The Rising Bar of Regulatory Compliance

Regulators worldwide are tightening data protection, retention, and recovery requirements. For MSPs and IT teams supporting regulated sectors—including government, healthcare, finance, energy, and education—meeting these evolving demands is no longer optional. It's critical for earning trust, avoiding regulatory penalties, and ensuring uninterrupted business operations.

This article explores key compliance requirements across industries and demonstrates how reliable business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions help MSPs and IT teams meet those standards. From data retention policies to backup encryption, we'll examine how the right BCDR strategy supports compliance while strengthening overall business resilience.

Understanding Regulatory Compliance in Today's Data-Driven World

Regulatory compliance refers to laws, policies, and industry-specific standards organizations must follow to protect sensitive data and operate responsibly. These requirements encompass everything from data retention duration to storage, encryption, and recovery procedures following an incident.

Globally, industries are reinforcing compliance frameworks to keep pace with escalating cyberthreats. Whether it's broad regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or sector-specific standards such as the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) for the legal sector, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) for defense, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for healthcare, the message is clear: organizations must take data protection seriously.

Regulatory bodies are increasing audits, tightening enforcement, and expanding requirements to reflect the growing complexity of today's digital environments. For MSPs and IT teams supporting clients in regulated sectors, understanding these frameworks is critical. However, beyond understanding, they also need the right tools to demonstrate compliance and respond quickly when data is at risk.

Why Regulatory Compliance Matters for Businesses

At its core, compliance is about trust. Customers, users, and stakeholders expect organizations to handle data with care—and regulators hold them accountable when they don't. Failing to meet compliance requirements can result in costly fines, legal consequences, and long-term reputational damage.

More importantly, compliance signals to clients that the business is secure, transparent, and credible. In competitive markets, that trust can be a major differentiator. For MSPs and IT providers, being able to support clients with compliance-ready solutions builds confidence and strengthens long-term relationships.

Navigating Compliance Across Industries

Compliance requirements vary by industry, reflecting the type of data they handle and the risks involved. For MSPs and IT professionals supporting clients in these sectors, understanding the landscape is critical to ensuring compliance, avoiding penalties, and delivering lasting value.

Government: Federal, State, and Local

Government agencies handle highly sensitive data, including citizen records, criminal justice information, and national security systems. As a result, their compliance requirements are among the most stringent.

Key frameworks include:

  • Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS): Enforced by the FBI, CJIS sets strict security and access control standards for agencies handling criminal justice data.
  • Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC): Required for Department of Defense contractors, CMMC ensures defense-related data is protected through verified cybersecurity practices.
  • Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA): FISMA mandates security standards for federal agencies and contractors, emphasizing risk management and continuous monitoring.
  • NIST 800-171: This framework outlines how non-federal organizations should protect Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)—critical for any business working with government contracts.

Together, these standards require robust data protection, access controls, auditing capabilities, and business continuity solutions to meet compliance requirements and maintain eligibility for government work.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry is governed by HIPAA, which regulates how protected health information (PHI) is stored, accessed, and shared.

HIPAA requires:

  • Data retention policies ensuring preservation of PHI for a minimum period
  • Encryption of data both in transit and at rest
  • Access controls and audit trails ensuring only authorized users can view sensitive records
  • Disaster recovery and backup plans ensuring continuity of care, even facing ransomware or data loss

Non-compliance can lead to severe financial penalties and erosion of patient trust.

Finance

Financial organizations operate under multiple regulations, with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) being among the most widely enforced.

PCI DSS applies to any business that processes, stores, or transmits credit card information. Key requirements include:

  • Data encryption and secure storage of payment information
  • Access controls limiting who can view sensitive data
  • Regular monitoring and testing of networks and systems
  • Incident response plans and reliable data backups ensuring swift recovery from breaches

Financial firms also often adhere to other frameworks, such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) for protecting consumer financial information and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for ensuring financial reporting accuracy.

Energy and Utilities

The energy sector is considered critical infrastructure and is held to strict cybersecurity and continuity standards.

Key frameworks include:

  • North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP): Standards designed to secure assets required for operating North America's bulk electric system.
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework: Frequently referenced across the sector for implementing risk-based cybersecurity programs.

These regulations prioritize system uptime, threat detection, and recovery readiness.

Education

Educational institutions—from K-12 schools to universities—manage large volumes of sensitive student and staff data. The primary regulation governing this sector is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law protecting the privacy of student education records and applying to all schools receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA compliance requires:

  • Strict access controls preventing unauthorized access to student records
  • Data retention policies managing how long records are stored
  • Disaster recovery plans ensuring education records remain accessible, even during system failure or cyberattack

With growing digitization and rising cyberthreats, schools must take proactive steps to protect student data and remain compliant—even with limited internal IT resources.

How BCDR Helps Businesses Stay Operational and Compliant

Maintaining operational continuity is non-negotiable, especially in industries governed by strict compliance frameworks. Whether managing patient records, financial data, or criminal justice information, organizations need data protection solutions that do more than just back up files. They must enable fast recovery, minimize risk, and meet regulatory expectations without compromise.

Modern BCDR platforms deliver reliable, scalable, and easy-to-manage business continuity and disaster recovery designed to keep critical systems running—no matter the threat. By combining advanced, immutable backup capabilities with instant virtualization and flexible recovery capabilities, leading BCDR solutions empower MSPs and IT teams to reduce downtime, maintain data integrity, and operate with confidence in the face of any disruption.

Security Features for Regulatory Compliance

Key security features that enable regulatory compliance include:

  • Hardened appliances: Linux-based appliances significantly reduce the attack surface compared to Windows-based software, limiting common vulnerabilities and strengthening security across environments.
  • Immutable cloud storage: Backups stored using write-once, read-many (WORM) formats ensure data cannot be modified or deleted once written. Combined with FIPS-validated encryption for data both at rest and in transit, this provides a secure foundation for meeting data protection requirements.
  • Geographically distributed data centers: Cloud infrastructure backed by multiple data centers across different regions ensures redundancy, availability, and compliance with data sovereignty requirements.

Together, these security-first features enable MSPs and IT professionals to confidently support clients with stringent regulatory mandates.

FIPS Mode for Federal and Industry-Level Compliance

Advanced BCDR solutions now offer FIPS 140-3 validated encryption at no additional cost through optional FIPS Mode. This helps organizations meet federal and industry-level encryption standards. With FIPS Mode enabled, MSPs and IT teams can achieve higher levels of compliance without sacrificing performance, simplicity, or seamless continuity.

The Path Forward

For MSPs and IT teams supporting regulated industries, compliance is not just about avoiding penalties—it's about building trust, ensuring business continuity, and demonstrating commitment to data protection excellence.

The right BCDR solution transforms compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage. By investing in platforms that combine security, automation, and proven recovery capabilities, organizations can meet today's regulatory requirements while preparing for tomorrow's challenges.

Source: Based on insights from Datto - https://www.datto.com/blog/how-bcdr-helps-msps-it-teams-meet-compliance-requirements/