As organizations continue shifting to the cloud, ensuring data security, regulatory compliance, and access governance has never been more critical. All Atlassian Cloud apps maintain high standards for security and trust. However, under the shared responsibility model, your organization must take proactive steps to stay compliant and secure, especially in regulated industries.
Industries such as healthcare, finance, and public sector organizations face strict regulatory requirements. Beyond avoiding penalties, maintaining compliance protects sensitive data and fosters trust among customers and stakeholders. Frameworks like HIPAA, GDPR, SOX, PCI DSS, ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2/3, and CSA/STAR continue to define how cloud data should be managed, stored, and protected. Keeping up with these evolving standards requires more than technical configuration—it calls for active organizational involvement.
One of the most vital aspects of compliance is managing access to information and resources. Unauthorized access to personal or protected data can have legal and reputational consequences.
With Atlassian Access, your organization can implement enterprise-grade identity controls, including:
These features give IT and compliance teams granular control over user access, audit trails, and identity verification, helping satisfy both security and regulatory requirements.
Organizations often need visibility into how Confluence is being used to improve collaboration and adoption. Confluence Analytics, included in Premium and Enterprise plans, delivers valuable insights, but it also collects user data. Under regulations like GDPR, organizations must ensure analytics solutions offer data anonymization or consent controls. Tools like Viewtracker for Confluence allow admins to:
This ensures compliance with privacy laws while still empowering teams to make data-informed decisions.
For public sector and federal organizations in the United States, security requirements go even further. Atlassian Government Cloud is FedRAMP authorized, meeting the rigorous standards required for use by U.S. federal agencies and contractors.
We’re proud that Navitabs – Navigation Macros for Confluence is part of the early access program for the Atlassian Government Cloud. This ensures agencies and contractors can maintain both productivity and compliance within a secure, authorized environment.
While Atlassian provides a highly secure and compliant cloud platform, the responsibility for ensuring complete compliance doesn’t rest solely with them: it is shared. Your organization plays a crucial role in maintaining a secure and regulatory-compliant environment. This means taking the time to properly configure Atlassian tools, such as Jira and Confluence, in a way that aligns with your specific industry standards, whether that involves HIPAA, GDPR, SOX, or other regulatory frameworks.
Beyond technical setup, your organization must also establish clear internal governance policies. These policies should define who owns various types of data, how long data is retained, and who has permission to access or modify it. Equally important is the need for ongoing evaluations of your security posture. Regular audits and assessments help uncover vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or compliance gaps that could pose risks if left unaddressed.
Another key component of a secure cloud environment is ensuring that your team is educated and informed. Administrators and end users alike should be trained on security protocols, data protection practices, and compliance requirements relevant to your industry. These practices foster a culture of security awareness and accountability across the organization.
Ultimately, compliance is not a one-time checkbox—it’s an ongoing, evolving process. As regulatory landscapes change and your organization scales, your compliance strategy must adapt in parallel. Proactive management, thoughtful governance, and continuous oversight are essential to ensuring your use of Atlassian Cloud remains both secure and fully compliant.
Migrating from Atlassian Data Center instances to the cloud may be complex, but it’s not impossible. It often involves planning and careful risk mitigation. Every organization’s infrastructure, compliance obligations, and user needs are unique, which makes the process more nuanced. A successful migration requires not only moving data and configurations, but also ensuring that security protocols, user access policies, and regulatory requirements are upheld throughout the transition.
A compelling example of this is Webcraft, a Swiss company that operates multiple large-scale online shops. Facing the need for greater scalability and modern collaboration tools, Webcraft took on the challenge of migrating its extensive Confluence environment to Atlassian Cloud. The migration involved careful handling of large volumes of content, custom configurations, and strict data privacy considerations under GDPR. Through strategic planning and support from expert partners, Webcraft completed the migration smoothly, achieving both operational efficiency and full compliance with data protection standards.
Atlassian Cloud enables organizations to scale efficiently, collaborate remotely, and innovate faster. However, with this opportunity comes the responsibility to maintain data security and compliance. By understanding the shared responsibility model, configuring tools for compliance, and partnering with experienced Atlassian professionals, your organization can confidently embrace the cloud without compromising on security or trust.
