Ensuring GDPR Compliance: Essential Strategies for Data Backup

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is a complex data protection law that has been operational since May 25, 2018. It represents one of the most well-known elements of privacy legislation worldwide, despite it only being applicable to the customer information of the European Union and the European Economic Area residents.

GDPR sets strict standards of how companies must handle every piece of sensitive information of EU residents, even if the company in question is not located in the EU. Сompanies that either offer goods or services to EU residents, monitor the behavior of EU residents, or process personal data on behalf of EU-based organizations, all have to comply with GDPR in one way or another.

As for the backup and recovery tasks, GDPR has a number of crucial requirements that all organizations would have to address one way or another, including organizational requirements, individual rights, and data protection principles.

Organizational requirements include the following:

• Breach notification procedures;
• Data Protection Officer appointment in certain situations;
• The implementation of specific organizational and technical measures;
• Data Protection Impact Assessments for high-risk processing;
• Record maintenance for all processing activities.

Individual rights of any EU citizen in this context include the following:

• Right to erasure, also referred to as right to be forgotten;
• Right to data portability;
• Right to access their personal data;
• Right to object processing;
• Right to rectify inaccurate information;
• Right to restrict processing.

As for the data protection principles that are applied here, we would have to mention the following:

• Data must be accurate and up-to-date;
• Data protection must be assured using appropriate security measures;
• Personal information must be processed with transparency, fairness, and according to the law;
• Data storage time frame should be only limited to the time it takes for the intended purpose to be fulfilled;
• Data collection must also be limited to only information that is necessary (sometimes referred to as “data minimization”).

A clear understanding of all the fundamental aspects of GDPR is essential for being able to implement backup solutions with sufficient levels of compliance, directly impacting the way organizations approach their data protection/storage/retention strategies.

What are the GDPR Requirements for Data Backup?

Data backups have a very important role in ensuring both business continuity and the compliance with data protection requirements that GDPR has. The balance between the two is somewhat delicate, but companies would still have to find it in order to remain adherent to all the necessary data protection principles without losing the ability to maintain a comprehensive backup environment.

Understanding GDPR Compliance in Data Backup

GDPR compliance in backup environments goes above and beyond the basic act of copying information. The backup strategy in question must be able to incorporate privacy rules by design in order to ensure that personal information of the clients remains secure during its entire lifecycle without restricting access to it for business needs.

The most common measures that GDPR demands from backup systems include:

• Clear and concise procedures for data restoration and information verification.
• Access controls and authentication mechanisms.
• Encryption for sensitive information at rest and mid-transit.
• A detailed log of access attempts and backup operations.

Key GDPR Requirements for Data Protection

When it comes to backup tasks, GDPR puts a lot of pressure on the principle of data protection by design – implying that the security measures have to be built into existing backup processes from the start instead of being added as an afterthought. Such an approach can usually provide a higher degree of control and security over information but may be more difficult to implement in comparison with third-party options.

Any company that falls under GDPR’s coverage has to support data subject rights while also maintaining data integrity. Data subject rights include abilities such as providing data in a portable form upon request, locating specific personal data within backups, and modifying or deleting records when requested or required. Data integrity maintenance is achieved with regular backup testing, detailed audit trails, and thorough checksum verification procedures.

GDPR Backup Retention Periods and Policies

Retention policies are also subject to change under GDPR, considering how the regulation requires justification for existing retention periods based on legal requirements and business needs instead of storing information indefinitely, which is what most companies do.

A number of important factors have to be kept in mind when establishing retention policies for GDPR requirements. Legal and regulatory requirements are an obvious participant in this discussion. Other than that, we would also have to mention the risk of keeping unnecessary personal information, which is usually as important as general business continuity needs in this context. Additionally, properly calculated cost of storage versus potential future value of data shows whether it is even beneficial for the company to store information outside of the mandated time frames.

Data Minimization Requirements in Backups

Data minimization is an unusual topic in the context of backup environments. In most cases, performing complete backups is the easier option, but GDPR demands organizations to be a lot more selective with their backup processes. With that in mind, we can provide at least some rules for selective backup strategies to follow in order to become more compliant with GDPR’s requirements, including:

• Applying different retention periods to separate data categories.
• Identifying and categorizing information based on its sensitivity.
• Reviewing and purging outdated/unnecessary backups on a regular basis.
• Excluding unnecessary personal information from backups that are performed regularly.

In order to ensure GDPR compliance without losing on the effectiveness of the backup environment, data protection must be viewed as an opportunity to improve the existing environment instead of working with GDPR as a hindrance. Careful planning and implementation are essential for being able to strike this delicate balance between compliance and backup performance.

