Data residency laws apply to backups just as they do to live data. If your live HubSpot portal is hosted in the EU to satisfy GDPR, but your backup provider stores copies on servers in the US, you may be performing an unapproved cross-border transfer. To ensure compliance, you must use a backup solution that offers explicit choice over the geographic region where your data is stored.
Many organisations meticulously audit their live SaaS platforms for compliance but overlook their backup chains. This is a critical error.
From a regulatory perspective, a backup is simply a copy of your customer data. It contains the same Personally Identifiable Information (PII) as your live CRM. Therefore, it is subject to the same geographical restrictions.
If your backup strategy ignores geography, you risk creating a compliance gap that invalidates your entire data governance framework.
To navigate this landscape, you must distinguish between three related concepts.
Data Residency
This refers to the physical or geographic location of an organisation's data or information. It is simply where the hard drive sits.
Data Sovereignty
This is the legal concept that data is subject to the laws and governance structures within the nation it is collected or stored. For example, data sitting on a server in the United States is subject to US law (such as the CLOUD Act), even if the data belongs to a UK company.
Cross-Border Data Transfer
This occurs when data is moved from one legal jurisdiction to another. Under regulations like the GDPR, transferring data out of the European Economic Area (EEA) to a "third country" is restricted unless specific legal safeguards are in place.
The primary compliance risk in cloud backups is the accidental cross-border transfer.
Consider a UK-based company using HubSpot. They have selected the EU data centre for their live portal to align with UK GDPR requirements. However, they install a generic third-party backup tool.
If that backup tool stores its snapshots on a server farm in Ohio, USA, the company is automatically exporting its entire customer database to the US every night. Unless this transfer is covered by a valid mechanism (such as the Data Privacy Framework or Standard Contractual Clauses), the company is in breach of compliance.
The challenge for IT managers is that many cloud backup providers operate as a black box. They use global infrastructure to optimise costs and often do not disclose where a specific customer's data is stored.
Terms of Service agreements often state that data may be stored "globally" or "in any region where we operate." For a compliance officer, this ambiguity is unacceptable. You cannot guarantee data sovereignty if you do not know where the data lives.
A compliant backup strategy requires transparency and choice. You must be able to pin your data to a specific legal jurisdiction.
backHUB is designed to provide this certainty. Unlike generic providers, backHUB offers explicit Data Region Selection.
When you configure backHUB, you choose the specific geographic region where your encrypted backup data will reside (for example, the EU or the US). We contractually commit to storing your data in that region, ensuring that your backup strategy aligns with your live data governance.
Furthermore, all data is encrypted in transit and at rest, providing a second layer of security regardless of location. Following any restoration, our team provides a stabilisation period to verify that the restored data remains within its compliant boundary.
The physical location of your backup server is not a minor technical detail; it is a fundamental component of your legal obligation to your customers.
By moving away from black box providers and choosing a solution with explicit regional control, you transform your backup strategy from a compliance risk into a demonstration of robust data governance.
Does GDPR apply to backup data?
Yes. The GDPR defines personal data broadly. Any set of data that can identify an individual is covered, regardless of whether it is in a live system, an archive or a backup file. The same principles of security, residency and transfer apply.
What is the difference between data residency and data sovereignty?
Residency is geographical; it describes where the data is located. Sovereignty is legal; it describes which country's laws apply to that data. Sovereignty is a consequence of residency.
Can I store EU data in the US if it is encrypted?
Encryption helps security, but it does not automatically solve data residency or sovereignty issues. Even encrypted data, if the keys are available to the provider, may be subject to the laws of the host country. To be safe, data should reside in a jurisdiction that offers adequate protection or appropriate legal safeguards must be in place.
See how backHUB ensures data residency