Data security remains essential since the organizational trend is increasingly migrating to the cloud. Atlassian Cloud delivers robust collaboration and development products, including Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket, with security at the heart of their design. However, while Atlassian ensures that a solid security foundation is in place, data integrity and regulatory compliance are the responsibility of both Atlassian and your organization.
For highly regulated industries, such as healthcare, finance, or any sector dealing with personal data, compliance is not just about avoiding penalties; it’s about protecting people’s sensitive information and the trust your customers and stakeholders have in you. Regulations like HIPAA, ISO/IEC standards, PCI/DSS, SOX, SOC 2/3, CSA/STAR, and GDPR set the framework for protection, but adhering to these standards requires active participation from your organization.
One of the most important aspects of maintaining compliance is ensuring who has access to what data. Unauthorized access to Protected Personal Information or Protected Health Information can bring severe legal consequences and destroy your organization’s reputation.
However, the Atlassian Cloud provides out-of-the-box access management with proper permission management in case you need it. Access by Atlassian gives an organization more granular control over security through SSO integrations and MFA. This ensures that sensitive information is accessed by those who are supposed to access it, as far as compliance is concerned.
Understandably, many organizations want insight into how their Confluence instance is being used. Several solutions provide analytics insights, such as Confluence Analytics, which comes with the Confluence Enterprise plan. However, because these analytics tools collect user data, it is important to have a tool that allows anonymization of personal data. Confluence Analytics, for example, doesn’t do this. Some apps on the Atlassian Marketplace, such as Viewtracker, allow administrators to anonymize all user-related data or exclude users from being tracked, making them GDPR compliant.
Encryption of data in rest and transit is vital to protect sensitive information. Atlassian deploys robust encryption protocols to protect your data from unauthorized access or interception. Besides, physical security regarding their data centers and infrastructure is maintained to a high standard, with measures in place to prevent physical breaches.
While Atlassian invests heavily in securing its cloud environment and obtaining relevant certifications, all these do not automatically ensure that your organization is compliant. Your team must still configure and correctly use Atlassian’s tools to meet specific regulatory obligations. This includes:
There are some challenges associated with migrating to the Cloud, so it’s best to learn from others’ experiences. Check out how Webcraft, a Swiss company operating multiple online shops, successfully completed the migration of its huge Confluence instance.
Since moving to the cloud and keeping compliance can be very complex, partners with experts make the journey easier. Companies like bitvoodoo, an Atlassian Platinum Partner, specialize in creating robust cloud migration strategies and assuring security and compliance requirements. Their expertise will help guide your organization through the nuances of the Atlassian Cloud, optimize configurations, and set up practices that maintain the highest standards of security.
From better collaboration to solution scalability, your organization can benefit from the adoption of Atlassian Cloud on many fronts. However, most security and compliance requirements require proactive action. Understanding the shared responsibility model and utilizing expertise at your fingertips lets you ensure that the move to the cloud has been secure and compliant and positions your organization for success in the future.
