developer-roadmap/roadmaps/cloud-computing/content/retention--compliance@hs37Ky-3menrSIncCrRfL.md

Retention & Compliance

Data retention policies define how long data must be stored and when it can or must be deleted. Compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI DSS) impose specific rules on data storage duration, access controls, encryption, and audit logging. Cloud providers offer services to help meet these requirements: S3 Object Lock, GCS Retention Policies, and Azure Immutable Blob Storage enforce write-once-read-many (WORM) retention, while audit logging services provide the paper trail regulators require.