Staying compliant in the current environment where applications and workloads are spread across multiple clouds is critical for businesses. Companies have to adhere to numerous regulations, including GDPR and PCI DSS, and the situation becomes even more challenging when it comes to specific needs, such as HIPAA-compliant cloud for healthcare-related data or HIPAA-compliant email for communication. Consequently, cloud compliance solutions have provided automated monitoring, policy enforcement as well as continuous auditing.
According to the current estimates, 70 percent of companies have already opted for cloud-based compliance solutions compared to 65 percent in 2023. These platforms can be easily deployed alongside CSPs to identify misconfigured configurations, infrastructure, or applications that are behaving maliciously.
However, cloud compliance solutions are not just a process to follow in order to achieve a certain checklist. They effectively prevent the leakage of information, even in HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting environments, and manage resources across distributed systems. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of cloud compliance and explore nine major solutions that are expected to define the market in 2025.
Whether your organization is looking to enable HIPAA-compliant email workflows or consolidate policies across the board, we’ll show you how each platform supports these initiatives. We will also briefly discuss six parameters for selecting the right toolset and also answer some frequently asked questions related to the scope of work, cost, and deployment.
What is Cloud Compliance?
Cloud compliance is the process by which the cloud-based systems, services, and operations are made to be in line with the legal, regulatory, or organizational policies. Whether it is HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, or any other regulation and law, compliance simply means that the information remains protected from any form of exposure, theft, or alteration. This is particularly important for the healthcare industry as they require HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting to protect patient’s information and to prove that they are following the rules of privacy.
While compliance measures for on-premise environments are more rigid, compliance in the cloud is more dynamic. This is because cloud environments can grow horizontally across multiple providers and geographic regions, and this adds complications. Organizations with high noncompliance risk incur an average data breach cost of USD 5.05 million, which is 12.6 percent higher than the average cost of a data breach. A single misconfiguration of a cloud service can lead to the leakage of millions of records or violate legal requirements. Therefore, cloud compliance needs real-time monitoring, automated action, and a consistent security approach for short-lived environments such as containers and serverless applications.
Most organizations today have turned to cloud compliance solutions that provide continuous posture management. These solutions monitor configurations, users, and data activity in the cloud and raise alarms when changes, incidents, or policy breaches happen. These solutions work with IAM, encryption, and logging services to enable organizations to establish a single compliance plan for every level of the technology stack.
Need for Cloud Compliance Solutions
Cloud infrastructures are highly flexible and potentially much more economical compared to traditional ones, yet they require significant attention to ensure that information is not leaked and accessed by unauthorized parties. Below are some of the key reasons why businesses turn to cloud compliance solutions:
- Complex Regulatory Environments: There are numerous compliance standards, such as HIPAA for health care, PCI DSS for payment transactions, and GDPR for EU citizens, and organizations are subjected to a number of complex and often conflicting requirements. Sophisticated tools enable the automatic correlation of these rules and compliance at any point in time in the cloud environment.
- Security of Sensitive Data: Healthcare or financial information is usually stored in HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting or specific data centers. Compliance tools are the mechanisms that ensure this data is protected when workloads are being moved to different cloud environments (encryption at rest, key management, access control policies).
- Reduced Risk of Fines & Penalties: Non-compliance results in financial fines and loss of reputation. Thus, these solutions reduce the possibility of accidental non-compliance to a minimum, thus saving money and reputation in the future. This proactive approach minimizes financial and reputational damage caused by non-compliance.
- Streamlined Audits: Conventional auditing is often costly and takes a lot of time to complete. Cloud Compliance Solutions enable the development of automated audit trails, collect logs, and generate compliance reports to show the auditors that there is compliance with minimum human interference.
- DevOps Integration: Current solutions can be easily integrated into DevOps, scanning Infrastructure as Code templates and container configurations. This approach identifies possible compliance problems during the deployment process, thus not allowing security gaps to be shipped to production.
