Latest news with #CloudAct
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Microsoft Can't Keep EU Data Safe From US Authorities
The French Senate (Photo by Samir Hussein - Pool/WireImage) Microsoft has admitted that it can't protect EU data from U.S. snooping. In sworn testimony before a French Senate inquiry into the role of public procurement in promoting digital sovereignty, Anton Carniaux, Microsoft France's director of public and legal affairs, was asked whether he could guarantee that French citizen data would never be transmitted to U.S. authorities without explicit French authorization. And, he replied, "No, I cannot guarantee it." He said that the company resisted requests from the US authorities "when they are not well-founded", but that under the U.S. Cloud Act, U.S. companies can be forced to hand over data, regardless of where it is stored. Carniaux did say that the situation had never arisen. However, the admission raises serious concerns around European data sovereignty. 'Microsoft has openly admitted what many have long known: under laws like the Cloud Act, US authorities can compel access to data held by American cloud providers, regardless of where that data physically resides. UK or EU servers make no difference when jurisdiction lies elsewhere, and local subsidiaries or 'trusted' partnerships don't change that reality," commented Mark Boost, CEO of cloud provider Civo. 'This is more than a technicality. It is a real-world issue that can impact national security, personal privacy and business competitiveness." The inquiry centers around Project Bleu - a partnership between Microsoft, Orange and Capgemini. There were concerns about the Health Data Hub medical research platform, which is hosted on Microsoft Azure. Senate members said they couldn't be sure that the two platforms were sufficiently separated, and that sensitive health data wouldn't be shared. Carniaux's admission will increase concerns that the EU can't afford to be reliant on the big U.S. cloud providers such as Microsoft and AWS - even when they claim to be offering sovereign cloud services. 'The French Senate has set a precedent by demanding answers, and the UK and Europe have an opportunity to do the same," said Boost. "We're already seeing a shift towards building homegrown solutions that support true data sovereignty rather than data residency." However, a recent European Parliament report found that U.S. firms account for 69% of the cloud infrastructure market share in Europe, while EU suppliers hold only 13%.
Daily Maverick
04-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Why SA companies are repatriating their data
Businesses are increasingly migrating workloads from public to private cloud environments as cost realities bite and data sovereignty concerns mount. Forget the marketing hype: the honeymoon with public cloud is officially over for many companies. Once hailed as the ultimate Mecca for digital transformation, public cloud is now under scrutiny as businesses grapple with ballooning costs and gnawing concerns over data sovereignty. This trend, dubbed 'repatriation', is reshaping South Africa's tech landscape. Companies are learning the hard way that not every workload is destined for those hyperscale data centres in the sky. The result? A surge in local private cloud investment. Falling short on promise It's not that the tech is fundamentally flawed. The real problem is businesses trying to squeeze their old-school, monolithic, but reliable apps into cloud spaces designed for sleek, cloud-native (read: AI-hungry) workloads. 'The repatriation that's happening is the people who take those existing traditional applications moved them to public cloud and never got what it promised. The reason they never got what it promised was that's not what it was really built for,' said Lee Syse, director of product and go-to-market strategy at Routed. For traditional line-of-business apps, public cloud's metering and billing model — designed for 'new generation services' — turns into a financial mess. Bandwidth egress costs, IP address charges and data transfer fees make it 'very difficult to track' spending, leading to dreaded 'cost spikes'. Add to that the trap of hyperscaler discount models. Syse explains that enterprise discount programmes (EDPs) offer 'aggressive discounts based on commitment of future spend', but when companies 'don't get to that spend', they face 'back billing' to list prices. The result? Customers get 'burnt'. This financial whiplash is pushing organisations to 'relook at their commercial construct' and ask whether public cloud delivers on its shiny promise. The sovereignty play Syse knows the battlefield well; his VMware-flavoured expertise keeps Routed sharp in the migrating market. But there's more to the repatriation conversation than just rands and cents: data sovereignty is suddenly top priority (just ask any CTO, actually ask the CEO, because he's the one wanting answers). Any organisation aligned to the US, whether through directors or founding, 'automatically get compliant with … the Cloud Act and the US Patriot Act,' warns Syse. This grants the US government 'the ability, based on a court order, to access the data that's on that platform and switch it off'. And if you think the Americans are bad, Syse highlights an even bigger risk: sanctions. Companies using Chinese gear could face services being 'cut off completely', with no way to migrate data out. South Africa lacks clear policy direction on this. A General Data Protection Regulation-style Act was proposed years ago but has stalled. For now, it's up to businesses to hedge their bets. A crowded market Sure, Routed sells a 'multi-tenanted all single-tenanted private cloud' service (think infrastructure-as-a-service with 'business critical high SLA [service level agreement] type services'). But it's not alone. Dell PowerStore offers native migration tools supporting Storage vMotion, promising seamless, zero-downtime moves. For workloads of more than 50TB, Dell Services brings Datadobi tools into play. Meanwhile, Rudi Mostert, the CTO and co-founder of Warp, has chosen a bold 'cloud exit' route, investing