Localization of data by jurisdictions

1) Purpose and area

Ensure compliance with data localization/residency requirements in all target jurisdictions while maintaining product availability, security, and performance. Coverage: product (web/mobile), KYC/AML/RG, payments (PCI), marketing/CRM, analytics/logging, backups/DR, game providers/aggregators, affiliates, cloud vendors.

2) Basic concepts

Data Residency-Where data is physically stored.
Data Sovereignty: the right of a state to regulate data located on its territory or related to its subjects.
Cross-border transmission: access, replication, or processing outside the "home" jurisdiction.
Personal data (PII )/sensitive PII: KYC documents, payment details, RG/SE statuses, biometrics.
Units/pseudonymization/anonymization: technology of minimization of risk at analytics and exchange.

3) Principles

1. Local-first: Personal data is stored and processed in the player's "home" region if the rules require it.
2. Minimization and isolation: store only necessary, clear segregation of tenants/regions.
3. Lawful transfer: only with existing legal mechanism and risk assessment.
4. Cryptographic support: encryption at rest/in transit, key management on the regional side ("bring/hold your own key" if possible).
5. Provability: data maps, DPIA/TRA, access logs and storage location confirmation.
6. Fail-safe: Backups and DR follow the same residency rules as combat data.

4) Roles and RACI

Head of Compliance/DPO - policy, DPIA, legal mechanisms, audit. (A)

Security/Infra Lead - regional architecture, keys/encryption, access control. (R)

Data Platform/Analytics - anonymization/pseudonymization models, pipelines. (R)

Engineering/SRE - deployment of regions, replication, DR/BCP. (R)

Legal - cross-border agreements, contracts with vendors, DPA/SA. (C)

Procurement/Vendor Mgmt - evaluation of suppliers, locations of data centers. (R)

Internal Audit - sampling, artifact control, CAPA. (C)

Product/CRM/BI - compliance with restrictions in features/campaigns/reports. (R)

5) Data classification and mapping

Categories:

KUS/Age: documents, selfies, biometrics, test results.
Payments/PCI: PAN/tokens, 3DS/AR, PSP-identifiers.
Gaming activity: sessions, bets, wins/losses, RG/SE/RC events.
Marketing/CRM: contacts, preferences, suppression flags.
Logs/telemetry: application events, errors, traces.
Analytics/reports: aggregates, cubes, ML features.

Data Map:

Source → system → storage region → legal status → consumers → retention period → deletion mechanism.
A visual map of streams is required, including who/where is replicated and in what form (RAW/PII-free/anonymized).

6) Architectural localization patterns

Regional Tenancy: individual clusters (EU, UK, TR, BR, CA, AU, etc.) with DB/secret/key isolation.
Data Sharding by region/market: prefix 'tenant _ region' in keys, routing requests via Geo-Router/API Gateway.
Control Plane vs Data Plane: global control panel without PII; PII - only in regional data plates.
Edge cache without PII: cache only public/non-personal content.
Analytics via De-PII Pipeline: export only aggregates/aliases to DWH; "clean" PII - banned outside the region.
DR within a region: a "hot" replica within the same country/regional block (or a permitted cross-region with similar protection and Jurassic. basis).
BYOK/HYOK: encryption keys under the control of the region/customer; KMS with end-to-end audit.

7) Cross-border transfers: legal mechanisms (framework)

Contractual:

Standard contractual provisions/local equivalents (SCC/IDTA/ext. agreements).
Additional Third Party Transfer Agreements (DPA, SSA, Schrems-compliant risk assessments).
Risk assessments: TIA/TRAs (Transfer/Third-Country Risk Assessments).
Technical measures: encryption, role separation, tokenization, minimization.
Orgmers: need-to-know access policy, logging, training.

💡 In Product: Any "out-of-region" data access by support, BI, or developer goes through a prooxy layer that: (a) cleans out the PII, (b) applies an access basis, (c) logs artifacts.

8) Regional profiles (template)

For each market, support the card:


Юрисдикция: ______
Требования к резидентности: (обязательная/рекомендуемая/нет)
Запреты на трансграничность: (полный/условный/нет)
Разрешенные механизмы передачи: (SCC/IDTA/локальное соглашение)
Особые категории: (биометрия/финансы/RG)
Бэкапы/DR: (где, частота, шифрование)
Логи/телеметрия: (можно ли выводить за рубеж, в каком виде)
Сроки хранения: (KYC, платежи, игровые, RG/SE)
Удаление/DSAR: (SLA, подтверждения)
Вендоры/облака: (разрешенные регионы)

9) Localization of backups, logs, analysts

Backups: encrypted, in the same region, directory of location evidence (provider id/bacap-wolth/retention).
Logs/trails: PII-free by default; if PII is inevitable - local log stores, with editing/masking.
Analytics/DWH: Aliased keys only; aggregates with k-anonymity; a ban on unloading "raw" events outside the region without reason.

10) Vendors and Clouds

Vendor register with fields: country of registration, data center regions, certificates (ISO/PCI/SOC), DPA/SCC/IDTA signatures, key mode, sub-processors.
Pre-flight procedure: jurisdictional assessment, DPIA/TIA, region-wide resiliency test, data at rest region verification.
Contract clauses: notification of the change of sub-processor/location, audit rights, deadlines for elimination, fines.