- Continuous Monitoring: The cloud is dynamic, and resources are created and destroyed on a regular basis. As a result, real-time monitoring is crucial to identify unapproved changes or high-risk activities as they occur. Such dynamics make conventional security models, which are based on static configurations, less efficient.
- Cross-Cloud Harmonization: Some of the companies have adopted the policy of using several cloud vendors such as AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. With compliance solutions, the rules and workflows are aligned per platform, thus offering an integrated view of multi-cloud compliance.
Due to such factors, cloud compliance solutions have emerged as the key enablers of data management and protection. Not only do they decrease the workload of security personnel, but they also offer visibility and control for maintaining compliance as cloud environments continue to change at a fast pace.
Cloud Compliance Solution For 2025
In the following section, we present nine tools that are widely used to enhance the effectiveness of compliance operations within cloud environments. From detecting misconfiguration to enforcing policy, each platform solves a specific set of problems and can be used with specific workflows such as HIPAA-compliant cloud or HIPAA-compliant email configurations.
SentinelOne
Introducing the compliance module, the SentinelOne Singularity platform expands its security capabilities with posture management designed for multi-cloud environments. Expanding on the threat detection capabilities rooted in artificial intelligence, the platform also now detects and corrects compliance issues. It has a policy-based approach that offers a way to harmonize control across short-lived environments that include Kubernetes or serverless functions. Being a comprehensive solution, SentinelOne helps organizations to identify issues and resolve them on time before they turn into problems.
Platform at a Glance
This platform adds analytical features to basic configuration assessments to identify potential concerns related to security or compliance. It links threat intelligence in real-time with compliance information to help teams understand how their misconfigurations make them vulnerable to threats. Using role-based dashboards, compliance officers can monitor compliance in AWS, Azure, and on-premises environments easily. Alerting has also been done in a way that helps the teams to focus on the most critical violations.
Features:
- Policy Automation: Maintains uniformity in configurations ranging from encryption to network access control lists across different cloud accounts.
- Continuous Scanning: Detects misconfigurations as soon as they appear in new or already existing resources.
- AI-Driven Analytics: Maps compliance issues to vulnerabilities or threats identified or received from other sources.
- Rapid Remediation: Gives out playbooks for quick fixes in order to decrease the mean time to resolution.
Core Problems that SentinelOne Eliminates
- Fragmented Oversight: Single pane of glass for visibility into all cloud systems.
- Late-Stage Detection: It flags compliance issues as soon as they occur and does not have to wait for someone to check manually.
- Risk Blind Spots: The AI correlation points out where misconfigurations meet threats on the list.
- Complex Policy Management: Automated enforcement saves the teams from having to set up each environment every single time.
Testimonials
“SentinelOne met all of our critical success factors, with the most important being strong protection. We had a report of malware being delivered to a user. We captured the malware on disk—which our current AV (antivirus) solution didn’t capture. We installed it on the pilot desktop running SentinelOne.
SentinelOne caught it immediately and prevented it from being saved to disk. The traditional AV solution didn’t catch that malware until the next day.” Sam Langley (VP OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT TGI FRIDAYS)
Explore user reviews and detailed insights about SentinelOne on Gartner Peer Insights and PeerSpot.
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks
Prisma Cloud is a solution that includes configuration management and workload protection in one single platform. It scans cloud resources, detects vulnerabilities, and automates policy management. This means that compliance rules are shifted left into the DevOps pipelines to enforce compliance with policies.
The dashboards of the platform provide a view of security posture and whether resources are compliant with HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting standards.
Features:
- Integrated Vulnerability Scanning: Enumerates OS and library issues that could compromise the achievement of compliance.
- Policy-as-Code: Allows for the versioning of compliance baselines and the automatic deployment of the same to teams.
- Network Visibility: It is used to identify traffic abnormalities or unauthorized traffic connections.
