cloud.
Additionally, your IT, legal, and business teams must work together to create and enforce internal policies that align with regulatory requirements and business goals.
Understanding the compliance process in a cloud environment
Let’s review how the process of cloud compliance for enterprises typically works:
- Identify relevant compliance regulations: Your business analyzes industry-specific regulations, data protection laws, and internal policies that apply to its operations
- Assess current practices: The IT team evaluates existing security measures and identifies any gaps in compliance with the identified standards — for example, detecting the need for cloud compliance tools that enable encrypted document sharing
- Develop a strategy: The compliance team then typically creates a detailed plan that outlines the steps required to address the gaps and ensure ongoing compliance
- Implement compliance measures: Teams across IT, security, engineering, and other departments deploy technical and administrative controls to protect your content against cyber threats or data loss, such as restricting permissions to access documents and implementing policies to retain content for specific periods
- Monitor and maintain compliance: A security or compliance officer conducts regular audits, stays updated on regulatory changes, and responds promptly to incidents
This framework helps you understand where your business currently stands and evaluate the maturity of your cloud compliance strategy.
How enterprises benefit from cloud security and compliance
Sensitive data exist in many forms, from personally identifiable information (PII) to copyright-protected documents. Enterprise cloud security and compliance practices safeguard your data throughout its lifecycle, ensuring its confidentiality, integrity, and availability from creation to disposal.

By meeting cloud compliance regulations, your business can achieve:
Mitigation of potential legal risks
Cloud compliance helps your business steer clear of legal penalties, especially as laws and regulations change frequently. Efficient cloud providers offer tools that ensure your data stays where it’s supposed to and automate tasks like retention policies, legal holds, and disposition. These tools help you avoid potential lawsuits for violating data protection and privacy rules.
Data integrity and protection
If someone tries to access, edit, or share sensitive documents without permission, whether accidentally or intentionally, security features like granular access controls and password protection step in to safeguard your information. These measures keep your data accurate and secure, preventing issues like accidental deletion or loss.
Trust and accountability
According to a PwC survey, customers, employees, and businesses all agree that safeguarding data and cybersecurity is the top element for building trust. By sticking to compliance regulations, your enterprise shows a strong commitment to protecting sensitive data. This not only keeps your information practices transparent but also upholds high standards of security and privacy — key factors in gaining the confidence of your stakeholders.
Cost savings from avoiding breaches and fines
IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 shows that the average global cost of a data breach is $4.88M. Non-compliance with regulations can increase this cost by $237,118. By following regulations and putting security measures in place, you can avoid costly breaches and fines, protecting your enterprise’s financial well-being.

Common cloud compliance standards, laws, and regulations
Before developing your enterprise cloud compliance strategy, identify the specific requirements your business needs to ensure legal adherence and protect sensitive information in the cloud.
Let’s review some common cloud compliance standards, laws, and regulations.
Regulatory framework | Description |
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) | EU law that sets strict standards for the protection of personal data and applies to any organization that processes information of EU residents |
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) | California state law that enhances privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of the state, requiring companies to report the types of personal data they collect |
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) | US federal law that provides data security and privacy provisions for protecting medical information, applying to health plans, healthcare providers, and their business associates |
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act | US law that promotes the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology, especially electronic records |
Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) | US government-wide program that provides a standardized framework for the security assessment, authorization, and ongoing monitoring of cloud products and services |
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) | A security standard for financial services that handle credit card transactions, ensuring that cardholder data is protected |
ISO 27001 | An international standard that provides a framework for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an information security management system (ISMS) |
Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2) | A standard for managing customer data based on five principles — security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy |
Protect your data and meet cloud regulatory compliance with Box
Box is an AI-powered cloud platform where you can create, store, organize, and collaborate on content. It offers robust security and compliance with laws and regulations like GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, FedRAMP, SOC, and more.
With the Intelligent Content Cloud, you get peace of mind that your sensitive information is safe with MFA and SSO support, granular access controls, and AES 256-bit encryption in transit and at rest. This way, you protect every file in cloud storage and simplify enterprise cloud compliance. In addition to enterprise-grade security built into the Intelligent Content Cloud, Box offers several specific security and compliance solutions.
- Box Governance offers content lifecycle management, allowing you to customize retention policies to fit your specific needs and maintain compliance
- Box Shield empowers your IT team to configure data classification and monitoring in minutes — protecting sensitive content while getting work done
- Box KeySafe allows for securely managing your encryption keys from anywhere without compromising your enterprise security
- Box Zones helps meet data residency requirements, allowing you to store content in the geographic region of your choice
Contact us and let’s discuss all you can do with a compliant content management platform.

Note: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice or relied upon to make any legal or compliance decisions. The content of this article is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship, and readers should consult with a qualified attorney or compliance professional for specific legal or compliance advice tailored to their individual circumstances.