Five cloud providers operating under strict data legislation

Data privacy laws are tightening, meaning businesses and global organisations need to be vigilant when choosing appropriate cloud provision for the workloads and storage needs. Certain regulations in different countries impose strict rules on how data is collected, processed and stored, and adherence to those policies and standards help ensure the proper management and security of data.

Selecting a cloud provider that offers compliance with stringent infrastructure and regulatory rules is important. Even in countries with the strictest data governance legislation, and in industries that operate with the tightest of regulations, there are cloud providers that meet the demands of operating in line with both the law and best practice.

United Kingdom – UKCloud

The UK has established its own raft of data legislation since leaving the European Union, even setting up its own version of the EU’s GDPR, referred to as UK GDPR.

Prioritising data sovereignty, security, and regulatory compliance in the UK, UKCloud was launched to serve UK public sector organisations specifically. With its infrastructure UK-based, UKCloud has been widely adopted in sectors like healthcare, defence, and government services. The company focuses on sovereign cloud services – those where users consider the UK location of their data highly important.

The company is approved to provide services to UK public sector organisations through frameworks managed by the Crown Commercial Service. UKCloud is also compliant with UK GDPR and the Data protection Act 2018. It is listed on the UK Government’s G-Cloud framework with certifications including ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018. It also securely handles data that fall under both ‘Official’ and ‘Official Sensitive’ government classifications, meaning it can be used by security forces.

UKCloud offers flexible cloud provisioning, supporting hybrid and multi-cloud models, with integration for OpenStack, VMware, and Kubernetes available for workloads that have to be up and running quickly.

European Union – OVHcloud (France)

OVHcloud meets full compliance standards under the EU GDPR and other European data protection laws, including those local to its native France. It is currently one of the leading and largest independent cloud providers in Europe, with over 450,000 servers in 43 data centres worldwide.

Marketed as the most “trusted cloud provider in Europe,” OVHcloud ensures data is controlled under European laws only and is not subject to US regulations that may affect operations, like the CLOUD Act.

OVHcloud holds certifications including HDS (Health Data Hosting), ISO 27001, and SecNumCloud (French ANSSI qualification for cloud services). It offers storage, Kubernetes, IaaS, PaaS, and bare-metal servers, catering to diverse businesses from basic infrastructures for the startup to advanced app hosting, mirroring, and database clustering.

South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) requires that the personal data of the country’s citizens be processed in South Africa and only be moved abroad for storage under unique circumstances.

BCX provides cloud services designed for South African organisations and the national government.BCX meets POPIA’s stringent legal requirements, offering public, private, and hybrid cloud models, and local data residency.

Asia – Naver Cloud (South Korea)

Several Asian nations have highly stringent data privacy laws, but South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) is considered one of the world’s strictest, requiring many categories of personal data to remain in the region.

Where many cloud providers fail to meet such heavily regulated laws, Naver Cloud succeeds, boasting a strong presence in government and regulated sectors. Designed specifically to meet South Korea’s comprehensive data sovereignty laws, Naver Cloud is fully compliant with a number of national standards, including K-ISMS (Korea Information Security Management System).

Middle East – G42 Cloud (United Arab Emirates)

The UAE has introduced strict data protection laws, like the Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on Personal Data Protection (PDPL). The robust legislation requires explicit consent for data processing, ensuring sensitive data remains in the UAE.

Conclusions

G42 Cloud, a subsidiary of AI and cloud computing company, G42, provides cloud services that prioritise data sovereignty, something that some of the larger Western cloud operators cannot. It operates a substantial network of Tier III data centres throughout the UAE and the wider region, and G42 Cloud has become the one of the largest cloud providers for the UAE government, as well as for the Kingdom’s financial and healthcare sectors.

If a business or organisation trades across international borders, even a single customer record (for example) concerning a foreign national can be subject to the data protection laws of a different country. On the borderless internet, it is easy for a business trading globally to fall foul of the shifting picture of laws and statutory compliance that applies to their operations.

By carefully choosing a cloud provider that places significant emphasis on its adherence to data governance, companies can avoid infringing data rules that apply from legislatures many thousands of miles distant.

The above three cloud providers are, we feel, a good starting ground for any data storage expert to begin their search to find the ideal, safe, and compliant cloud computing provider.

(Image source: “The Long Arm Of The Law” by canonsnapper is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)