- Compliance Packs: Built-in compliance templates for HIPAA, PCI, SOC 2, and others.
Explore user reviews and detailed insights about Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks on PeerSpot.
Check Point CloudGuard
Check Point CloudGuard is designed for real-time threat prevention and compliance within multi-cloud environments. Using threat intelligence, CloudGuard connects misconfigurations with active intrusion attempts and thus applies a targeted fix. It also has encryption measures, and helps manage HIPAA-compliant cloud configurations for the storage or transfer of health information. Visual topology maps help to identify compliance issues across the whole network.
Features:
- Automated Remediation: Eliminates or isolates the detrimental configurations to the system without requiring the user to do so.
- Micro-Segmentation: Reduces the blast radius by partitioning the workloads according to policies.
- API Integration: Integrates with CI/CD pipelines to ensure that compliance checks are done before deploying code.
- Topology Visualization: A clear view of the cloud resources and their compliance is provided.
Discover authentic feedback and ratings for Check Point CloudGuard on PeerSpot.
AWS Security Hub
AWS Security Hub aggregates findings from different AWS products, including Amazon GuardDuty, Inspector, and Config. While being limited to AWS, it provides native integration, which allows for deeper scanning of configurations, logs, and permissions. The teams can enable the HIPAA-specific rules for the environments that require HIPAA-compliant email or data storage. Real-time dashboards show the security posture in one or more AWS accounts, which is beneficial for large corporations in terms of compliance management.
Features:
- Aggregated Findings: Combines data from several AWS tools into a single management panel.
- Standards Support: It covers rule sets for CIS AWS Foundations, PCI DSS, and other benchmarks.
- Automation via Lambda: Automatically correct problems by invoking serverless functions when a policy is breached.
- Multi-Account Visibility: Enables a bird’s eye view of an organization’s entire AWS environment.
Learn what users have to say about AWS Security Hub on PeerSpot.
Microsoft Azure Security Center
Azure Security Center is the security and compliance management and monitoring service provided by Microsoft on the Azure platform, but it can also work in on-premises or in hybrid environments. It compares resources against Azure compliance and other general compliance frameworks and raises non-compliance issues. For industries that depend on HIPAA-compliant cloud strategies, Azure Security Center enhances the recommended policies on data management and encryption.
The machine learning algorithms of its system can detect activities that might be missed in basic logging systems.
Features:
- Secure Score: Offers a quantitative estimate of the extent to which an environment is compliant with the best practices.
- Threat Analytics: Maps threat intelligence to events in real-time for risk-based alerts.
- Built-In Regulatory Tooling: It also assists in compliance with HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and many others.
- Adaptive Application Controls: Restricts VMs to execute only specific applications or binaries.
Browse genuine reviews and opinions of Microsoft Azure Security Center on PeerSpot.
Google Cloud Security Command Center
Google Cloud Security Command Center (SCC) provides a view into GCP services and scans them for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance issues. For organizations that want a way to integrate with containers or serverless computing, SCC provides the capabilities.
Its platform is capable of guiding the configuration of HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting for healthcare workloads on Google Cloud.
Features:
- Asset Discovery: Identifies all GCP resources, including Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, and many more.
- Event Threat Detection: Uses logs to detect different forms of malicious activity, including brute force attacks.
- Policy Intelligence: Enforces compliance practices, including the limitation of storage bucket access to the public.
- Container Scanning: Vulnerabilities within container images that are set to be deployed will be detected.
Read firsthand experiences and insights about the Google Cloud Security Command Center on PeerSpot.
Trend Micro Cloud One
Trend Micro Cloud One is a suite of platforms that includes compliance, workload security, and container image scanning. It has standard policy templates and can be used with the main standards, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and ISO. It helps enforce compliance for resources like serverless functions. It also supports a shift-left approach to compliance by integrating with continuous integration pipelines.
Features:
- Workload Protection: Protects virtual machines, containers, and lambda functions with a single set of policies.
