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<div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Data retention is crucial for customers especially in regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, and government. Customers can use write once, read many (WORM) storage to meet their data retention needs, keeping their data immutable, and comply with industry regulations set forth by governing bodies such as FINRA, SEC, and CFTC. WORM storage can also provide an extra layer of security to organizations dealing with sensitive data, by preventing any data modifications or deletions and reducing the risk of accidental data loss, data breaches, and unauthorized alterations.</span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">We are now making it easier for our customers to configure WORM storage, and meet regulatory standards, strengthen security posture, and improve data protection with the new </span><strong style="vertical-align: baseline;">object retention lock </strong><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">for Cloud Storage. It adds to existing WORM storage capabilities such as bucket lock and object holds in Cloud Storage, and can give organizations flexibility to manage data retention at the desired granularity level: either objects or buckets.</span></p>
<h3><strong style="vertical-align: baseline;">How does object retention lock work? </strong></h3>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Object retention lock can help you set and lock retention configurations on Cloud Storage objects, with a “retain until time.” This means that an object with an object retention lock can not be deleted or replaced until the retain until time has passed. </span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Based on your data retention management needs, you can also choose to use both bucket lock and object retention lock at the same time. If an object has a bucket lock and an objection retention lock simultaneously applied, the object can not be deleted until each “retain until time” has elapsed.</span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Object retention lock is available through the Google Cloud Storage console, Cloud Storage APIs, gCloud CLI, and client libraries. </span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">To enable object retention lock through the Google Cloud Storage Console: </span></p>
<p role="presentation"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">1. Check the “Enable Object Retention” box when configuring your bucket.</span></p></div>
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<div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">2. Configure “Retain until time” for the objects you want to make immutable.</span></p></div>
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    </div>

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<div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">3. Choose whether you want to lock the retention policy. Once locked, you can not lower the “retain until time”.</span></p></div>
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    </div>

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<div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><p>4. <span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Objects can not be deleted or overwritten until the configured “retain until time” has elapsed.</span></p></div>
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</div>
    </div>

</div>
<div class="block-paragraph_advanced"><h3><strong style="vertical-align: baseline;">Keep costs down and deliver low latency</strong></h3>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Object retention lock does not require you to enable object versioning in Cloud Storage. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">This means you can use object retention and still get object deduplication in your storage when performing operations like backups.  </span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Cloud Storage is also unique by providing consistent low latency characteristics across storage classes, even for colder storage tiers. With this you benefit by selecting the appropriate storage class without having to compromise your object retention lock requirements. Customers can thus leverage their retained data for active, data intensive use-cases such as Data Analytics or AI/ML as well through instant access provided by Cloud Storage.</span></p>
<h3><strong style="vertical-align: baseline;">What customers saying about object retention lock</strong></h3>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">A number of Google Cloud Storage customers and partners have begun using object retention lock. Customers are also using data protection partners leveraging object retention lock for Cyber Resilience through immutable vault solutions on Cloud Storage. Here’s what they are saying: </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">“The constant threat of ransomware continues to evolve with hackers increasingly attacking backup data as an organizations’ most valuable asset. The immutable storage capabilities of Object Lock will provide Veritas customers who choose Google Cloud as a target for their backups with another layer of defense, so they have zero doubt their mission-critical data is protected,” said</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Matt Waxman, senior vice president and general manager, Data Protection, Veritas.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">“Customers’ data is growing exponentially, and companies need to make sure their backup capabilities can support this with ease and at-scale. They must do this with better storage efficiency and the ability to keep their data safe for different periods of time. Object retention lock and HYCU’s Cloud Dedup together provide an invaluable layer of protection and defense combined with the storage efficiency that customers desire. The tremendous partnership we have with Google provides both our on-prem customers and our cloud-native customers the peace of mind they all want,” said Subbiah Sundaram, senior vice president, Product, HYCU.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">“In the evolving threat landscape, Google Cloud Storage's object retention lock offers Commvault customers a strong defense mechanism against ransomware. We’re leveraging this critical feature for our immutable storage on Google Cloud, offering our customers an unalterable layer of ransomware protection. And with its consistent low latencies across storage classes and deduplication-friendly implementation, it delivers tremendous value to our customers,” said Victor Bishay, director, worldwide alliances, Commvault.</span></p>
<h3><strong style="vertical-align: baseline;">Getting started with object retention lock</strong></h3>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Object retention lock is generally available, and you can enable your buckets for object retention lock now. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Object retention lock is available in </span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/locations"><span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">all locations where Cloud Storage is available</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> and across all storage classes. It also works with </span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/lifecycle"><span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Object Lifecycle Management</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> (OLM) and </span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/autoclass"><span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Autoclass</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">. If you enable object retention lock while your objects are in the Standard storage class, the lock remains in place even as the object shifts between storage classes.</span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Cloud Storage object retention lock has been </span><a href="https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/sec_cohasset_assessment_gcs_dec_2023.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">assessed</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> for SEC 17a-4(f), FINRA, and CFTC Regulations by </span><a href="https://www.cohasset.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Cohasset Associates</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">. Cohasset determined that Cloud Storage meets the WORM requirement when properly configured and used with the Retention Policy feature in locked mode.</span></p>
<p><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">For more information and detailed instructions on how to enable object retention lock and set retention times on objects, refer to the documentation </span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/object-lock"><span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">here</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></p></div>

