Cloud Storage
S3 Compatible
Backblaze storage compliance
Achieve Verifiable EU Storage Compliance by Design
For EU businesses, using non-EU cloud storage creates significant compliance risks, with 72% of the market controlled by providers subject to foreign laws. True digital sovereignty requires storage that is compliant by design. This article outlines a clear path to achieving verifiable compliance and control.
Key Takeawys
True EU compliance requires storage from a 100% EU-owned and operated provider to eliminate jurisdictional risks from laws like the US CLOUD Act.
Features like country-level geofencing and immutable object storage are essential for meeting GDPR, NIS-2, and ransomware protection requirements.
A predictable pricing model without egress fees or API charges makes sustainable, long-term compliance economically viable for enterprises and MSPs.
Navigating the complex landscape of data regulation is a primary challenge for over 70% of European IT leaders. With the US CLOUD Act creating direct conflicts with GDPR, storing data with US-based providers—even in EU data centers—exposes businesses to foreign jurisdiction and potential fines of up to 4% of global revenue. Furthermore, upcoming regulations like the NIS-2 Directive and the EU Data Act intensify these demands. The solution lies in a sovereign-by-design approach: using EU-owned and operated storage that guarantees data resides exclusively under EU law, eliminating regulatory conflicts and ensuring verifiable compliance.
Secure EU Data Residency Against Foreign Law
A majority of EU decision-makers now demand European solutions for their critical data infrastructure. The US CLOUD Act allows US authorities to access data held by US companies, regardless of its physical location. This creates a direct conflict with GDPR's strict data transfer rules, a problem for the 72% of the EU market using US providers. True Backblaze storage compliance begins with eliminating this jurisdictional risk entirely. Storing data with a 100% EU-owned and operated provider ensures it is governed only by EU law. This approach provides the legal certainty required by dozens of EU regulations.
Build a Compliant Foundation with Geofenced Architecture
Effective compliance architecture requires more than just a European server location; it demands granular control. Country-level geofencing guarantees that data remains within a predefined national border, a key requirement for many regulated industries. Our certified European data centers provide this level of control across multiple locations. We implement multi-layer encryption for all data in transit and at rest, a core GDPR tenet. This technical foundation is essential for the nearly 80% of EU businesses prioritizing data security in their cloud strategy.
A compliant architecture includes several key layers:
Exclusive operation in ISO 27001 certified EU data centers.
Country-level geofencing to meet strict national data residency rules.
End-to-end encryption securing 100% of data pathways.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) with MFA and RBAC for granular control.
Full S3-API compatibility to maintain existing security workflows and tools.
These features provide a verifiable framework for meeting today's complex regulatory demands.
Leverage Immutability for Ransomware Defense and Audits
Regulatory compliance extends to protecting data integrity against threats like ransomware, which impacts thousands of EU businesses annually. Immutable storage with S3 Object Lock creates undeletable, unchangeable copies of your data for a set period. This provides a guaranteed recovery point, satisfying stringent retention policies under GDPR and other regulations. Immutable backups serve as a critical defense, reducing recovery times by over 90% in many cases. This feature is a core component of a modern data security strategy. It ensures that your backups are audit-ready and resilient against malicious attacks.
Prepare for the EU Data Act and NIS-2 Directive
The regulatory landscape continues to evolve with two major pieces of legislation. The EU Data Act, effective from September 2025, mandates data portability to prevent vendor lock-in. Our platform is designed for this, with full S3 compatibility and no egress fees, ensuring you can move your data anytime. The NIS-2 Directive requires continuous security processes and supply-chain assurance for critical sectors. Our operational model, with its focus on documented security procedures and EU-only infrastructure, aligns directly with these new requirements. Proactive alignment with these regulations is a competitive advantage.
Achieve Predictable Economics for Sustainable Compliance
Compliance should not come with unpredictable costs, a pain point for over 60% of companies using hyperscalers. Hidden egress fees and API call charges can inflate cloud storage bills by 2 to 3 times the baseline rate. We eliminate these costs entirely, offering a transparent model with no egress fees, no API charges, and no minimum storage durations. This predictability is crucial for MSPs and enterprises building long-term, compliant data strategies. Predictable pricing makes it possible to budget for GDPR-compliant storage without financial surprises. This economic clarity supports sustainable growth and operational stability.
Streamline Your Migration to a Sovereign Cloud
Migrating to a compliant storage solution should not require a complete overhaul of your existing workflows. Thanks to full S3-API compatibility, your current applications, scripts, and backup tools will continue to work without modification. This protects your past investments and reduces migration risk to near zero. Out-of-the-box integrations with leading tools like NovaBackup further simplify the transition. A typical migration can be completed in just a few steps, minimizing downtime to less than 1 hour for many applications.
Follow this migration checklist for a seamless transition:
Update your S3 client configuration with the new EU-based service endpoint.
Transfer existing IAM policies and user permissions, a process taking under 30 minutes.
Run a small-scale test to validate data transfer and application connectivity.
Initiate the full data migration using your existing S3-compatible tools.
Perform a test restore to confirm the integrity and accessibility of your migrated data.
This straightforward process ensures your operations remain consistent while your compliance posture is significantly improved.
Empower MSPs with a Partner-Ready Platform
More Links
German Data Protection Conference provides a PDF document concerning cloud computing.
European Data Protection Board (EDPB) offers a PDF document related to the EU Cloud Code of Conduct.
European Commission details data protection regulations and laws.
European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) publishes a cloud security guide specifically for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
European Commission outlines the European strategy for data.
Bitkom provides a PDF report (in German) on cloud computing trends in 2024.
European Data Protection Board (EDPB) shares news and privacy recommendations for public sector cloud service usage.
FAQ
Is storing data in an EU data center enough for GDPR compliance?
No. If the cloud provider is a non-EU entity (e.g., US-based), the data is still subject to that country's laws, like the US CLOUD Act, even if the server is in Europe. True compliance requires a provider that is both owned and operated within the EU.
How does your storage solution protect against ransomware?
We provide S3 Object Lock, which allows you to make your backups immutable. This means the data cannot be encrypted, modified, or deleted by ransomware, ensuring you always have a clean copy available for recovery.
What does 'no egress fees' mean?
It means you will never be charged for retrieving or moving your data out of our storage. This provides cost predictability and ensures you are not locked into our service by prohibitive exit costs, aligning with the principles of the EU Data Act.
Is your platform compatible with my existing backup software?
Yes. We offer full S3-API compatibility, which means our storage works out-of-the-box with hundreds of leading backup, archiving, and data management tools that use the S3 protocol, requiring no changes to your software.
What is geofencing and how does it help compliance?
Geofencing creates a virtual boundary that ensures your data is stored exclusively within a specific country's borders. This is a critical feature for organizations in regulated sectors like finance and healthcare that must comply with strict national data residency laws.
How do you support Managed Service Providers (MSPs)?
We offer a partner-ready platform with a multi-tenant console, full automation via API/CLI, and a predictable pricing model with no hidden fees. This allows MSPs to build profitable and compliant Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) and archiving solutions for their clients.
