46 Keeping data protected is just one piece of the puzzle for today’s organizations. They must also contend with adjacent challenges around data sovereignty and data privacy. Depending on where your organization is located and what industry it’s in, there’s any number of different data privacy regulations you must comply with, and the list is growing. And then there’s data sovereignty, which is especially of concern for organizations operating in or doing business in the European Union. When navigating these triple challenges, your choice of IT storage architecture plays a key role. Three legs of the stool: Data privacy, data protection and data sovereignty Data privacy is about keeping information from being sold or shared, while data protection is more about keeping information safe from bad actors. They are two different sides of what is often the same coin. Put another way, while data privacy focuses on defining who has access to the data, data protection involves applying those restrictions. Data protection is, of course, about securing your data. But in the age of AI-fueled ransomware, this basic idea becomes complex and critical. For instance, in addition to all the standard cybersecurity tools, organizations need immutable backups to prevent the successful encryption, modification, or deletion of data. With quick access to a clean backup to restore from, an attacker’s ability to extort you for a ransom is neutralized. Data sovereignty is adjacent, but still related, and is rooted in the idea that a country or jurisdiction has the authority and right to govern and control the data generated within its borders. However, this term can sometimes refer to an organization’s sovereignty over its own data, too, especially as they evaluate their reliance on public cloud. All three, at their core, deal with having control over data, from where and how it’s stored to how it’s kept safe from the wrong hands. A patchwork of regulations and a whole lot of questions When it comes to data-related regulations, there’s a lot to navigate. If your organization plays in one geographical region, it’s already complex and difficult. If your organization has content distribution or content ingestion from a global perspective, then it’s even more so, because now you’re beholden to an array of nebulous regulations based on where you’re storing the data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union is one of the most prominent laws — and comes with some of the biggest fines for being out of compliance — but it’s far from the only one. Infringements can result in fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of the firm’s worldwide annual revenue from the preceding financial year. And the Data Governance Act in Europe, focused on data sovereignty, has requirements that can be hard to comply with. In the U.S, there’s no overarching policy yet when it comes to data privacy or data sovereignty. Rather, individual states are rolling out their own proposals, the most well-known of which is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Many more are on their way, as momentum for comprehensive data privacy bills continues to grow. Beyond state-specific data privacy regulations, there are also several industry-specific compliance mandates; one of the best-known is HIPAA for the healthcare industry. When it comes time for an audit — such as when going for GDPR compliance — your organization might be required to provide information on where you process data, where your service providers process data, the location/citizenship/residency of individuals whose data you have, and the places where your organization does physical business, as well as where it’s formed or registered. That’s a lot of information to collect. It can be a massive undertaking. And for many organizations, trying to find the answers to these questions is a struggle, especially if you’re working with multiple cloud providers. How to navigate the challenges of data privacy, protection and sovereignty Your IT architecture and storage choices play a key role in helping address these aspects. A global study by IDC found that 48% of respondents believe data sovereignty and industry compliance have factored highly in discussions about their future IT architectures. Digital sovereignty for AI is taking center stage. Sovereignty is important for local language models and understanding of cultural nuances. Partnering with local cloud service providers is critical for a sovereign AI data model. Public cloud must change its role because of the concern companies have over control. The question you need to answer is: Do hybrid-cloud solutions make control over data, code, and costs easier to manage or more complex? Perhaps that’s why IDC predicts more on-prem storage with AI solutions. AI in this context is about control — over data, code and costs. As IDC noted at the recent IDC Directions 2024 event, “The future of cloud is all about control.” Organizations need a flexible, scalable solution that gives them more control; having on-premises control oversight of your data can be a big advantage. It comes down to knowing where your data is. To be able to answer audits for any of these stringent regulations, your ace in the hole is always going to be the ability to do querying, access control and security implementation. All of that needs to be part of the chain of custody. Why S3 object storage is so well-suited for solving these issues As compliance regulations expand and organizations consider how to best maintain control over their data, an on-prem private cloud can be a good approach. One reason object storage is ideal is because it’s driven by metadata — rich, customizable attributes that identify the properties, use, and function of stored data — allowing for flexible analysis and retrieval. To ensure maximum data protection, organizations should also look for true immutability when it comes to their storage solution. Why? Because some forms of immutability — such as that provided by NAS/file system snapshots, dedupe appliances, Linux repos, tape, and S3 proxies — leave open windows of exposure that can be exploited. The strongest form of immutability is offered only by S3 Object Lock API implemented on an inherently immutable native object storage architecture. Scality’s S3 object storage solution unites the advantages of public cloud with the security and control benefits of on-premises private cloud infrastructure. With a combination of scale and speed, it grows exponentially according to a customer’s needs. It’s the only solution on the market that goes beyond immutability to provide CORE5 end-to-end cyber resilience with safeguards at every level of the system — from API to architecture — to close the door on as many threat vectors as possible. Meeting today’s compliance, security and sovereignty needs As ransomware attacks increase in volume and sophistication, organizations are rightfully hyper-focused on data protection. But protecting the data they have isn’t their only concern; they’re also facing adjacent concerns around data sovereignty and data privacy. Fortunately, companies don’t have to sacrifice the advantages of the public cloud to stay compliant and in control of their data. The answer? An on-premises private cloud environment that offers the best of both worlds.
