Database Backups and Compliance: What GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Require

For many teams, backups are an afterthought — something configured once and forgotten. But if your application falls under GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, or PCI DSS, your backup strategy isn't just a best practice. It's a compliance requirement. Auditors will ask about it, and "we use mysqldump and copy it to S3" is not the answer they're looking for.

Let's break down what each framework requires and how automated, encrypted backups help you meet those requirements.

GDPR: Protecting EU Personal Data

The General Data Protection Regulation requires organizations to implement appropriate technical measures to protect personal data. Article 32 specifically calls out:

Encryption of personal data — Backups containing EU user data must be encrypted, not just in transit but at rest

The ability to restore availability and access to personal data in a timely manner — You need a tested, reliable restore process

Regular testing of security measures — Your backup and restore process should be verified periodically

GDPR also introduces the right to erasure (Article 17). If a user requests deletion, you need to know where their data exists — including in backups. Encrypted backups with defined retention periods simplify this: once a backup expires and is deleted, the data is gone.

With Calm Backup, every backup is encrypted on your server before upload using AES-256-GCM. The encryption key never leaves your infrastructure. This means your personal data is protected at rest by default, satisfying Article 32 requirements without additional configuration.

HIPAA: Safeguarding Health Information

If your application handles Protected Health Information (PHI), HIPAA's Security Rule (45 CFR Part 164) applies. The relevant requirements include:

Data Backup Plan (§164.308(a)(7)(ii)(A)) — You must establish and implement procedures to create and maintain retrievable exact copies of ePHI

Disaster Recovery Plan (§164.308(a)(7)(ii)(B)) — Procedures to restore any loss of data

Encryption (§164.312(a)(2)(iv)) — Implement a mechanism to encrypt ePHI

Integrity Controls (§164.312(c)(1)) — Protect ePHI from improper alteration or destruction

HIPAA doesn't prescribe specific technologies, but it does require that you can demonstrate your controls are effective. Automated daily backups with checksums and encryption directly address these requirements.

Calm Backup generates a checksum for every backup, verifies integrity on upload, and encrypts everything with a key that only your server possesses. This zero-knowledge architecture means that even Calm Backup staff cannot access your PHI — a strong position for any HIPAA audit.

SOC 2: Proving Your Controls Work

SOC 2 audits evaluate your organization against five Trust Service Criteria. Database backups are relevant to several of them:

Availability — The system is available for operation and use as committed. Regular backups and a tested restore process demonstrate that you can recover from data loss

Confidentiality — Information designated as confidential is protected as committed. Encrypted backups ensure that confidential data remains protected even in backup storage

Processing Integrity — System processing is complete, accurate, and authorized. Checksum verification on every backup proves data integrity

SOC 2 auditors want to see evidence, not just policies. With Calm Backup, your dashboard provides a complete audit trail: every backup is timestamped, sized, checksum-verified, and marked as confirmed. This is exactly the kind of evidence auditors look for.

PCI DSS: Protecting Cardholder Data

If your application processes, stores, or transmits cardholder data, PCI DSS applies. Key requirements for backups include:

Requirement 3 — Protect stored cardholder data with strong cryptography

Requirement 9 — Restrict physical access to cardholder data (applies to backup media)

Requirement 10 — Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data

Zero-knowledge encrypted backups address Requirement 3 directly: cardholder data in backups is encrypted with a key the backup provider never sees. Since Calm Backup stores only encrypted blobs, the backup storage itself is out of PCI scope — it contains no accessible cardholder data.

Common Compliance Mistakes with Backups

These are the issues we see most often:

Unencrypted backups on S3 — An S3 bucket with SQL dumps is a data breach waiting to happen. Even with bucket policies, one misconfiguration exposes everything

Encryption keys stored alongside backups — If the key is in the same S3 bucket as the backup, it's not meaningfully encrypted

No backup monitoring — Your cron job failed three weeks ago and nobody noticed. Auditors will flag this as a control failure

No tested restore process — Having backups is necessary but not sufficient. You need to prove you can actually restore from them

Indefinite retention — Keeping backups forever creates liability. Define retention periods and enforce them automatically

How Calm Backup Addresses These Requirements

Calm Backup was designed with compliance in mind from day one:

Zero-knowledge encryption — AES-256-GCM encryption happens on your server. Your key never leaves your infrastructure

Automated daily backups — Schedule it once and it runs automatically. No manual steps, no human error

Missed backup alerts — If a scheduled backup doesn't arrive, you're notified immediately. No silent failures

Checksum verification — Every backup is integrity-verified on upload

Audit-ready dashboard — Complete backup history with timestamps, sizes, and confirmation status — ready to show an auditor

One-command restore — vendor/bin/calmbackup restore automatically downloads, decrypts, and imports your backup in a single step

Getting Started

Setting up compliant backups takes three commands:

composer require calmbackup/backup
vendor/bin/calmbackup init
vendor/bin/calmbackup run

For Laravel applications, you can use the Artisan installer instead:

php artisan backup:install
php artisan backup:run

Once installed, add it to your scheduler for automatic daily backups. Your next compliance audit just got easier.

Visit calmbackup.com to get started.