in OpenStack and Open Metal infrastructure. This strategy demands deep technical skills in Linux, Kubernetes, networking and orchestration, but Mostert insists that South Africa has 'talented people with a hunger to learn and innovate'. Huawei Cloud is all-in on what it calls 'AI-native' solutions, promising to 'reshape and upgrade all Huawei Cloud services into intelligent ones using AI' and build 'the best platform to accelerate the development of AI'. A bigger digital dream The minister of communications and digital technologies, Solly Malatsi, laid out a sweeping vision during his keynote address at Huawei South Africa Connect 2025. He praised the potential of 'technologies like AI, 5G and cloud computing to advance our national priorities', while insisting these tools must 'benefit all our citizens, not just a few'. By 2029, he plans to achieve '100% connectivity in South Africa' and ensure 70% of the population has basic digital skills. He wants to make South Africa 'the most attractive destination for ICT [information and communication technologies] investment on the continent', driven by policy certainty and reformed procurement. His Digital Transformation Roadmap, part of Operation Vulindlela Phase II, aims to overhaul public services through digital IDs, a secure data exchange across departments, a real-time payments platform and a single, zero-rated portal for all government services. What this means for you Watch your cloud bills: If your business runs traditional apps in the public cloud, check those fine-print costs — surprise charges lurk everywhere. Think sovereignty: Where your data lives and who can access it matters more than ever. Local private cloud options give you more control (and less geopolitical drama). Skills matter: Companies going private need strong local IT talent. This is good news for South Africa's skilled tech workers hungry for challenging projects. Public cloud isn't dead: It still makes sense for certain workloads, but a one-size-fits-all approach is over. Digital future at stake: Smarter cloud strategies help build a stronger, more secure digital economy, and ultimately protect your data and your wallet. The big U-turn This repatriation wave doesn't spell the death of public cloud — far from it. It signals a maturing market. As Malatsi noted, South Africa's digital ambitions 'demand collaboration — across sectors, across disciplines, and across all parts of society'. Shifting to private cloud is fuelling local talent growth, giving companies 'freedom to experiment and build innovative solutions'. With talented people with a hunger to learn and innovate, South Africa can build sovereign, future-ready cloud infrastructure. The great cloud U-turn isn't a retreat, it's more a recalibration — an evolution towards a strategy that values sovereignty and control over the most precious currency of the digital age: data. DM
Techday NZ
28-04-2025
- Techday NZ
Police warned over shifting information to Microsoft cloud services
Police have been warned that shifting their information to the cloud could have "severe detrimental impacts" if they are not careful. The shift to Microsoft cloud services has started in Wellington. But a privacy impact assessment says if staff accidentally let someone into the data, the consequences could be "death of individuals, extensive injury and hospitalisation". It lists ways to make it safer. The tech upgrade changes how vast amounts of restricted, sensitive information is handled, from on-site at police stations using 2013 Microsoft technology, to off-site at Microsoft's 'cloud' of computer servers. The data can identify individuals. "Should this become compromised, there could be severe detrimental impacts on the wellness and safety of individuals, as well as the reputation of the NZ police 'brand' and erosion of trust from the public and government," said the May 2022 assessment, newly released to RNZ under the Official Information Act. "The information that will be stored, processed and transmitted by the service has been classified as up to RESTRICTED, and will include sensitive and personal information. Compromise of information classified RESTRICTED would likely impact NZ police's reputation and operation." It detailed several risks arising from the upgrade against each of the 12 Privacy Act principles - one severe 'red' one, and several 'orange'. It also listed 31 measures police should take. "This assessment identified that the proposed use of Office 365 service exposes NZ police to a Very High level of privacy risk. It identifies a total of 12 privacy risks for NZ police through the expected use of the service, one of which was rated as Very High and eight which are rated as High," it said. "If the privacy risks highlighted in this report are not managed to an appropriate level, NZ police is exposed to privacy threats that may result in Very High health & safety impacts and reputational damage." But if the controls were taken, then the upgrade would be "within its risk appetite". It is not clear how many of these measures police were now instituting at the trial stage of the upgrade. "The technical delivery of this work has been relatively smooth, with the products and processes working well," NZ police told RNZ. The assessment report listed a dozen different laws police and Microsoft must comply with. It noted Microsoft and Spark will run the new system for police, and that this was another point of risk. One risk was that a foreign government or law enforcement agency could ask Microsoft for New Zealand police data. The US has a Cloud Act that allows for this to happen, though it is not known if the power has been exercised as it does not have to declare it. The cloud upgrade has been on the cards for years but police have hit roadblocks on the tech front, including from [last year's public sector funding cuts, RNZ has reported. The cloud privacy assessment was started in 2019, but a trial only began in September in Wellington. Just five out of 32 workgroups in Wellington district have gone live so far. "The initiative is continuing to fine-tune the framework," police said in the OIA response last week. A 