Microsoft cloud data trap?
Computer scientists: Germany falls into the data trap in the Microsoft cloud
More and more authorities want to use the Microsoft cloud, the German Informatics Society is sounding the alarm. Germany is in danger of ending up "in the golden Microsoft cage".
With the preference of some states and the federal government for Microsoft cloud services, "increasingly sensitive citizen data is also being transferred to the care of the tech company", warn the Presidential Working Group on Digital Sovereignty and the Data Protection and IT Security Working Group of the German Informatics Society (GI). They see "unacceptable risks for Germany's digital independence" and the protection of citizens' and companies' data: "The worrying dependence on Microsoft is not only being cemented, but further expanded."
One trigger for the : according to including Bavaria, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia introduce the Teams video conferencing system or the complete Microsoft 365 cloud office package in their administration. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also recently backed the , which, however, advertises more "sovereignty" than pure US solutions. Such efforts lead the GI to fear that "Germany could soon be trapped in the golden Microsoft cage".
MI6 chief speaks of "data trap"
The GI quotes an interview with British intelligence chief Richard Moore from MI6 from 2021. The espionage expert spoke of a "data trap": "If you allow another country to get access to really critical data about your society, that will erode your sovereignty over time." According to the IT experts, the data trap will close in Germany if the plans of some federal states to migrate to the Microsoft cloud are realized.
This has to do with the , the authors explain. It authorizes US authorities to "legitimately access data held in data centers of US service providers outside the USA". The providers are obliged to maintain confidentiality. 2019 auditors referred . Digital monopolies could brutally increase their prices, it continues. A further explosion is to be expected in the administration. The federal government has . A large chunk of this will go to Microsoft.
Doubts about security and legal compliance
The GI is pessimistic about . There are also doubts about the legal compliance of awarding contracts of this size without a prior EU-wide tender. Alternative solutions are sufficiently well known and would be preferable for reasons of data protection, IT security and costs. Schleswig-Holstein . "Germany's future must not depend on the arbitrariness of large foreign corporations," emphasize the computer scientists. It is crucial "that we can shape our digital future independently, self-determinedly and securely". The German government must finally implement . The federal states also have a special responsibility here.
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