By Antoun Sfeir, CEO of epresspack
The day-to-day work of communications directors is fraught with pitfalls. Following the debate on AI, another issue has resurfaced with even greater urgency: that of data sovereignty and, consequently, the cloud. Between new geopolitical tensions and US extraterritorial laws, the risks run deeper than they might appear.
Significantly, the French government, in March, decided to remove its citizens' health data from Microsoft's cloud and entrust it to a sovereign hosting provider. The aim is to circumvent US laws and better secure its data. This is also the direction in which our European partners appear to be heading. Whether it concerns states, institutions or businesses, the choice of technological infrastructure and suppliers is never neutral; it reflects a strategic, commercial and financial vision.
New US regulations around data provision mean that as soon as data is stored by a hosting provider, subject to US law, companies lose the legal protection and control afforded by domestic and European frameworks. Put simply, a range of US legislation — including the Cloud Act, FISA and Privacy Shield — allows US authorities to access this data, regardless of its geographical location, even if the servers are based in Europe.
This can be done without notification, without any possibility of appeal, and without even informing the service provider in question. This structural risk affects large corporations, SMEs and domestic and European start-ups alike, and extends far beyond the scope of sensitive data. In this context, the protections offered by encryption and pseudonymisation are not sufficient.
When it comes to sovereign cloud solutions, certified alternatives to US providers do exist. In France and across Europe, hosting providers such as Orange Business, OVHcloud, Scaleway, SAP, Cloud Temple and Proton are gaining ground.
Communications directors do have a choice.
It is up to them to work closely with their IT departments to scrutinise thoroughly the long-standing technological choices of their suppliers and service providers before entering any partnership.
From day one, epresspack has chosen, without hesitation, a European cloud to host its customers' data. Admittedly, this approach is less convenient and more demanding on a day-to-day basis, as it requires a dedicated in-house team with broader and more advanced skills, to compensate for the lack of managed services. However, it is more secure in the long term.
For this reason, OVHcloud — a French company with infrastructure in Europe, European governance, and subject to EU law — stores the data of our 350 clients. Through this approach, we aim to contribute to, and commit ourselves to, a digital landscape that is more autonomous, more secure, and more respectful of European values.
Because our clients' data is worth it.
