EU, South Korea Move to Domestic Cloud Providers, Seeking Tighter Security

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, November 30, 2023

In the European Union and South Korea, moves are being made by respective governments to end their dependence on foreign-owned providers of cloud computing services, shifting management of important data to domestic firms.

The governments have leaned into digital sovereignty by which they hope to protect data critical to the state.

The European Union is now formulating a new certification system for cloud services in the bloc. The system, which will designate tiers according to the level of security required, will likely cover national security, energy and financial data.

EU member Germany manages and shares administrative data in a cloud built by the government. Government ministries and agencies, which have their own servers, are connected by dedicated lines. For confidential exchanges, such as that of personal information, data is encrypted. In the future, Germany is considering using cloud services provided by domestic companies.

In France, highly confidential personal information and other data are handled exclusively by a cloud service only for the government or those certified by the government.

South Korea uses cloud services from a domestic provider that has been certified as secure by the government. Personal information is stored in a cloud with enhanced security.

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