Technical Glossary
WORM Storage (Write Once Read Many)
Exact Definition
WORM (Write Once, Read Many) storage is a data storage technology that allows data to be written only once and prevents it from being deleted or modified — satisfying SEC 17a-4, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and HIPAA audit trail immutability requirements.
Architectural Deep Dive
For financial institutions, healthcare providers, and government contractors, regulatory frameworks mandate that audit records cannot be altered or deleted — even by system administrators. WORM storage satisfies this requirement through S3 Object Lock, Azure Immutable Blob Storage, or cryptographic append-only log tables in PostgreSQL. Any attempt to modify or delete a locked object returns an error at the storage layer itself.
The ERPStack Approach
We configure AWS S3 Object Lock policies in Governance and Compliance mode for all audit log exports, satisfying SEC 17a-4 and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 requirements for immutable record retention.