Why must Financial and Healthcare Enterprises use VPC instead of Public Cloud?

For specialized industries such as finance and healthcare, where data is a vital asset, choosing between Public Cloud and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is not just a matter of efficiency, but also a critical factor related to security and legal compliance. So, why must financial and healthcare enterprises use VPC instead of Public Cloud? Let's explore the details with Vcloudia in the article below.

Specialized Data Requirements of the Financial and Healthcare Sectors 

High-Level Sensitive Data

Both the financial and healthcare industries process information classified as high-level sensitive data: medical records, test results, payment information, credit card data, bank accounts, ID card numbers, etc. If accessed unauthorized or leaked, these types of data not only cause a loss of customer trust but also harbor many serious consequences such as: 

- Critical financial losses due to stolen money and transaction fraud.

- Severe damage to the organization's reputation, resulting in the loss of customers and partners.

- Facing legal liability, heavy fines under current laws, or withdrawal of operating licenses.

- Directly affecting the health and lives of patients (in the healthcare industry) if data is manipulated or cannot be accessed in time.

In particular, even a minor security incident can lead to a permanent loss of trust from users, which is very difficult to recover in sensitive industries like finance and healthcare.

Strict Legal Regulations

In addition to the inherent risks from sensitive data, businesses in the financial and healthcare sectors are also subject to very strict management by the law. Compliance is not just a security choice but a mandatory obligation.

Notably, in Vietnam, Decree 53/2022/ND-CP requires data storage in Vietnam for enterprises providing financial and healthcare services. Businesses must implement cybersecurity measures at the system level, control access, and store access logs.

For the international market, businesses need to comply with regulations: 

- HIPAA: mandatory for healthcare organizations in the US and affiliated organizations storing patient data.

- PCI DSS: a mandatory standard for businesses processing payment card information.

Failure to comply with these regulations can lead to severe financial penalties or even closure of operations. This explains why financial and healthcare enterprises must use VPC instead of Public Cloud, where they can comprehensively control the data network and comply with legal requirements more easily.

Disadvantages of Public Cloud Unsuitable for Financial and Healthcare Sectors 

Resources Shared with Other Customers

Public Cloud operates on a resource-sharing model, where many customers share the same physical infrastructure system. This prevents businesses from comprehensively controlling network layers, physical servers, or storage locations. In such an environment, the risk of data leakage can occur from configuration vulnerabilities, security flaws from other parties' systems, or from the service provider itself. For sensitive fields like finance and healthcare, this is a threat that cannot be underestimated.

Limitations in Controlling Private Networks (routing, firewall...)

Public Cloud often does not allow users detailed control over network configuration layers such as private IP addresses, routing, firewall configurations, or data security partitioning. Therefore, applying deep access authorization policies by user groups, applications, or departments also faces many limitations. This leads to difficulties in meeting internal security standards or industry-specific legal regulations.

Difficulty Meeting Local Storage and In-depth Security Requirements

Some Public Cloud services place data centers abroad, which not only affects access latency but also violates local data storage regulations. For example: Vietnam's Decree 53/2022/ND-CP requires financial and healthcare enterprises to store data in Vietnam and ensure information security according to national standards. If the system is deployed on an overseas Cloud environment, the business may face serious legal risks and even be penalized if violations occur.

Why VPC is the Right Choice for Financial and Healthcare Enterprises?

Isolated Network Infrastructure – Creating a Private Safe Zone for Businesses

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) provides an independent computing environment that is completely isolated from the systems of other organizations. As a result, financial data, medical records, and important transaction systems are deployed in a separate "safe zone," avoiding risks commonly found in the Public Cloud model such as data leakage through configuration errors from other parties.

Full Control Over Security, Partitioning, and Access

Unlike Public Cloud, VPC empowers businesses with full authority to build and operate their own private network architecture. From configuring IP addresses, subnets, and routing to detailed access authorization for each user group, department, or application, everything is in the hands of the business. Consequently, the security system is personalized and comprehensively controlled, meeting the strict requirements of the financial and healthcare sectors.

Easy to Establish Industry Compliance Policies

Industries like finance or healthcare often have to meet many international and local security standards such as: PCI DSS, HIPAA, or Decree 53 of the Vietnamese Government. In this regard, VPC supports businesses in easily establishing data protection policies such as encryption, periodic backups, data partitioning, etc., without the limitations found on Public Cloud – where most infrastructure is shared and difficult to customize.

Integration of Advanced Security Services: VPN, IDS/IPS, Multi-layered Firewall

This is a factor that helps many businesses decide to choose VPC. This model supports the integration of advanced security technologies such as: 

- VPN (Virtual Private Network): ensures secure remote connections and encrypts data transmission lines.

- IDS/IPS (Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems): detects and prevents unusual intrusion behavior.

- Multi-layered Firewall: controls traffic to each system layer.

These tools work synchronously within the private environment of the VPC, helping businesses detect early, respond quickly, and effectively prevent security threats.

Conclusion

Why must financial and healthcare enterprises use VPC instead of Public Cloud? Because only VPC fully meets security requirements, legal compliance, system control capabilities, and comprehensive protection of sensitive data. While Public Cloud is suitable for businesses with few constraints or information security standards, for specialized industries like finance and healthcare – where every byte of data is a link that needs strict security, VPC is not only a smart choice but also a necessary solution for businesses to develop sustainably and legally.