{"id":15862,"date":"2023-11-20T02:00:31","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/softwareengineeringdaily.com\/?p=15862"},"modified":"2023-11-20T18:17:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T02:17:54","slug":"one-snowflake-multiple-vaults-a-solution-to-data-residency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/softwareengineeringdaily.com\/2023\/11\/20\/one-snowflake-multiple-vaults-a-solution-to-data-residency\/","title":{"rendered":"One Snowflake, Multiple Vaults: A Solution to Data Residency"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Data residency requirements, which govern where sensitive data can be stored or processed in the cloud (or in an on-prem server) are a common feature of many modern data protection laws. Because of data residency requirements, the location of sensitive data has significant regulatory compliance implications in countries and regions around the world.<\/p>\n

In this post, we\u2019ll look at the challenges of managing data residency with Snowflake. We\u2019ll start by examining how Snowflake Cloud Regions address data residency challenges, and consider the compliance implications of this approach \u2014 especially when loading data from cloud storage. Then, we\u2019ll look at how to simplify data residency compliance using one or more regional data privacy vaults.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s begin with a deeper dive into data residency, and how it impacts compliance.<\/p>\n

The implications of data residency on compliance<\/h1>\n

When you work with personally identifiable information (PII),\u00a0where<\/em>\u00a0you store and process this information has a direct impact on your legal compliance requirements. Some jurisdictions have regulations that govern the protection and privacy of their residents\u2019 PII, restricting how and where it\u2019s used by businesses and other organizations.<\/p>\n

For example, the personal data (i.e., PII) of European Union residents cannot be transferred outside the EU without appropriate safeguards.<\/p>\n

The laws of each jurisdiction impact how you transmit, manage, process, and store sensitive data in that jurisdiction. Because data residency dictates where (geographically ) data is stored in the cloud, data residency becomes a critical concern in cloud environments that handle sensitive data.<\/p>\n

Choose your cloud region carefully<\/h1>\n

Cloud service providers have data centers located in multiple regions around the world. When businesses sign up for cloud services and configure storage regions and other tooling, they select specific regions where their data is stored.<\/p>\n

For many businesses,\u00a0the selection of regions and locations for data storage is an afterthought.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But, treating this decision as an afterthought is a costly mistake that can come back to haunt you if you\u2019re handling sensitive data. That\u2019s because choosing storage regions is a weighty decision that can have a long-term impact on compliance, and on your business operations.<\/p>\n

Snowflake Cloud Regions: a data residency solution?<\/h1>\n

Snowflake Cloud Regions<\/a>\u00a0let you choose the geographic location where your Snowflake data is stored across the data centers provided by the Snowflake-supported public cloud providers \u2014 AWS, GCP, and Azure. Each cloud provider offers a set of regions across the globe, with specific geographic data center locations in each cloud provider region.<\/p>\n

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Source: Snowflake Documentation\u00a0Supported Cloud Regions<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If your company uses Snowflake Cloud Regions, you have your choice of providers, as well as regions where your data can be stored. When you create an account to deploy and set up Snowflake, whichever region you select becomes the primary location for data storage and for data processing resources.<\/p>\n

At first glance, it might seem like Snowflake Cloud Regions provides a simple, effective solution to your data residency and compliance concerns. But for global companies who need global analytics, it isn\u2019t that simple. That\u2019s because, as noted in the Snowflake Cloud Regions documentation:<\/p>\n

Each Snowflake account is hosted in a single region. If you wish to use Snowflake across multiple regions, you must maintain a Snowflake account in each of the desired regions.<\/em><\/p>\n

This means that for each region where your business operates that has data residency requirements, you\u2019ll need a different Snowflake account hosted in that region. Compliance becomes increasingly complex as you scale globally to more and more regions around the world. With this approach, running global analytics operations across different accounts to get a comprehensive view of your business can be a massive and ongoing challenge.<\/p>\n

Instead of managing multiple Snowflake accounts with multiple Snowflake instances distributed in various regions around the world, you\u2019d rather maintain a Snowflake instance in a single region to support global data operations. However, you still need to consider the need to honor data residency requirements for sensitive data so you can uphold your compliance obligations and safeguard customer trust.<\/p>\n

For example, if you collect the personal data (PII) of customers located in the EU, but your Snowflake instance is located somewhere else, then you need to think through the privacy and compliance impact of storing and processing that data.<\/p>\n

Loading data from cloud storage into Snowflake<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Snowflake also lets businesses\u00a0load data from cloud storage services<\/a>\u00a0like AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure \u2014 regardless of which cloud platform hosts the businesses\u2019 Snowflake account. This can present additional challenges when working to ensure data residency compliance.<\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s say that your company collects PII from both US and EU customers using its website. And, let\u2019s say that this sensitive data is then stored in a Google Cloud Storage bucket that\u2019s located in the AUSTRALIA-SOUTHEAST1 (Sydney) region.<\/p>\n

How does transmitting this PII data to Australia, and then storing it in Australia, affect your compliance with regulations like the EU\u2019s GDPR?<\/p>\n

The answer is: doing this likely puts you out of compliance with GDPR. This is just one example of how the location where sensitive data is stored \u2014 and where it\u2019s processed and replicated \u2014 complicates the compliance requirements faced by businesses that handle sensitive PII.<\/p>\n

Businesses that handle PII must ensure regulatory compliance by aligning their choice of cloud storage regions with the data residency requirements of markets where they operate.<\/p>\n

And beyond compliance issues, businesses should also consider data transfer costs. Transferring data between cloud storage regions can incur significant additional costs, especially if your company is frequently transferring large volumes of data. So, we not only have compliance concerns with cross-border transfers of PII, we also have a cost concern.<\/p>\n

So, to briefly recap our problem:<\/p>\n