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In a letter co-signed by OVHcloud and 3DS Outscale, the EU Cybersecurity Agency is asked not to give an inch on the European cybersecurity certification scheme for services clouds.
Tension is mounting in the European market for clouds. Annoyed by the domination of AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud and their marketing based on a “clouds confidence”, the French players in the sector are going to the front to limit the damage. Indeed, OVHcloud and 3DS Outscale, a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, have co-signed a letter addressed to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (Enisa) (Enisa) to sound the alarm.
In this letter, initialed by around thirty companies and organisations, including Oodrive, Clever Cloud and even Docaposte, the digital subsidiary of La Poste, Enisa is asked not to give up an inch on the European scheme of cybersecurity certification for services clouds (EUCS), which American players want to relax in order to maintain their growth in the European market.
A high level of certification synonymous with sovereignty but…
This scheme should define three levels of labeling (basic, substantial and high) according to the degree of security guaranteed by the solutions clouds. What worries OVHcloud and others is a possible last-minute reversal of the highest level supposed to meet the sovereignty requirements of the European Union. Because for the time being, this project seems to be on the right track since it is expected that it will integrate “criteria guaranteeing immunity against extraterritorial laws”. In concrete terms, suppliers wishing to obtain this label would have to prove that it is impossible, both technically and legally, to transfer the data they host abroad.
This provision would be good news insofar as American companies must submit to the Cloud Act. Since 2018, this federal law has allowed US authorities to enter data abroad from the moment it passes through suppliers from the country of Uncle Sam. However, the American behemoths that are AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud alone hold 71% of the French cloud market and captured 80% of the growth in spending in France last year, a nice cake of nearly 400 million euros to be shared by three, according to a study by Markess by Exaegis.
AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud, lobbying and marketing champions
The giants across the Atlantic have understood that the high level of labeling could exclude them de facto, and are therefore pushing to develop the European cybersecurity certification scheme for services to their advantage. clouds. Faced with intensifying lobbying behind the scenes, actors from the Old Continent, OVHcloud and 3DS Outscale in the lead, remind Enisa that it is vital for the EU to have a strict framework guaranteeing absolute data protection. of European citizens, without the risk of seeing them go abroad, particularly to the United States. This warning reflects the concerns of European suppliers of clouds, who did not appreciate that Enisa postponed its meeting aimed at endorsing its recommendation on the European scheme to the European Commission. Expected at the end of June, it will only be presented in September.
In the eyes of OVHcloud and other French companies in the sector, this is a sign that AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud are stepping up their efforts to weaken the level of European certification. For French players, there is no question of giving up a little more ground to their American rivals, who capture 69% of the European market for cloud computing. At the level of European suppliers, who share the crumbs, OVHcloud comes in second place with a market share of 1%, behind Deutsche Telekom (2%).
Struggling to make a place for themselves against the North American giants, the French hosts are on edge. And it’s not Google Cloud’s communication campaign, presenting itself as a “clouds à la française” on the occasion of the official launch of its France region at the end of June, which risks calming the situation. In addition, some large French groups are tempted by this approach, such as Thales, which created a joint venture in partnership with Google Cloud, with a view to obtaining the “clouds trust” launched in 2021 by the French government.