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Hidden blurb

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entry_id: !ruby/object:Feedjira::Parser::GloballyUniqueIdentifier
  guid: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/storage-data-transfer/introducing-cloud-storage-object-retention-lock/
title: Boosting data cyber-resilience for your Cloud Storage data with object retention
  lock
categories:
- Security & Identity
- Storage & Data Transfer
summary: "<div class=\"block-paragraph_advanced\"><p><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">Data retention is crucial for customers especially in regulated industries
  such as financial services, healthcare, and government. Customers can use write
  once, read many (WORM) storage to meet their data retention needs, keeping their
  data immutable, and comply with industry regulations set forth by governing bodies
  such as FINRA, SEC, and CFTC. WORM storage can also provide an extra layer of security
  to organizations dealing with sensitive data, by preventing any data modifications
  or deletions and reducing the risk of accidental data loss, data breaches, and unauthorized
  alterations.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">We are now
  making it easier for our customers to configure WORM storage, and meet regulatory
  standards, strengthen security posture, and improve data protection with the new
  </span><strong style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">object retention lock </strong><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">for Cloud Storage. It adds to existing WORM
  storage capabilities such as bucket lock and object holds in Cloud Storage, and
  can give organizations flexibility to manage data retention at the desired granularity
  level: either objects or buckets.</span></p>\n<h3><strong style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">How does object retention lock work? </strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">Object retention lock can help you set and lock retention configurations
  on Cloud Storage objects, with a “retain until time.” This means that an object
  with an object retention lock can not be deleted or replaced until the retain until
  time has passed. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Based
  on your data retention management needs, you can also choose to use both bucket
  lock and object retention lock at the same time. If an object has a bucket lock
  and an objection retention lock simultaneously applied, the object can not be deleted
  until each “retain until time” has elapsed.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">Object retention lock is available through the Google Cloud Storage
  console, Cloud Storage APIs, gCloud CLI, and client libraries. </span></p>\n<p><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">To enable object retention lock through the
  Google Cloud Storage Console: </span></p>\n<p role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">1. Check the “Enable Object Retention” box when configuring your bucket.</span></p></div>\n<div
  class=\"block-image_full_width\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n    <div class=\"article-module
  h-c-page\">\n      <div class=\"h-c-grid\">\n  \n\n    <figure class=\"article-image--large\n
  \     \n      \n        h-c-grid__col\n        h-c-grid__col--6 h-c-grid__col--offset-3\n
  \       \n        \n      \"\n      >\n\n      \n      \n        \n        <img\n
  \           src=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-cloudblog-publish/images/1-createBucket.max-1000x1000.png\"\n
  \       \n          alt=\"1-createBucket\">\n        \n        </a>\n      \n    </figure>\n\n
  \ \n      </div>\n    </div>\n  \n\n\n\n\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-paragraph_advanced\"><p><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">2. Configure “Retain until time” for the objects
  you want to make immutable.</span></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-image_full_width\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
  \ \n    <div class=\"article-module h-c-page\">\n      <div class=\"h-c-grid\">\n
  \ \n\n    <figure class=\"article-image--large\n      \n      \n        h-c-grid__col\n
  \       h-c-grid__col--6 h-c-grid__col--offset-3\n        \n        \n      \"\n
  \     >\n\n      \n      \n        \n        <img\n            src=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-cloudblog-publish/images/2-setRetainUntil.max-1000x1000.png\"\n
  \       \n          alt=\"2-setRetainUntil\">\n        \n        </a>\n      \n
  \   </figure>\n\n  \n      </div>\n    </div>\n  \n\n\n\n\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-paragraph_advanced\"><p><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">3. Choose whether you want to lock the retention
  policy. Once locked, you can not lower the “retain until time”.</span></p></div>\n<div
  class=\"block-image_full_width\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n    <div class=\"article-module
  h-c-page\">\n      <div class=\"h-c-grid\">\n  \n\n    <figure class=\"article-image--large\n
  \     \n      \n        h-c-grid__col\n        h-c-grid__col--6 h-c-grid__col--offset-3\n
  \       \n        \n      \"\n      >\n\n      \n      \n        \n        <img\n
  \           src=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-cloudblog-publish/images/3-lockRetention.max-1000x1000.png\"\n
  \       \n          alt=\"3-lockRetention\">\n        \n        </a>\n      \n    </figure>\n\n
  \ \n      </div>\n    </div>\n  \n\n\n\n\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-paragraph_advanced\"><p>4.
  <span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Objects can not be deleted or overwritten
  until the configured “retain until time” has elapsed.</span></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-image_full_width\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
  \ \n    <div class=\"article-module h-c-page\">\n      <div class=\"h-c-grid\">\n
  \ \n\n    <figure class=\"article-image--large\n      \n      \n        h-c-grid__col\n
  \       h-c-grid__col--6 h-c-grid__col--offset-3\n        \n        \n      \"\n
  \     >\n\n      \n      \n        \n        <img\n            src=\"https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-cloudblog-publish/images/4-deleteErrors.max-1000x1000.png\"\n
  \       \n          alt=\"4-deleteErrors\">\n        \n        </a>\n      \n    </figure>\n\n
  \ \n      </div>\n    </div>\n  \n\n\n\n\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-paragraph_advanced\"><h3><strong