- Compliance Policy Packs: HIPAA, GDPR, and other compliance checks for bundles to make the adoption faster.
- Runtime Vulnerability Detection: Locates production environments where new defects have been found.
- Integration with DevOps Tools: Enables scanning within Jenkins, GitLab, and other CI/CD tools.
Find out how Trend Micro Cloud One is rated by users on PeerSpot.
McAfee MVISION Cloud
McAfee MVISION Cloud provides CASB features that include compliance checks. It assists companies in implementing encryption, data leak prevention, and anomaly detection policies on various SaaS services. MVISION Cloud helps organizations that use HIPAA-compliant email solutions or store patient information in the cloud with security and compliance measures. Its analytics show shadow IT usage when teams use unapproved software that threatens compliance.
Features:
- CASB Integration: Supervises data traffic in the approved and non-approved SaaS applications.
- DLP & Encryption: Enforces data loss prevention policies and automated encryption of data at rest or in motion.
- Multi-Cloud Visibility: A single interface for AWS, Azure, GCP, and other SaaS applications.
- Shadow IT Discovery: Helps detect apps that may pose a threat to compliance regulations.
Uncover real-world feedback and evaluations for McAfee MVISION Cloud on PeerSpot.
Fortinet FortiGate VM
Fortinet’s FortiGate VM produces firewalls and UTMs with compliance functions. When used as a virtual machine, it provides traffic flow protection, applies application layer policies, and validates that the environment is compatible with HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting for healthcare applications. Logging features complemented with integrated checks for compliance ensure that administrators are able to achieve a secure position even as the network topology evolves.
Features:
- Next-Gen Firewall Services: Operates at the seventh layer to prevent traffic-based on known exploits or alarming patterns.
- Application Control: Regulates use of cloud apps to avoid sharing of information without permission.
- Compliance Reporting: Provides templates for HIPAA, PCI DSS, and others, allowing further customization.
- High Availability: Works well for scaling up or down while closely following the dynamic cloud workloads with no loss in performance.
See user perspectives and reviews about Fortinet FortiGate VM on Gartner Peer Insights.
Essential Criteria For Selecting a Cloud Compliance Solution
The following criteria will help organizations assess different platforms and make sure that the chosen one will help to solve the problems with data security and compliance. An assessment done in this manner will enable a proper and informed decision making process to be made.
- Coverage and Compatibility: Select a solution that is compatible with all the cloud environments used by your organization, whether it is a private or hybrid cloud. Some industries have specific needs, for instance, to work in HIPAA-compliant cloud frameworks or use email workflows. Implementing a solution that is unique to your infrastructure makes it easy to integrate and manage compliance across your organization.
- Automation and Remediation: The key strength of cloud compliance tools is that they can automatically correct policy non-conformities. Tools that offer only alerts are very time consuming to use as they do not solve problems on their own. Seek out solutions that use automated runbooks or serverless functions to apply patches across many systems at once to speed up the process.
- Integration and APIs: For any organization that is using DevOps pipelines or SIEM systems, API integration is crucial. Most of the compliance tools also work well with other security solutions, enhancing the overall visibility of threats and the management of incidents. This integration cuts down the time needed to respond to violations and, at the same, boosts the overall security functions.
- Scalability and Performance: When your organization’s infrastructure grows, so must your compliance solution. Tools that cannot scale up to meet the increasing workload or those that need frequent tuning by human operators are likely to overlook violations in the dynamic cloud environment. Scalable systems guarantee stability and standardization regardless of the level of complexity.
- Reporting and User Experience: Dashboards that are clear and actionable help to minimize the effort that the compliance teams have to put in. Similarly, the possibility of producing compliance or audit reports in the formats that are approved by the regulators also contributes to shortening the auditing time. It is crucial to assess the user interface to match it to the work of your team.