2022 security risk assessment of the move said Microsoft and its cloud datacentres had an "extensive security toolset" and "layers of defence-in-depth". The cloud upgrade is part of moves to try to relieve what reports have called "unsustainable" pressure on frontline officers as well as to conform to Privacy Commissioner orders to stop the police illegally taking and storing photos of young people. They amassed tens of thousands illegally up till 2020, as RNZ exposed. It is in line with successive governments' push for all agencies to shift to cloud services, which has proved a boon for Microsoft, Amazon and Google, and an incentive for the former two US tech giants to build new datacentres in this country. A second police tech upgrade - to digital notebooks from paper notebooks at the front line in 2023 - aimed to add photo handling features this year. An assessment of this, also released under the OIA, also found a "high" risk, but that this was more easily managed. It laid out 41 measures to take. Police did not formally consult the Privacy Commissioner about either the Digital Notebooks and Microsoft moves, though privacy and security risk assessments were run on both, they told RNZ in the OIA. They have had no reports done on how the seven-month-old Wellington pilot was going, but would at the end, they said. The cloud work was being done largely in-house, with just one contractor hired for $288,000.
Otago Daily Times
27-04-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Police warned over shifting information to cloud
By Phil Pennington of RNZ Police have been warned that shifting their information to the cloud could have "severe detrimental impacts" if they are not careful. The shift to Microsoft cloud services has started in Wellington. But a privacy impact assessment says if staff accidentally let someone into the data, the consequences could be "death of individuals, extensive injury and hospitalisation". It lists ways to make it safer. The tech upgrade changes how vast amounts of restricted, sensitive information is handled, from on-site at police stations using 2013 Microsoft technology, to off-site at Microsoft's 'cloud' of computer servers. The data can identify individuals. "Should this become compromised, there could be severe detrimental impacts on the wellness and safety of individuals, as well as the reputation of the NZ police 'brand' and erosion of trust from the public and government," said the May 2022 assessment, newly released to RNZ under the Official Information Act. "The information that will be stored, processed and transmitted by the service has been classified as up to RESTRICTED, and will include sensitive and personal information. Compromise of information classified RESTRICTED would likely impact NZ police's reputation and operation." It detailed several risks arising from the upgrade against each of the 12 Privacy Act principles - one severe 'red' one, and several 'orange'. It also listed 31 measures police should take. "This assessment identified that the proposed use of Office 365 service exposes NZ police to a Very High level of privacy risk. It identifies a total of 12 privacy risks for NZ police through the expected use of the service, one of which was rated as Very High and eight which are rated as High," it said. "If the privacy risks highlighted in this report are not managed to an appropriate level, NZ police is exposed to privacy threats that may result in Very High health & safety impacts and reputational damage." But if the controls were taken, then the upgrade would be "within its risk appetite". It is not clear how many of these measures police were now instituting at the trial stage of the upgrade. "The technical delivery of this work has been relatively smooth, with the products and processes working well," NZ police said. The assessment report listed a dozen different laws police and Microsoft must comply with. It noted Microsoft and Spark will run the new system for police, and that this was another point of risk. One risk was that a foreign government or law enforcement agency could ask Microsoft for New Zealand police data. The US has a Cloud Act that allows for this to happen, though it is not known if the power has been exercised as it does not have to declare it. The cloud upgrade has been on the cards for years but police have hit roadblocks on the tech front, including from last year's public sector funding cuts, RNZ has reported. The cloud privacy assessment was started in 2019, but a trial only began in September in Wellington. Just five out of 32 workgroups in Wellington district have gone live so far. "The initiative is continuing to fine-tune the framework," police said in the OIA response last week. A 2022 security risk assessment of the move said Microsoft and its cloud data-centres had an "extensive security toolset" and "layers of defence-in-depth". The cloud upgrade is part of moves to try to relieve what reports have called "unsustainable" pressure on frontline officers as well as to conform to Privacy Commissioner orders to stop the police illegally taking and storing photos of young people. They amassed tens of thousands illegally up till 2020, as RNZ exposed. It is in line with successive governments' push for all agencies to shift to cloud services, which has proved a boon for Microsoft, Amazon and Google, and an incentive for the former two US tech giants to build new data-centres in this country. A second police tech upgrade - to digital notebooks from paper notebooks at the front line in 2023 - aimed to add photo handling features this year. An assessment of this, also released under the OIA, also found a "high" risk, but that this was more easily managed. It laid out 41 measures to take. Police did not formally consult the Privacy Commissioner about either the Digital Notebooks and Microsoft moves, though privacy and security risk assessments were run on both, they told RNZ in the OIA. They have had no reports done on how the seven-month-old Wellington pilot was going, but would at the end, they said. The cloud work was being done largely in-house, with just one contractor hired for $288,000.