How to Implement Data Protection Measures for Personal Data?

Best Practices for Data Backup and Security

A comprehensive approach is required in order to implement robust data protection measures for compliance reasons. Only a seamless integration between organizational procedures and technical controls can meet all of the requirements without damaging any of the existing or future backup operation workflows.

The implementation itself is usually comprised of two major steps: data discovery and data protection. Data Discovery includes a thorough data mapping process that identifies all personal data within the environment, as well as a data categorization process based on sensitivity and protection requirements and a thorough documentation of all processing activities and data flows.

Data Protection process, on the other hand, consists of implementing strong access controls and end-to-end encryption, along with network segmentation efforts and regular security patches when possible.

Role of Data Protection Officer in GDPR Compliance

A Data Protection Officer (DPO) is an important position with the goal of overseeing various backup security measures. Compliance is only one of several areas of expertise where a DPO is supposed to be expert in, with other categories including:

• Staff training on the topic of data protection best practices
• Providing advice on appropriate implementation of security measures into backup workflows
• Holding the role of a liaison when it comes to contacting supervisory authorities
• Monitoring the completeness of compliance with GDPR and other requirements, when applicable
• Performing regular backup procedure audits

Data Classification and Storage Requirements

Proper data classification process is the baseline of any effective data protection measure. A tiered storage approach is the most recommended option in most cases, establishing several storage tiers based on the importance of data. Four of the most commonly accepted storage tiers are critical (highly sensitive personal information), standard (routine personal information), archive (information that is rarely accessed), and temporary (transient data).

Every single tier in the classification framework should have a defined set of recommendations and workflows described about it. This includes detailed security controls, defined backup frequency, specific data retention periods, and thoroughly explained access procedures.

Cross-border Data Transfer Considerations

Cross-border data transfer is a popular topic in the field of compliance due to the massive number of modern companies that operate in multiple jurisdictions all over the planet. It is a very important topic when it comes to GDPR and other region-specific regulations, necessitating a number of additional measures to be taken in order to ensure their compliance:

• Evaluate the legal basis for each target region of data transfer
• Analyze the adequacy decisions for destination countries
• Document standard contractual clauses when applicable
• Figure out what technical safeguards should be applied for data in transit
• Add geographic restrictions on data storage when applicable
• Perform data residency compliance checks after transfers
• Monitor international data flows

Documentation and Audit Trail Requirements

Documentation and audit trails are both essential elements of practically any compliance regulation, not just GDPR. A comprehensive documentation usually covers a lot of different aspects and elements of an organization’s internal processes and measures, including:

1. System configuration capabilities – security controls, encryption standards, key management procedures, backup architectures, access control matrices, data flows, security configurations.
2. Operational procedures – security incident responses, backup scheduling procedures, compliance verification steps, backup scheduling detalization.

Audit trails should also be maintained in the same way, with each audit being able to verify the accuracy and efficiency of security measures, along with staff adherence to these measures, compliance with documented procedures, and so on.

What is the Right to Erasure within GDPR Compliance?

The right to erasure, also commonly known as the right to be forgotten, is a straightforward right of a EU citizen to request the removal of their private information from the Internet search results and other sources when possible. It might seem like a somewhat simple request, but it also gets surprisingly difficult when applied in the context of distributed storage systems and backup archives.

The right to erasure can be requested by the data subjects in certain circumstances, including:

• Unlawfully processed data
• Consent withdrawal from processing
• Data is no longer necessary for the original purpose
• Objection to processing (with no overriding legitimate grounds)
• Legal obligation to erase data

With that being said – the right to erasure is not absolute, either. There are some situations where organizations can still retain data, including when it is necessary for scientific, historical, or statistical purpose. Additionally, the data necessary for complying with legal obligations and working with legal claims is also immune from the right to erasure, and the same could be said for the tasks that are performed in the public interest or exercise freedom of expression.

Implementing the Right to Erasure in Data Backup

The actual implementation process for the right to erasure specifically necessitates a good balance between compliance matters and practical limitations. Creating sophisticated processes that can process erasure requests without compromising the integrity and performance of backups is no easy task.

When it comes to the implementation process, we can present a number of smaller strategies that might help users with creating a better framework for the right to erasure compliance. Deciding on a backup system that supports granular data deletion would be a good start, and encryption capabilities with separate key management is also welcome here.

