AWS Forms EU-Based Cloud Unit As Customers Fret

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: In a nod to European customers' growing mistrust of American hyperscalers, Amazon Web Services says it is establishing a new organization in the region 'backed by strong technical controls, sovereign assurances, and legal protections.' Ever since the Trump 2.0 administration assumed office and implemented an erratic and unprecedented foreign policy stance, including aggressive tariffs and threats to the national sovereignty of Greenland and Canada, customers in Europe have voiced unease about placing their data in the hands of big U.S. tech companies. The Register understands that data sovereignty is now one of the primary questions that customers at European businesses ask sales reps at hyperscalers when they have conversations about new services.

AWS is forming a new European organization with a locally controlled parent company and three subsidiaries incorporated in Germany, as part of its European Sovereign Cloud (ESC) rollout, set to launch by the end of 2025. Kathrin Renz, an AWS Industries VP based in Munich, will lead the operation as the first managing director of the AWS ESC. The other leaders, we're told, include a government security official and a privacy official – all EU citizens. The cloud giant stated: 'AWS will establish an independent advisory board for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, legally obligated to act in the best interest of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Reinforcing the sovereign control of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, the advisory board will consist of four members, all EU citizens residing in the EU, including at least one independent board member who is not affiliated with Amazon. The advisory board will act as a source of expertise and provide accountability for AWS European Sovereign Cloud operations, including strong security and access controls and the ability to operate independently in the event of disruption.'

The AWS ESC allows the business to continue operations indefinitely, 'even in the event of a connectivity interruption between the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and the rest of the world.' Authorized ESC staff who are EU residents will have independent access to a replica of the source code needed to maintain services under 'extreme circumstances.' The services will have 'no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure,' with staff, tech, and leadership all based on the continent, AWS said. 'The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will have its own dedicated Amazon Route 53, providing customers with a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS), domain name registration, and health-checking web services,' the company said. 'The Route 53 name servers for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will use only European Top Level Domains (TLDs) for their own names,' added AWS. 'AWS will also launch a dedicated 'root' European Certificate Authority, so that the key material, certificates, and identity verification needed for Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security certificates can all run autonomously within the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.'

The Register also notes that the sovereign cloud will be 'supported by a dedicated European Security Operations Center (SOC), led by an EU citizen residing in the EU.' That said, the parent company 'remains under American ownership and may be subject to the Cloud Act, which requires U.S. companies to turn over data to law enforcement authorities with the proper warrants, no matter where that data is stored.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.