11) Removal, retention and DSAR

Storage policy: CUS/finance/game/logs - separate terms (often 5-7 years for compliance; in marketing - in short).
Technically forced deletion (erasure): cascading delete jobs with reports; crypto delete (key delete) for archives.
DSAR/Subject Rights: processing access/remediation/deletion requests only in the regional perimeter; response artifacts - in the local WORM.

12) Control procedures and audit

Data Lineage: origin of fields, route of cross-border flows, export hash signature.
Access Reviews: quarterly reviews of access rights, reports on cross-regional requests.
Transfer logs: who/what/when/where/basis/type of data/PII mask/result.
Vendor review: annual reports and penetration tests/appraisals.
CAPA: corrections for finds, deadlines and responsible.

13) Product and API requirements

Geo-router: resolves' player _ region'and routes requests to the' home'cluster.

Policy-aware APIs: тег `data_class={PII	PCI	ANON}`, `region_scope={local	global_anon}`, `transfer_basis_id`.
Events:
'data _ residency _ asserted ',
`xborder_export_requested/approved/denied`,
`backup_completed_local`,
`dsar_fulfilled_local`.
Fail-Closed: When the region is undefined, prohibit operations with PII.

14) "what to store" matrix (example)

Category	Storage location	Can I replicate abroad	Terms and Conditions
KYC documents/biometrics	Local region	No	Only aggregates/verdicts "pass/fail" out
Payment tokens	Region + PCI Zone	Conditionally	Tokenization, PCI-scope, PSP contract
Game Events (Raw)	Region	Conditionally	Alias → Aggregates to Global DWH
RG/SE statuses	Region	No	Only "anonymous" flags are allowed on global systems
CRM contacts	Region	Conditionally	With resolution and DPA; suppression flags locally
Logs/Trails	Region	PII-free only	PII Masking/Removal on Collector

15) KPI/localization compliance dashboard

Residency Coverage:% of subjects whose PII is in the correct region.
X-Border Request Rate: share of cross-border access requests (by role/division).
Anonymous Export Share: Proportion of exports to global DWH that have passed De-PII.
Backup Locality SLA:% of backups confirmed in local region.
Vendor Region Drift: location/sub-processor change incidents.
DSAR SLA: Median execution in the regional perimeter.
Audit Findings (repeat): recurring inconsistencies.

16) Checklists

Before entering a new jurisdiction

Data map and categorization.
Jurisdiction card (requirements, backups, logs, retention periods).
Architectural plan of the region (VPC/cluster/DB/KMS).
DPIA/TIA, contracts (DPA/SCC/local counterparts).
Vendor assessment (DC locations, sub-processors).
Access/Delete/Export policy set.

In operations

Daily validation of "residency assertions" against new records.
Monitor cross-region queries and deviations.
Check the locality of backups/logs.
DSAR queue within the region.

Audit/Improvements

Quarterly revision of vendors/regions.
DR test in each region (1/quarter).
CAPA for violations (deadlines/responsible persons).

17) Templates (quick inserts)

A) Clause with vendor (data localization)

💡 The Supplier guarantees storage and processing of Custom Data of Categories {PII/RG/KYC} exclusively in the region {...}. Any cross-border transfer is allowed only if there are existing legal mechanisms and written agreement. Change of location - with notification ≥ 30 days.

B) Export policy (internal application)

💡 I request export of aggregates by market {...} for the period {...}. Data category: {ANON}. Reason: {report/audit}. Risks assessed, no PII. Responsible: {...}. Upload deletion period: {...}.

C) Text in SLA with business

💡 Response time to DSAR - up to X days, deletion - cascading, confirmation - artifact from regional WORM storage.

18) Frequent mistakes and prevention

Backups in a "convenient" neighboring region. → Prohibition; only local backups.
Logs with PII fly into the global APM. → Agent-level masking, local bruises.
Global reports with raw IDs. → Aggregates/aliases only.
Mixing control/data planes. → Global control plane - without PII.
Lack of evidence of residency. → Store artifacts: id-resources, config shots, provider reports.

19) 30-day implementation plan

Week 1

1. Approve localization policy and data classification model.
2. Build a primary flow map of existing markets.
3. Define regional boundary services and key requirements (BYOK/HYOK).

Week 2

4. Deploy regional clusters of priority No. 1 (EU/UK/...); enable Geo-Router.
5. Enable De-PII pipelines in DWH, configure local logs/AWS.
6. Sign/update DPA/SCC/IDTA with key vendors.

Week 3

7. PII migration to regional databases; local backups and DR plan.
8. Introduce a process for cross-border export applications (portal + journal).
9. Train commands (Prod/BI/CS/Legal) according to the new rules.

Week 4

10. Conduct DR test and random residency audit.
11. Enable KPI dashboard (Residency Coverage, Backup Locality SLA).
12. CAPA for differences found plan v1. 1 (following markets).

20) Interrelated sections

KYC Procedures and Verification Levels/Age Verification

AML policy and transaction control

Responsible play and limits/SE/Reality Checks

Regulatory reports and data formats

Compliance dashboard and monitoring

Internal/external audit and audit checklists

BCP/DRP and "At Rest/In Transit Encryption"