Other elements of the technical side of the implementation are metadata tagging for better erasure request tracking and the creation of indices of personal data locations within backups. However, it is only the technical side of the topic, while we would also like to go over the procedural approach to implementation that one could use. This approach can be separated into four major steps:

• Documenting all erasure request and actions taken
• Establishing a clear workflow for handling future erasure requests
• Defining criteria for whether the erasure request is technically feasible
• Create processes that offer partial restoration with the exclusion of erased data

As we mentioned before, there are also many situations where full erasure is not immediately feasible for one reason or another. In this context, there might be several possible ways to approach the issue:

• Maintaining an erasure log to make sure that the deleted information stays deleted even after restoration sequences
• Figuring out how to create new backups without information that has already been erased
• Experimenting with virtual erasure that uses access controls and encryption
• Establishing timelines for when the data is completely erased from backups

It is not uncommon for companies to necessitate the balance between the right to erasure and other requirements from the same framework – be it data security, disaster recovery, etc. The goal of adhering to the right to erasure from the GDPR standpoint is to provide a clear and defined approach to working with erasure requests without disrupting overall system integrity.

What Backup Solutions Ensure GDPR Compliance?

Evaluating Backup Solutions for Data Privacy

The simple ability of a backup solution to be able to support GDPR is not enough in itself, as far more important is the way it is implemented and used. Companies also have to evaluate governance and management features of such software as well as  its technical capabilities. In an ideal situation, a backup solution with GDPR support would have all the privacy requirements integrated into its very core, making it seamless and efficient.

Regarding the features that companies should be looking for into their backup solutions for compliance purposes, we can provide a number of key examples:

• Vast data encryption capabilities
• Flexible search and discovery tools that can look for personal data
• Comprehensive audit logging
• Granular access control and its management
• Compliance reporting automation

Features of GDPR Compliant Data Backup Solutions

When it comes to more specific, GDPR-related features that one should look for in a backup solution, there are at least two more categories left to cover: data management capabilities and privacy enhancement features.

Data management capabilities that help the most with compliance are data classification capabilities, the ability to automate retention policies, a variety of selective backup and restore options, and a secure method of data erasure.

As for the privacy enhancement features, we would recommend investing into data masking tools, subject access request handling, pseudonymization capabilities, and support with privacy impact assessment, when possible.

Cloud vs On-premises Backup Solutions

Backup software usually comes in two forms when it comes to their deployment – cloud and on-premises. Some software only offers a single approach, while others might provide both. It is important to know that both of these approaches have their own advantages to keep in mind.

That way, cloud backups solutions can offer:

• Geographic distribution options
• Security update automation
• Compliance certifications
• Scalable storage capacity
• Built-in redundancy options

Alternatively, on-premises backup options provide:

• A certain degree of independency from the Internet connection
• Customizable security controls
• Direct control over the infrastructure of the solution
• Complete data sovereignty
• Potentially faster recovery times compared with cloud options

Hybrid approach is also an option in some situations, offering a balance between the two options and the highest flexibility. It includes cost-effective scalability, cloud backup for disaster recovery, local copies for quick recovery, flexibility in data resiliency, and so on.

Encryption Requirements for Backup Data

Encryption is one of the most fundamental elements of modern data security frameworks, and GDPR compliance reinforces this statement even further by providing certain requirements for both at-rest encryption and mid-transit security.

At-rest encryption is supposed to use strong algorithms (AES-256 or better), secure key management systems, regular key rotation, and integration with hardware security modules.

Mid-transit encryption should be at least TLS 1.3 for data transfers while also providing secure tunnel configurations, certificate management, and network path protection.

As a conclusion to this section, we can surmise that a perfect version of a backup solution for GDPR compliance should have end-to-end encryption capabilities, compliance with industry standards, integrated key management, and options for encryption at source. Comprehensive security features should be the top priority for organizations, even though it is still in the interest of the company itself to find a solution that manages to strike a balance between operational efficiency and powerful data protection.

How to Handle Data Recovery in GDPR Compliance?

Data recovery in GDPR is just as strict and multi-faceted as data backup processes, requiring a balance between compliance, speed, and accuracy to be found. None of the recovery processes should inherently violate data subject rights or somehow restore previously erased information.

A competent recovery strategy with GDPR compliance in mind should perform pre-recovery verification sequences on a regular basis while also utilizing a recovery prioritization framework as the means of understanding the value and importance of specific information

The Pre-Recovery Verification process confirms the scope of data that is about to be recovered and verifies the current consent status of the affected data subjects. If there are no complaints here, organizations also have to validate recovery authorization levels and check against erasure request logs to ensure that none of the deletion requests are missed.

