.Confidence in the cloud with data sovereignty

Data sovereignty refers to the requirement that specific types of data – including intellectual property, financial records, and personal information – must be collected, stored, and processed within defined geographic boundaries, such as within the European Union (EU). Whether your application stores credit card information on an e-commerce website or backs up the electronic patient record (EPR), data sovereignty must be ensured so that this user data is subject to the legal framework of the country or other legal provisions in which these users are citizens. Especially for companies that are subject to certain regulations, understanding and implementing data sovereignty is of crucial importance.

Almost every country has a data protection law that protects the personal data collected from its citizens in some way. This includes, for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and for certain industries there are additional regulations such as DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) for the financial sector.

In simple terms, data sovereignty is about WHO - WHERE and HOW.

• WHERE is your data stored?
• WHO can access and use your data?
• HOW is your data controlled by regulations (which laws and regulations apply to your data)?

Data sovereignty in the cloud

It is important to choose a cloud service that enables the storage, processing and management of data according to specific requirements. For example, it can be helpful to use a service that can restrict storage to specific regions or data centres to enable a higher level of data localisation and storage. In addition, it is crucial that the data is encrypted, for instance with an own dedicated key, and that high standards of access rights can be maintained in accordance with all legal requirements of your organization.

Let's go back to the WHERE, WHO and HOW and discover how AWS can help.

WHERE?

AWS gives you access to a global infrastructure with data centres in many countries. This enables you to choose where your data is stored and processed. To ensure that your data does not leave the selected region, you can restrict access to certain regions. Additionally you can even use AWS Outpost as a fully managed solution that allows you to run AWS services on-premises.

WHO?

Cloud storage services like Amazon S3 offer detailed control over data access permissions. For handling confidential data, AWS provides the Nitro system – a specialized hardware security solution that ensures complete isolation of virtual machines. This system prevents access by operators and separates each virtual machine from both the hypervisor and other machines, creating strong hardware-level protection for your data.

HOW?

AWS helps you to comply with the legal requirements for your data by providing you tools and services that help you to comply with various laws and regulations. AWS itself is already certified and fulfils numerous standards such as ISO 27001 or C5 (BSI requirements for cloud providers). So that you can monitor the compliance status of your resources, there are services such as AWS Config that monitor resource changes and check them according to applicable regulations. You can also use automated audit processes with the AWS Audit Manager to check how well your regulations are being met.

European Sovereign Cloud

AWS is investing EUR 7.8 billion in a special European Sovereign Cloud to support data sovereignty by the end of 2025.The European Sovereign Cloud is an isolated instance of the AWS cloud operated by an independent and separate company. It provides a robust solution for organisations with strict data management requirements, especially in critical sectors.It also ensures that all employees operating this cloud or supporting customers are EU citizens and located in the EU.

Conclusion

Data sovereignty is important for digital sovereignty - it focuses on the legal and jurisdictional aspects of data management. Choosing cloud providers such as AWS and implementing strategic practices will help you maintain control over your data, comply with relevant laws and regulations, and control where data is processed.

Partnering for Success

Implementing data sovereignty measures is quite complicated. At globaldatanet, we have years of experience with cloud technologies and data management in regulated industries. We will show you and your company what is important when it comes to data sovereignty and ensure that you fulfil all legal requirements while taking full advantage of AWS services.