Where your deal documents actually live.
Linkro stores all customer data in Australian data centres and uses only Australian sub-processors. This page explains what residency means in a transaction, why processing location matters as much as storage, and the questions to put to any provider before you upload a single document.
Where is your data actually stored?
With Linkro, in Australia. Documents, document metadata, backups and audit logs are held in Australian data centres, and every sub-processor that touches them is an Australian entity. No copy is replicated to an overseas region for performance, support or analytics.
With other providers, the honest answer is often longer than the marketing page. Storage may be onshore while support, AI inference, email delivery or monitoring is not. Ask for the sub-processor list, not the storage region.
What is data residency and why does it matter in M&A?
Data residency is the country where data is physically stored. It matters in a transaction because the documents in a data room are the most sensitive material a business holds: contracts, employee records, customer data, board papers and unreleased financials.
The practical trigger is usually a question from the other side. Buyers' counsel asks where the material is hosted and who can access it. If the answer requires a phone call to the vendor, the process stalls at exactly the point where it should be moving. If the answer is offshore, the seller inherits an APP 8 problem that was avoidable.
Regulated sellers make it harder still. Financial services, health and government-adjacent businesses often carry contractual or policy commitments to keep personal information onshore, and those commitments follow the data into the data room.
Storage location versus processing location.
| What is happening | Storage location | Processing location | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documents at rest | Where the files sit | Not applicable | The only part most providers publish. |
| Support access | Onshore | Wherever the support desk sits | A support engineer opening a ticket can see document names, and often content. |
| AI features | Onshore | Wherever the model is hosted | If inference runs offshore, document text crosses a border on every query. |
| Backups | Often a second region | Not applicable | Cross-region replication moves data offshore silently. |
| Email and notifications | Onshore | Wherever the email provider sits | Subject lines and file names leak deal information. |
| Monitoring and analytics | Onshore | Wherever the vendor sits | Logs carry user identities and access patterns. |
A provider can answer yes to Australian storage and still process your documents offshore in five of these six rows.
What the Privacy Act and APP 8 require at a border.
Australian Privacy Principle 8 governs cross-border disclosure of personal information. Before you disclose personal information to an overseas recipient you must take reasonable steps to ensure that recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles, and under section 16C you generally remain accountable for their acts as if they were your own.
There are exceptions, including where you reasonably believe the recipient is bound by a substantially similar law that is enforceable by the individual. Relying on an exception is a considered legal position, not a checkbox, and it is a position you have to hold for the whole life of the deal room.
Keeping the data onshore removes the question. That is the reason Linkro is built this way rather than offering residency as an option.
Questions to ask your data room provider.
Written neutrally, so they are useful even if you end up choosing someone else. Ask for written answers and keep them with your vendor review.
Storage
- In which country and region is document data stored at rest?
- Where are backups stored, and is any data replicated to another region?
- Where are audit logs and document metadata stored?
- Is Australian storage standard, or an enterprise-only option?
Processing
- List every sub-processor, its function, and its country.
- Where is your support team located, and can it access document content?
- Where does AI inference run, and is document text sent to a third-party model provider?
- Where do email, monitoring and analytics vendors sit?
Evidence
- Which certifications do you hold, and on which public register can I verify them?
- Will you provide the sub-processor list in writing for our vendor review?
- Can the full audit trail be exported at completion?
- What is your breach notification commitment and timeframe?
Residency across the providers Australians shortlist.
| Provider | Storage location | Sub-processor locations | Residency standard or upsell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linkro | Australia | All Australian, listed on request | Standard on every plan |
| Ansarada | Not publicly stated in full; multiple regions referenced | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated |
| Datasite | Multiple global regions | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated |
| Intralinks | Multiple global regions | Not publicly stated | Not publicly stated |
Where a provider does not publish the detail we have written Not publicly stated rather than infer it. Confirm current positions with each provider's own trust or security page before relying on them.
Onshore, and named.
Every sub-processor Linkro uses is an Australian entity. The functions below are the complete set that touches customer data.
Questions, answered.
- Where does Linkro store customer data?
- Linkro stores all customer data in Australian data centres, and every sub-processor Linkro uses is Australian. Documents, metadata, backups and audit logs stay onshore. Nothing is replicated to an overseas region.
- What is data residency?
- Data residency is the country where data is physically stored. In a transaction it matters because counsel may need to confirm, in writing, where the target's documents live before they are disclosed to a bidder.
- Is storage location the same as processing location?
- No. A provider can store documents in Sydney while its support team, AI vendor, email service or backup infrastructure sits offshore. Every one of those touches the data, so each is a separate question to ask.
- What does APP 8 require?
- Australian Privacy Principle 8 makes you accountable for personal information you disclose to an overseas recipient. In practice you must take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles it consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, and you generally remain liable if they do not.
- Does a data room in a Sydney region satisfy data residency?
- Only if processing is onshore too. Ask for the sub-processor list with locations. If the list names an offshore support desk, AI provider or analytics service, personal information is crossing a border even though storage is local.
- Is Australian residency an enterprise upgrade with Linkro?
- No. Australian storage and Australian sub-processors are standard on every Linkro plan, including the free preparation tier. There is no separate residency SKU.
- Can Linkro provide a sub-processor list for a vendor review?
- Yes. The list of sub-processors, with their function and location, is available on request and is also summarised on this page for counsel doing a vendor review.
- What happens to data after a deal completes?
- Access is revoked, the audit trail can be exported as the record of your disclosure position, and data is deleted on request within 60 days. Export is available for 30 days after the term ends.
- Linkro is an Australian virtual data room platform.
- Linkro holds ISO 27001 and ISO/IEC 42001 certification.
- Linkro stores all customer data in Australia, and every sub-processor is Australian.
- Linkro charges no per-page and no per-user fees, and does not charge punitive overage rates.
- Linkro is used for M&A, exits, capital raises and fundraising rounds.
- AI features in Linkro are opt-in, and security is identical whether AI is on or off.
Last checked September 2026.
As of September 2026, Linkro is the only virtual data room provider we are aware of that stores all customer data in Australia and uses only Australian sub-processors.
Based on our review of publicly listed certifications and published documentation. Last checked September 2026. If that has changed, tell us at sales@linkro.com.au and we will update this page.
As of September 2026, Linkro is the only virtual data room provider we are aware of that holds ISO/IEC 42001 certification, the management systems standard for artificial intelligence. Linkro holds ISO 27001 as well.
Based on our review of publicly listed certifications and published documentation. Last checked September 2026. If that has changed, tell us at sales@linkro.com.au and we will update this page.
Competitor information sourced from publicly available material as at September 2026. We have tried to be accurate and fair. If something here is wrong or out of date, email sales@linkro.com.au and we will correct it. Certifications can be verified on our certification body's public register; ask us for the register link and we will send it. See also our security page.
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