The monopoly of tech giants is not to everyone’s taste. Even less so when we touch on the government’s data policy and privacy register.
While the IT solutions sold by Silicon Valley’s big fish have no shortage of advantages in terms of design or practicality, their privacy policies are far from perfect. For example, the three email services most appreciated by users have very different philosophies on the subject. Thus, a certain Philippe Latombe, MoDem deputy, is today protesting against the use of Microsoft tools in several French ministries.
The question of digital sovereignty
The French government has made it its hobby horse: it is the guarantor of the protection of national data. However, the idea of integrating solutions like Teams or Microsoft 365 within the Ministry of Labor does not really seem to go hand in hand with this assertion. Philippe Latombe therefore clearly contests this decision and raises the question of the confidentiality of exchanges. He had also recently spoken about the agreement on personal data between the EU and the United States.
Currently, ministry mail only passes through Microsoft 365 and no longer passes through the state interministerial network. In the near future, it is likely that other ministries will be affected by this state of affairs, such as those of Culture and Justice. This contrast is a bit of a stain in a context of national relocation of certain industrial activities.
Explanations from the ministry concerned
Faced with Mr. Latombe’s concerns, the ministry responds: security and adaptability. To justify this, the institution assures that “ technical studies » (without further details) dating from 2020 concluded that there was nothing more reliable and secure than a cloud solution. These new uses emerged in particular during the health crisis. To assert its position, the ministry also ensures that the deployment of Microsoft 365 was carried out under the control of ANSSI (the National Agency for Information Systems Security). This argument is intended to be reassuring and should be synonymous with security.
A distinction is also made between sensitive data and “simple” office data. The former remain outside the scope of Microsoft, and the encryption deployed by official agents is sufficient to guarantee maximum confidentiality. Internally, the ministry’s digital department also raises awareness among its employees about the prudent use of the services in question.
Few voices are currently speaking out against state initiatives concerning the use of foreign IT services. That of Philippe Latombe is one of them. Today, digital sovereignty is a burning issue, because the risks of sensitive information escaping national control do exist. Any IT service, no matter how resilient, can be the victim of a malicious attack.
Source : National Assembly Questions
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