OVHCloud obtains crucial certification to host sensitive data

The French host OVHCloud has just been awarded a very important label, which attests to its high level of security in the cloud. A certification that opens the way to a more important and strategic role in the hosting of sensitive data.

This is apparently a very technical subject, but one which should have much wider repercussions in the medium and long term. In a press release published on January 12, the French company OVHCloud, whose specialty is online hosting, announced have received the SecNumCloud label which is issued by the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI).

More exactly, it is the Hosted Private Cloud offer that obtains this qualification. It specifically concerns ” reinforced securing and isolation devices Which are set up in Roubaix and Strasbourg, where the Hosted Private Cloud services in question are operated, in two data centers. These devices aim in particular to be more resistant to cyber attacks.

The qualification of OVHCloud elicited congratulations from Cédric O, the Secretary of State in charge of digital: ” Congratulations to OVHCloud for obtaining the SecNumCloud label from ANSSI, which rewards the security efforts made by the company. An important step in building a trusted cloud in France and for our tech sovereignty », he wrote on Twitter.

OVHCloud is not the first French hosting company to get such a big hit. Two other French companies operating in the cloud computing sector have received this label: they are Outscale and Oodrive. It should be noted that these three French companies also hold another certification, which authorizes them to host personal health data.

A step towards sovereign accommodation

This double labeling for OVHCloud is important on two levels: on the one hand in the hosting of the French platform for health data (Health Data Hub), which is today entrusted to Microsoft. The founder of OVHCloud, Octave Klaba, had complained the absence of a call for tenders and specifications, judging that recourse to Microsoft would ultimately be an imposed solution.

Indeed, the certification of OVHCloud on the hosting of health data (HDS) and on the security of cloud computing (SecNumCloud) gives credibility to the prospect of a transfer of responsibilities from Microsoft to the French company, or one of them. of the other two alternatives. The government rallied around the idea of ​​a call for tenders. The case must be settled by 2022.

It should be noted that Microsoft has the HDS label for health data, but not the SecNumCloud label – which does not mean that its service is not secure: it has not been evaluated. The group highlights other certifications and insists on its compatibility with the legal texts in force, in particular the General Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data (GDPR).

Even though the health data from the Health Data Hub is physically hosted in Europe and subject to security and confidentiality rules, Microsoft remains an American company. However, the invalidation of the Privacy Shield agreement between Europe and the United States and certain legal provisions on the other side of the Atlantic give rise to serious legal uncertainties.

This SecNumCloud label also serves OVHCloud in its projects concerning digital sovereignty. In September, the company announced a partnership with the German firm T-Systems to build a reliable and secure data infrastructure, for the benefit of Europe, to accommodate operators of vital importance and companies ” in strategic or sensitive sectors of public interest ».

It is also on this aspect that OVHCloud also communicates. This recognition from ANSSI shows that its hosting solution is ” particularly suitable for hosting sensitive data of organizations such as health data, financial data or data relating to the strategic intellectual property of companies such as those of their R&D departments. »

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