RNZ News
27-04-2025
- RNZ News
Police warned over shifting information to Microsoft cloud services
Sensitive police information is being moved from police stations to off-site at Microsoft's 'cloud' of computer servers. File photo. Photo: 123rf Police have been warned that shifting their information to the cloud could have "severe detrimental impacts" if they are not careful. The shift to Microsoft cloud services has started in Wellington. But a privacy impact assessment says if staff accidentally let someone into the data, the consequences could be "death of individuals, extensive injury and hospitalisation". It lists ways to make it safer. The tech upgrade changes how vast amounts of restricted, sensitive information is handled, from on-site at police stations using 2013 Microsoft technology, to off-site at Microsoft's 'cloud' of computer servers. The data can identify individuals. "Should this become compromised, there could be severe detrimental impacts on the wellness and safety of individuals, as well as the reputation of the NZ police 'brand' and erosion of trust from the public and government," said the May 2022 assessment, newly released to RNZ under the Official Information Act. "The information that will be stored, processed and transmitted by the service has been classified as up to RESTRICTED, and will include sensitive and personal information. Compromise of information classified RESTRICTED would likely impact NZ police's reputation and operation." It detailed several risks arising from the upgrade against each of the 12 Privacy Act principles - one severe 'red' one, and several 'orange'. It also listed 31 measures police should take. "This assessment identified that the proposed use of Office 365 service exposes NZ police to a Very High level of privacy risk. It identifies a total of 12 privacy risks for NZ police through the expected use of the service, one of which was rated as Very High and eight which are rated as High," it said. "If the privacy risks highlighted in this report are not managed to an appropriate level, NZ police is exposed to privacy threats that may result in Very High health & safety impacts and reputational damage." But if the controls were taken, then the upgrade would be "within its risk appetite". It is not clear how many of these measures police were now instituting at the trial stage of the upgrade. "The technical delivery of this work has been relatively smooth, with the products and processes working well," NZ police told RNZ. The assessment report listed a dozen different laws police and Microsoft must comply with. It noted Microsoft and Spark will run the new system for police, and that this was another point of risk. One risk was that a foreign government or law enforcement agency could ask Microsoft for New Zealand police data. The US has a Cloud Act that allows for this to happen, though it is not known if the power has been exercised as it does not have to declare it. The cloud upgrade has been on the cards for years but police have hit roadblocks on the tech front, including from [last year's public sector funding cuts, RNZ has reported . The cloud privacy assessment was started in 2019, but a trial only began in September in Wellington. Just five out of 32 workgroups in Wellington district have gone live so far. "The initiative is continuing to fine-tune the framework," police said in the OIA response last week. A 2022 security risk assessment of the move said Microsoft and its cloud datacentres had an "extensive security toolset" and "layers of defence-in-depth". The cloud upgrade is part of moves to try to relieve what reports have called "unsustainable" pressure on frontline officers as well as to conform to Privacy Commissioner orders to stop the police illegally taking and storing photos of young people. They amassed tens of thousands illegally up till 2020, as RNZ exposed . It is in line with successive governments' push for all agencies to shift to cloud services, which has proved a boon for Microsoft, Amazon and Google, and an incentive for the former two US tech giants to build new datacentres in this country. A second police tech upgrade - to digital notebooks from paper notebooks at the front line in 2023 - aimed to add photo handling features this year. An assessment of this, also released under the OIA, also found a "high" risk, but that this was more easily managed. It laid out 41 measures to take. Police did not formally consult the Privacy Commissioner about either the Digital Notebooks and Microsoft moves, though privacy and security risk assessments were run on both, they told RNZ in the OIA. They have had no reports done on how the seven-month-old Wellington pilot was going, but would at the end, they said. The cloud work was being done largely in-house, with just one contractor hired for $288,000. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
