Compliance is now part of daily IT work. Rules such as NIS2, HIPAA and GDPR set requirements for data security, privacy and backup. Ignoring them doesn’t just risk fines, notices or legal trouble – it can also damage customer trust and, in the worst case, put your business at risk.
Why Compliance Matters in Data Backup
Backups aren’t only about saving data. Regulations expect organizations to keep systems recoverable. Why? If data is lost through human error, hardware failure, a cyberattack or even a natural disaster, you need a way to bring it back. Without a secure backup system, you can’t meet these standards. That puts you at risk of fines, audits, legal issues, damage to your reputation and interrupted operations. If you can’t restore important data after accidental deletion, hardware failure, cyberattacks or disasters, you’re not compliant.
NIS2, HIPAA, GDPR: Main Points and Differences
- NIS2 (EU): Applies to service operators such as banks, utilities, hospitals, universities and government agencies. It focuses on IT risk management, incident response and keeping regular, secure backups
- HIPAA (US): Applies to healthcare providers, hospitals, insurers, labs and any business handling patient data. Requires backup, disaster recovery and strict data safeguards.
- GDPR (EU): Applies to any company handling personal data of EU citizens – retailers, financial organizations, universities and more. Requires secure backups, privacy protection and quick restore in case of data loss.
Other standards like PCI DSS (payment data) and SOX (financial reporting) also demand secure, auditable backups.
Meeting Compliance Requirements with Bareos
Regulators and compliance standards require organizations, especially those handling sensitive data, to use only supported and regularly updated software. Using unsupported or “community-only” version does not meet these requirements and can lead to compliance failures, failed audits and security risks.
Using a supported version of Bareos is the only way to be sure you meet compliance standards with a proof for audits and and regulators.
How Bareos Supports Compliance
Bareos is open-source backup software used by businesses and public organizations worldwide. It provides:
- Encryption (docs)
- Access control (1, 2)
- Automated backups (docs)
- Fast recovery (1, 2)
- Support for different storage targets (disk, tape, cloud)
These features support compliance with NIS2, GDPR and HIPAA. But like any backup solution, full compliance also depends on organizational policies and regular reviews.
See also our article: https://www.bareos.com/bareos-compliance-gdpr-pci-dss-sox-nis2/
Conclusion
Backup compliance is not optional. Whether you need to meet NIS2, HIPAA, GDPR or other standards – your backup system must be secure, reliable and auditable. Bareos offers the core features to help IT teams stay compliant and keep data safe. If you want to protect your systems with Bareos or discuss your setup, contact us.