The Recovery Prioritization Framework uses four main categories of data in most cases:

• Historical or archival information
• Standard operational data
• Time-sensitive personal data
• Critical business operations data

Addressing Data Breaches and GDPR Compliance

Every company that falls under GDPR has a responsibility to report data breaches as a part of its compliance rule set. Failure to do so is considered a breach of compliance and is treated accordingly. When data recovery is considered due to a data breach, it is the responsibility of an organization to:

• Isolate affected systems
• Assess the scope and impact of the breach
• Initiate the recovery process using clean backups as the baseline
• Document every single action related to recovery process

The GDPR also sets time limits on notification requirements, providing a specific time frame in which authorities and users have to be notified about a breach, along with the communication of recovery status and other necessities.

Testing and Validation of Recovery Procedures

Regular backup testing is crucial to ensure that a company would have proper functioning backups to work with if some sort of a data breach event occurs. A typical testing process includes the verification of data integrity, the estimation of accuracy for point-in-time recovery, and the complete testing processes for both full and partial recovery procedures.

Data validation requirements, on the other hand, are slightly different – they are supposed to confirm the integrity of metadata and test access control preservation, while also verifying data completeness post-recovery and checking for unauthorized data inclusions in the backups.

If possible, recovery testing processes should simulate different scenarios – including the correction of human error, restoration after a hardware failure, ransomware recovery, and even disaster recovery. These testing processes should also produce a certain amount of documentation, including test results for recovery processes, general restoration performance metrics, identified improvements, and defined compliance verification steps that were followed.

It is highly recommended for an organization to maintain a recovery playbook of sorts – a document that covers compliance checkpoints, validation processes, step-by-step instructions for recovery processes, and authorization requirements, if applicable.

Successful data restoration for GDPR-compliant backups depends on preparation and testing, along with a thorough documentation process. Regular reviews of all elements in the sequence along with regular updates should upkeep the effectiveness of the process while also making sure that the company remains compliant with GDPR or other regulatory frameworks.

How to Ensure the Security of Personal Data in Backups?

Protection Measures Against Ransomware Attacks

The threat of ransomware is something that modern backup security has to address separately from the rest of the data protection capabilities, considering how popular ransomware attacks have become in recent years. Companies have to implement a variety of protection strategies in a single security network to safeguard their environments and backups against attacks that are based on encryption technologies.

Some of the most important elements of ransomware protection for sensitive information include:

• Write-Once-Read-Many storage implementation
• Version control with several recovery points
• Backup copies with air gapping options
• Read-only options for snapshots
• Automated alerts for suspicious activities
• Real-time monitoring of backup patterns
• Anomaly detection frameworks
• Predefined procedures for specific attack types to ensure fast response times

Access Control for Backup Data

Robust access control measures is a well-known data security measure that is commonly used as a protection feature in many situations. The most popular version of this is Role-Based Access Control, or RBAC. It uses the principle of least privilege to try and avoid overextending each user’s permissions outside of what they need to do their job. Additionally, it can usually provide time-limited access permissions and offers an easy framework to perform regular access reviews.

As for the authentication methods used to verify the identity of each user, it does not only include strong password policies and session management controls, but also the use of multi-factor authentication for any backup access, along with detailed logging and monitoring for any authentication activity for a verifiable audit trail.

Strategies to Prevent Data Corruption

Data corruption is another substantial issue for any digital information, which is why preservation of data integrity is an important feature of practically any modern data security framework, even outside of the GDPR compliance requirements.

Backup verification is the first important element of this process, introducing checksum validation and automated integrity checking for backups and archived information. Recovery testing procedures and corruption detection mechanisms are also included in this section, although they are a bit less common in comparison.

Data validation often has a dedicated framework that is used to not only detect errors but also resolve them in an automated manner. The sequence of actions follows a relatively simple pattern:

1. End-to-end data validation
2. Real-time error detection
3. Automated repair procedures
4. Integrity audits performed on a regular basis

There are also features that might assist with compliance matters even further – hardware redundancy, physical access restrictions, firewall protections, etc. All these measures are practically necessary to create a defensive system of sorts that would be able to meet all of the compliance requirements while also offering a sufficient level of data security to its users.

Conclusion

Backup solution implementation with GDPR compliance in mind can be a tough challenge for most modern organizations. A multifaceted approach is often required here, with a large and varied selection of tools and capabilities. In this article we have explored numerous aspects of ensuring backup compliance for GDPR and other regulations, including the basics of GDPR itself and the implementation of specific security measures.

