HIPAA PHI in S3 Needs Object Lock in Compliance Mode, Not Just Versioning
A discussion on r/aws raised whether S3 buckets holding Protected Health Information need Object Lock beyond versioning and lifecycle policies. The author argues that HIPAA section 164.316(b)(2) requires six-year retention of PHI-related documentation, which versioning alone cannot guarantee because versions and delete markers can be removed. Object Lock in Governance mode can still be overridden by privileged users, so Compliance mode is presented as the only tamper-proof option. The article describes three Stave controls that grade gaps in severity, from Object Lock being absent to using Governance mode or a retention period shorter than 2190 days.
This is an AI-generated summary. ShortSingh links to the original source for the complete article.


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