Worried that cloud giants offer concentrated targets, the US plans to regulate the security practices of cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google
Governments and businesses have spent two decades rushing to the cloud — trusting some of their most sensitive data to tech giants …
PoliticoJohn Sakellariadis
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands on top of an unresolved transatlantic fault line: the Cloud Act's extraterritorial reach over overseas data already had EU officials worried that US law follows data into European data centers. Regulating how Amazon, Microsoft, and Google secure that data now adds a second lever — not just who can access it, but whether it is protected well enough to be trusted there at all.
Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and other providers face new mandated security practices and oversight for infrastructure holding government and enterprise data — turning security posture from a selling point into a compliance obligation.
Government agencies and regulated businesses that consolidated onto the big three now have a regulator setting minimum standards for the concentrated targets they created by migrating.
Second-order effects
Google's EU sovereign-cloud and 'data shield' push shows the commercial playbook rivals will copy: security assurances packaged per-jurisdiction become a bidding differentiator for public-sector and regulated workloads.
A US regulatory framework gives Washington standing to pressure foreign providers — the groundwork for the explored campaign against Alibaba Cloud and Huawei Cloud — inviting reciprocal scrutiny of US operators abroad.
Third-order effects
If hyperscale cloud gets treated as regulated critical infrastructure, the market fragments along jurisdictional lines — a structural risk for providers that hold roughly 70% of EU cloud, as EU efforts to cut reliance on US tech already anticipate.
Security regulation becomes another instrument in the broader contest over who controls data infrastructure, alongside the Cloud Act, China's data-oversight regime, and sovereign-cloud buildouts.
The trend: Governments are moving hyperscale cloud from lightly governed utility to regulated strategic infrastructure, pushing providers toward jurisdiction-specific offerings as data sovereignty concerns harden into rules.
The cloud companies made their own bed on this one; been beating this drum for years: “On top of that, U.S. officials express significant frustration that cloud providers often up-charge customers to add security protections.” https://twitter.com/...
For years companies and governments have rushed to the cloud to store their data. But what if entrusting all this sensitive information to the hands of a few, powerful tech giants wasn't such a good idea, after all? https://www.politico.com/...
I imagine they already have incredibly formidable security and not sure government regulation will help. They have a massive incentive to not screw this up and know it https://twitter.com/...
For years companies and governments have rushed to the cloud to store their data. But what if entrusting all this sensitive information to the hands of a few, powerful tech giants wasn't such a good idea, after all? https://www.politico.com/...
Great chatting with @johnnysaks130 about the risks of blindly moving everything into the cloud. How understanding systemic cloud risks is key to realizing the true benefits and ultimately achieving the dream of Cloud Security pushed by providers today. https://www.politico.com/..…
I mean what did they expect? Cloud in a nutshell is companies and govt not trying to pay to buy/and maintain infrastructure HW/SW. Being dumb enought to think Bezos, Gates, Ellison, Pindichar Corp and more were infallible to hacks it just stupid. https://twitter.com/...
Glad some are waking up: the cloud is a huge security vulnerability. Yet Republicans would rather see national security compromised by China & Russia — and risk losing $15 billion per outage — than to regulate?! #BigTech #CriticalInfrastructure https://www.politico.com/...
Among other steps, the Biden administration recently said it will require cloud providers to verify the identity of their users to prevent foreign hackers from renting space on U.S. cloud servers. https://twitter.com/...
The White House is scrounging for authorities to regulate cloud service providers, which have been heavily targeted by hackers since they serve so many high-value targets. Officials are confident that cloud companies will play ball. https://www.politico.com/... https://twitter.co…
Biden admin's cloud security problem: ‘It could take down the internet like a stack of dominos’: The Biden administration is embarking on the nation's first comprehensive plan to regulate the security practices of cloud providers. https://dld.bz/jCmvq
After two decades of trusting some of their most sensitive data to the cloud, the government, worried it may become a huge security vulnerability, is embarking on the nation's first comprehensive plan to regulate the security practices of cloud providers. https://www.politico.com…
For the sake of online privacy, this needs stopped. Things taken away are rarely ever given back. What are your thoughts? “it will require cloud providers to verify the identity of their users to prevent foreign hackers from renting space on U.S. cloud https://www.politico.com/..…
New: I spoke with Acting NCD @KembaWalden, @robknake and other @ONCD staff about the White House's plan to more tightly regulate the cloud industry. https://www.politico.com/...