Cloud data encryption 2024: Same procedure as every year?

Pfungstadt, January 1, 2024 - As with every new year, companies, economists and other experts are predicting what will change in the new year. What they have hardly had on their radar in the past: the so-called black swan events, large, surprising and drastic events. No one had really reckoned with cross-country freighters and supply chain collapses, the pandemic or wars with far-reaching economic consequences. Andreas Steffen, CEO of eperi, summarizes what will affect companies in the coming 12 months from the perspective of a cloud data encryption expert.

The back door is still ajar
Some of what was true for 2023 and earlier years also applies to 2024: you should have a well-thought-out concept for security, data protection and compliance in place to protect yourself and your customers and to protect your company from serious operational failures or penalties. However, the past teaches us one thing: no matter how hard you work to protect and make IT systems and data resilient, there is usually a small back door that remains open, which cyber criminals and data thieves will exploit sooner or later. The prediction for 2024 is therefore that the familiar game of hare and hedgehog between the good guys and the bad guys will continue - albeit on a different, higher level. The huge wave of digital transformation that is sweeping many companies into the cloud will pose even more challenges for data protection and data security next year. Many of the cloud offerings focus on extended, improved functionality with even more automation or even artificial intelligence. However, what is rarely a priority in the development and provision of these solutions and implementation planning is the security and protection of data in the cloud. This is why the delicate little plant “security in the cloud” will grow into a real trend in the coming year.

We are sovereign: a creation from 2023 will remain so in 2024
Since 2023 at the latest, sovereign has been a term that cloud service providers of the so-called “sovereign cloud” have adopted in order to circumvent data protection problems with internationally operating cloud hyperscalers. The principle: reliable and trustworthy IT service providers from Germany or other EU countries enter into partnerships with hyperscalers and offer their services and their range of functions - hosted in Germany in order to maintain compliance. Sovereignty - by definition, self-determination as opposed to heteronomy or the bearer of sovereignty - is a fitting term to associate with the sovereign cloud more independence and, above all, data protection. However, what seems so promising serves more to reassure the data owner than to provide real data protection.

It is important that those responsible in the company always realize that the responsibility for data security lies exclusively with them. They are liable for this and cannot simply transfer this responsibility to someone outside the company - not even by relying on the sovereign cloud concept.

What does this mean for data protection in 2024? The trend towards greater sovereignty in terms of data protection will continue in 2024, as data experts, executives and managers are not only aware of its usefulness, but also of the personal liability it entails in some cases - for example through NIS 2.0 or the new EU rules on directors' liability. However, companies that want to establish real sovereignty will have to ensure effective protection of their data in the cloud themselves. And the most effective way to protect cloud data is to independently initiate and implement encryption as soon as the data leaves the company.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)