Most companies already understand that compliance is not just a checkbox anymore – it is an ongoing process that should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to stay relevant and effective. Investing in high-performance backup environments not only ensures compliance with frameworks such as GDPR but also offers a selection of tangible benefits to the organization itself in terms of risk management, business continuity, data protection, and so on.

There is also a lot of value in maintaining a balance between operational efficiency and data protection, as well. Additionally, it is not uncommon for companies that have successfully implemented GDPR compliance features into their environments to have a much easier time handling other regional requirements, making them far more prepared for international expansion than some competitors.

The principles of privacy by design are going to continue shaping the way organizations approach data protection. Ongoing commitment from every single level of the organization is a requirement in order to achieve success in this endeavor, and following the guidelines outlined in this article should make it easier for organizations to create and maintain backup systems that can comply with GDPR while also offering a robust data protection toolset.

Bacula Enterprise and GDPR compliance

Even though there are many third-party backup solutions that can assist its clients with GDPR compliance to a certain degree, there are also some options that are far more advanced and detailed in comparison. Bacula Enterprise is one such solution, offering an especially secure solution combined with a comprehensive feature set especially suitable for addressing data security topics such as GDPR compliance. It has been created with data protection built-in by design, making it a great option for companies looking for robust GDPR compliance capabilities.

The broad range of features Bacula can offer in this department is remarkable, including:

• Built-in data discovery and classification capabilities
• Comprehensive audit trails and logging mechanisms
• A selection of immutability options as a security measure against unauthorized modifications
• Advanced encryption feature set both at rest and mid-transit
• Detailed reporting capabilities for compliance purposes
• Complex data erasure capabilities to support the right to be forgotten
• Integrated privacy impact assessment capability
• Cross-border data transfer controls
• Robust data verification tools
• Granular access control with support for RBAC

The platform’s architecture is known for its flexibility and adaptability, making it a great pick for GDPR compliance implementation. There is a lot of freedom when it comes to configuring backup policies to align with specific requirements without losing operational efficiency. The modular approach of Bacula Enterprise makes it possible to implement a very specific range of features that companies need for compliance requirements.

Beyond GDPR, Bacula can also assist with being compliant to a number of other regulatory frameworks, such as ISO 27001, SOX, HIPAA, NIST, and so on. It is an invaluable solution for companies that operate across multiple regulatory jurisdictions.

The reason that Bacula is a powerful way to ensure full compliance with GDPR can be illustrated in a use case where a medium or large organization has a diverse and/or silo’d IT department, with many different applications, file types, storage strategies, legacy software. In addition, these types of environments typically  continue to evolve according to current and future needs. Unless that backup and recovery solution is able to integrate with such a challenging and evolving IT environment, the organization will find it difficult to meet GDPR requirements. This is for reasons such as where other, inadequate backup systems may not be able to manage backup and recovery from a “single pane of glass” user interface, and/or not being able to search, locate and monitor data efficiently and conveniently.

You can find out more about Bacula’s capabilities here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we retain backup data under GDPR?

While there are no exact retention periods for backed up data in GDPR, these retention periods would still have to be defined by each company on an individual basis while providing legal justification for such periods. Additionally, GDPR’s storage limitation principle can be violated by storing personal data for longer than necessary, which makes the topic of figuring out your company’s data storage limits that much more important. In most cases, backups are stored for 30-90 days and archival copies are kept for 1-7 years, although these numbers might differ depending on the industry and other factors.

Can we store backups in the cloud and remain GDPR compliant?

Technically speaking, cloud backup solutions can also be GDPR-compliant, making it a viable storage option. However, these solutions would have to pass their own set of requirements:

• Data centers located in EU with adequate privacy protection
• Control over encryption keys
• Strong encryption both at rest and mid-transit
• Regular audits
• Clear data processing agreements with clients

What documentation do we need to maintain for our backup procedures?

The exact list of documents might change depending on the circumstances, but some of the most essential examples remain the same in most cases, including:

• Data processing records
• Staff training records
• Backup procedures and policies
• Third-party SLAs
• Data retention schedules
• Breach response plans
• Data protection impact assessments
• Security measures and controls
• Recovery test results

How quickly must we report a backup-related data breach?

Organizations have several requirements when it comes to reporting backup-related data breaches. Substantial breaches must be reported to supervisory authorities within 72 hours of initial discovery, with affected individuals being notified about the breach without delay (if it poses a risk to their personal information in some way). All breaches should be documented, including the ones that did not require notifying the end users.

Every single breach report should have the following information at the very least:

• Nature and scope of a breach
• Its consequences
• Measures taken (or proposed)
• Contact information to acquire more details.