Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados

Data centers must ensure that all personal data processing activities within their infrastructure operate under one of ten explicit legal bases defined by LGPD: consent, contract performance, legal obligation, protection of life, public interest, legitimate interests (requiring balancing test documentation), credit protection, exercise of rights, health/hygiene protection, or fraud prevention.

Data centers cannot process personal data without documented evidence of the applicable legal basis, requiring comprehensive data flow mapping and client attestation.

For shared infrastructure hosting multiple clients, data centers must maintain audit trails proving each processing activity's legal basis and ensuring no unauthorized processing occurs across tenant boundaries.

LGPD grants data subjects explicit rights including access, correction, deletion (right to be forgotten), portability, and anonymization of personal data within 15 days of request.

Data centers must implement technical controls enabling clients to fulfill these rights, including search functionality across distributed storage systems, secure deletion capabilities with cryptographic proof, data export functionality in structured formats, and access logging to demonstrate compliance.

Data centers face direct liability if they cannot technically facilitate client compliance with these rights, requiring infrastructure-level capabilities beyond traditional backup and recovery systems.

LGPD requires mandatory DPIAs for high-risk processing activities including processing of children's data, large-scale personal data processing, systematic monitoring, or processing using automated decision-making.

Data centers hosting such workloads must assist clients in conducting DPIAs or conduct their own if acting as data processor, documenting risk analysis, mitigation measures, and residual risks.

This requirement extends beyond policy documentation to actual technical risk assessment covering data center vulnerabilities, third-party dependencies, and infrastructure failure scenarios, with documented evidence of remediation for identified risks.

Organizations processing large volumes of personal data, conducting systematic monitoring, or processing sensitive data categories must designate a Data Protection Officer (DPO) responsible for monitoring LGPD compliance, serving as authority contact point, and conducting compliance audits.

Data centers serving as processors must ensure their infrastructure provides adequate audit capabilities, monitoring dashboards, and documentation systems enabling client DPOs to fulfill their responsibilities.

Data centers may need to employ or contract their own DPO if they independently determine the processing scope exceeds thresholds, creating organizational governance requirements beyond traditional security roles.

LGPD strictly regulates transfers of personal data outside Brazil, permitting transfers only to countries with adequate protection levels (currently limited list including EU and limited others) or with explicit contractual safeguards incorporating Standard Contractual Clauses or Binding Corporate Rules.

Data centers operating multi-region infrastructure must physically segregate Brazilian personal data from international processing, implement geographic restrictions at the application level, and maintain comprehensive transfer documentation.

Transfers to the United States face particular scrutiny following LGPD Authority guidance, effectively requiring adequacy certifications or enhanced contractual protections for cloud infrastructure spanning jurisdictions.

LGPD requires data centers to implement security measures commensurate with risk levels, with explicit mandate for encryption of personal data in transit and at rest for sensitive categories.

The standard requires documented security policies covering access controls, vulnerability management, encryption key management, and incident response procedures specific to personal data.

Data centers must perform regular security assessments, penetration testing, and vulnerability remediation with documented timelines, maintaining evidence of security measure implementation and effectiveness testing.

Upon discovery of security incidents compromising personal data confidentiality or integrity, data centers must notify affected data subjects and ANPD without unreasonable delay and without unjustified delay, typically interpreted as 72 hours maximum.

Notification must include nature of breach, likely consequences, and mitigation measures taken, with documentation of notification dates and recipients.

Data centers must maintain incident response procedures specifically addressing LGPD requirements, including forensic investigation protocols, evidence preservation, and communication templates compliant with notification requirements.

Data centers must maintain comprehensive records of all processing activities under their control, documenting purposes, legal bases, data categories, recipient categories, retention periods, and technical/organizational measures.

These accountability records must be available for ANPD inspection and data subject requests, requiring systematic documentation of infrastructure configurations, access controls, and security measures corresponding to specific processing activities.

This requirement extends beyond theoretical documentation to demonstrable, auditable records maintained in systems accessible during compliance investigations.