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Keep costs down and deliver low latency</strong></h3>\n<p><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Object retention lock does not require you to
  enable object versioning in Cloud Storage. </span><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">This means you can use object retention and still get object deduplication
  in your storage when performing operations like backups.  </span></p>\n<p><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Cloud Storage is also unique by providing consistent
  low latency characteristics across storage classes, even for colder storage tiers.
  With this you benefit by selecting the appropriate storage class without having
  to compromise your object retention lock requirements. Customers can thus leverage
  their retained data for active, data intensive use-cases such as Data Analytics
  or AI/ML as well through instant access provided by Cloud Storage.</span></p>\n<h3><strong
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">What customers saying about object retention
  lock</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">A number of Google
  Cloud Storage customers and partners have begun using object retention lock. Customers
  are also using data protection partners leveraging object retention lock for Cyber
  Resilience through immutable vault solutions on Cloud Storage. Here’s what they
  are saying: </span></p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">“The constant threat of ransomware continues to evolve with hackers
  increasingly attacking backup data as an organizations’ most valuable asset. The
  immutable storage capabilities of Object Lock will provide Veritas customers who
  choose Google Cloud as a target for their backups with another layer of defense,
  so they have zero doubt their mission-critical data is protected,” said</span><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"> </span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Matt
  Waxman, senior vice president and general manager, Data Protection, Veritas.</span></p>\n<p
  style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">“Customers’
  data is growing exponentially, and companies need to make sure their backup capabilities
  can support this with ease and at-scale. They must do this with better storage efficiency
  and the ability to keep their data safe for different periods of time. Object retention
  lock and HYCU’s Cloud Dedup together provide an invaluable layer of protection and
  defense combined with the storage efficiency that customers desire. The tremendous
  partnership we have with Google provides both our on-prem customers and our cloud-native
  customers the peace of mind they all want,” said Subbiah Sundaram, senior vice president,
  Product, HYCU.</span></p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">“In the evolving threat landscape, Google Cloud Storage's object retention
  lock offers Commvault customers a strong defense mechanism against ransomware. We’re
  leveraging this critical feature for our immutable storage on Google Cloud, offering
  our customers an unalterable layer of ransomware protection. And with its consistent
  low latencies across storage classes and deduplication-friendly implementation,
  it delivers tremendous value to our customers,” said Victor Bishay, director, worldwide
  alliances, Commvault.</span></p>\n<h3><strong style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Getting
  started with object retention lock</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">Object retention lock is generally available, and you can enable your
  buckets for object retention lock now. </span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Object
  retention lock is available in </span><a href=\"https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/locations\"><span
  style=\"text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;\">all locations where
  Cloud Storage is available</span></a><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">
  and across all storage classes. It also works with </span><a href=\"https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/lifecycle\"><span
  style=\"text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;\">Object Lifecycle
  Management</span></a><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"> (OLM) and </span><a
  href=\"https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/autoclass\"><span style=\"text-decoration:
  underline; vertical-align: baseline;\">Autoclass</span></a><span style=\"vertical-align:
  baseline;\">. If you enable object retention lock while your objects are in the
  Standard storage class, the lock remains in place even as the object shifts between
  storage classes.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Cloud
  Storage object retention lock has been </span><a href=\"https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/sec_cohasset_assessment_gcs_dec_2023.pdf\"
  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; vertical-align:
  baseline;\">assessed</span></a><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"> for SEC
  17a-4(f), FINRA, and CFTC Regulations by </span><a href=\"https://www.cohasset.com/\"
  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; vertical-align:
  baseline;\">Cohasset Associates</span></a><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">.
  Cohasset determined that Cloud Storage meets the WORM requirement when properly
  configured and used with the Retention Policy feature in locked mode.</span></p>\n<p><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">For more information and detailed instructions
  on how to enable object retention lock and set retention times on objects, refer
  to the documentation </span><a href=\"https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/object-lock\"><span
  style=\"text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;\">here</span></a><span
  style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">.</span></p></div>"
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- title
- summary
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carlessian_info:
  news_filer_version: 2
  newspaper: Google Cloud Blog
  macro_region: Technology
url: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/storage-data-transfer/introducing-cloud-storage-object-retention-lock/
image: https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-cloudblog-publish/images/security_2022.max-600x600.jpg
author: Subhasish Chakraborty
published: 2024-04-04 16:00:00.000000000 Z

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