Conclusion
In the end, ensuring compliance in the cloud is not just a matter of ticking the legal boxes, but it is a strategic approach that safeguards corporate image and builds consumer confidence. With the increasing adoption of complex systems such as advanced microservices, multi-cloud environments, and specific data solutions, including HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting, the possibility of making a mistake becomes minimal. Cloud compliance solutions, therefore, present automation, real-time monitoring as well as smart control that is required to meet such challenges.
By providing centralized policy management, scanning of ephemeral resources, and unified dashboards, these tools take compliance from being a manual task to being an ongoing automated process. Whether you need a basic compliance check or a deep threat correlation, each of the nine solutions described in this article will add value to your security stack.
Are you ready to simplify compliance and enhance cloud security? Check out the demos or proof of concept for cloud compliance solutions, such as SentinelOne’s Singularity platform to learn how it can help with audits, minimize misconfiguration, and give confidence to IT and compliance departments. Maintaining your cloud environment in a regulatory-compliant manner is one of the best forms of investment that yield high returns in the form of improved reliability, customer confidence, and operational effectiveness.
FAQs
1. What are Cloud Compliance Solutions?
Cloud compliance solutions are software designed to assist organizations in the regulation and adherence to the rules of cloud computing. They are always on the lookout for configurations, user interactions, and security options to make sure that every resource is compliant. By doing so, they minimize the chances of data breaches, legal penalties, and damage to the company’s reputation. Moreover, these tools offer automated remediation, logs, and reports, which help make the auditing process more efficient.
2. Why is Cloud Compliance important for Businesses?
Standards like HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR have stringent rules on how data should be protected. In a cloud environment where everything is done at a very high speed, a single mistake can lead to the leakage of important data to the wrong people. Hiring cloud compliance solutions means that any compliance issues will be detected early, hence avoiding data breaches and fines. It also confirms to the customers that the organization values their privacy and handles their personal information with utmost care which is very vital for competitive advantage.
3. Do these solutions support Continuous Compliance Monitoring?
Yes, many of today’s compliance platforms are always on and actively scanning cloud resources in real-time as new workloads are created or when configurations change. This approach is critical for the ephemeral architecture and DevOps, that is, the code and the infrastructure are constantly changing. Through these checks, the solutions provide real-time information on compliance status and allow teams to act before small problems turn into major breaches.
4. Which compliance standards do Cloud Compliance Solutions Support?
Most of the platforms offer a number of compliance standards, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and so on. Some also offer specific tips for HIPAA-compliant email or HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting situations. It is also possible to configure rules according to the company’s guidelines or less well-known local requirements. This flexibility guarantees the provision of services across various sectors and markets, and simplifies complicated audits.
5. What are the deployment options for Cloud Compliance Tools?
Tools can be classified based on their deployment models. Some of them provide SaaS dashboards to connect with your cloud credentials, while others are available as virtual appliances or containers. This range fits organizations that want fully managed solutions or those that require more control over their environment. No matter which way you go, it is crucial to check for compatibility with your particular cloud providers and on-premise resources to ensure that your coverage is not partial or your integration is problematic.
6. What factors influence the cost of Cloud Compliance Solutions?
Pricing can vary based on the number of resources to be managed (for instance, workloads, data, or service requests), the level of functionality (such as AI or DevOps), and the level of support required. Extra features for specific purposes, like HIPAA-compliant email scanning or cross-regional compliance checks, might be charged extra. Before investing in a subscription, organizations should calculate the potential ROI in terms of subscription costs versus the cost of penalties, brand reputational loss, and security breaches.
7. Can Compliance Solutions detect and prevent Insider Threats?
Some of the cloud compliance solutions have features such as user behavior analytics and policy-based controls that raise alarms as soon as they detect anomalous behavior. For instance, if an employee tried to transfer a large amount of data from a HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting environment, the system would raise an alarm or stop the transfer. Although not a full-fledged insider threat solution, compliance solutions are capable of offering important functions that can help detect insider threats and prevent data leakage from the company.