Has anyone explored using rclone for syncing Google Drive with Linux systems while staying HIPAA compliant? Specifically:
Encryption: Does rclone have solid encryption for data security during transit and at rest?
Access Controls: How easy is it to set up tight access controls with rclone to keep sensitive data safe?
Audit Trails: Can rclone generate detailed logs to track activity and meet HIPAA standards?
Risk Assessment: What risks do you see with using rclone in a HIPAA context, and how can we address them?
Compliance: Has anyone found a way to use rclone in a HIPAA-compliant manner, or are there alternatives worth considering?
Would really appreciate your experiences and any tips you've got. And if you've got other suggestions for secure syncing between Google Drive and Linux under HIPAA, I'm all ears!
rclone is not full blown customer facing software solution but command line utility. Your questions are not far from asking is rsync HIPAA compliant. Or is ssh etc.
All HIPAA regulations have nothing to do about components you use to create full stack. I think you should more think about rclone as a building block of what you want to provide as a package. How you achieve compliance is rather related to how specific software you use is implemented.
Let's look at:
What you mean by solid? You should rather seek advice from legal people what if rclone encryption is broken. Will you be made liable? It has never been independently verified etc. But also you do not have to use it. You can use whatever is HIPAA approved for encryption and then utilise rclone for cloud transfer and retrieval. As for transit you explicitly mention Google Drive - is their API HIPAA ok? if yes then you are safe. As it is what rclone is using.
To get all your questions answered with acceptable level of trust I think what you need is a mix of legal and technical consultants you spend money on to get safe feeling about what you are trying to achieve and build.
BTW - I do not think rclone has any aspirations to meet any country specific regulations and rules. It is provided with MIT license which states very clearly its scope and limitations. This license is extremely permissive IMO giving you full freedom to use it in your solution. But also shifting any compliance implications on you.
There is caveat to all of the above - https://rclone.com/ - things can be adapted:)
This is the kind of thing we can help with with a support contract. As part of that we can answer compliance questions and fill in compliance forms. We aren't HIPAA experts but we do know everything about how rclone works!