Are we still in control of our data in the Netherlands?

ALast week, the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation (NOS) published a survey on the Cloud usage of over 20,000 Dutch organisations, companies and governments. This revealed that Dutch governments and critical companies are widely outsourcing their mail services to American companies, especially Microsoft and Google (1). Despite the fact that the mail servers are often located in the Netherlands or the EU, the US government can still access the e-mails. State Secretary Van Huffelen has since responded to the NIS investigation, stating that European alternatives to US internet services are urgently needed (2). In my view, both reports are an important wake-up call that is needed in our growing digital world in which we are generating more and more data.

Huge expansion of cloud market

The transition to the Cloud is a reality. For instance, Gartner has issued a forecast for 2024 in which they state that the entire Cloud market will continue to grow in 2024 and IaaS will even experience a growth of 26.6% (3). This growth is also logical when considering the commercial definition of Cloud, the purchase of IT infrastructure as a service. For businesses and governments, this is therefore a great solution in the rapidly changing world.

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Unseen complexity?

Yet there is also a degree of complexity in the transition to the Cloud that should not be underestimated. The fact that IT is purchased as a service does not mean that management and application security do not demand attention. In discussions with customers, I always quickly encounter components in the transition that require attention. Think about issues such as: who manages the application landscape in the chosen Cloud platform? Where is the data located? Is there an exit strategy? Are legal requirements secured?

All this makes a Cloud strategy extensive and sometimes complex. I then wonder whether this complexity is seen and not overshadowed by the attraction of the Cloud from the tech giants, resulting in a too quick and ‘easy’ choice of one party. Where, on the contrary, reality always demands a Multi Cloud solution.

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The consequences

If you consider the example of NIS at present where e-mail is hosted in the Microsoft Cloud, the data is moved to Microsoft's platform. So this means that US law applies to Microsoft's service. And even though the US state is an ally of the Netherlands, the sovereignty on storing data, is not guaranteed. The same applies to any other Cloud provider not covered by European or Dutch legislation. Is it therefore the case that we cannot proceed differently because there are no alternatives, as stated in the second article?

We are lagging behind the US tech giants and do not have an European Cloud of the same size. However, alternatives certainly do exist: there are enough parties in the Netherlands and Europe that can fulfil all the IT needs. The government can encourage further development in this, on one side by investing in development, but also by setting a policy on the use of Cloud. By stating that a grip on data is central, the Cloud strategy is converted into a data strategy in which the Cloud platform is a means and not a solution.

The solution: sovereign Cloud

The sovereign Cloud is the example of a data-centric Cloud in this regard. The sovereign Cloud provides transparency in data location, ensures compliance with (local) legislation and highlights who has access to the data in the platform. All this results in data sovereignty. This is a great starting point when it comes to regulating Cloud usage. By including sovereign Cloud as a policy in the use of Cloud for government and critical businesses, data sovereignty is guaranteed, but also solves another problem immediately. Requiring the sovereign Cloud as a standard will create traction on the sovereign alternatives and they will evolve.

Therefore, now is the time to provide guidelines around sovereign Cloud so that we regain control over data and related interests!

Want to know more about Fundaments' sovereign Cloud? Click here.

Sources:
1) https://nos.nl/artikel/2510923-amerikaanse-overheid-kan-bij-e-mail-van-nederlandse-overheden-en-kritieke-bedrijven
2) https://nos.nl/artikel/2511021-europese-alternatieven-voor-amerikaanse-internetdiensten-hard-nodig
3) https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/11-13-2023-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-end-user-spending-to-reach-679-billion-in-20240

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