The European Union approves the security of Microsoft Cloud services
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One of the problems that multinational Cloud Computing service companies encounter when offering their services in Europe is the special difficulty in meeting the strict security and protection requirements of data defined in EU law.
Microsoft Cloud services have just completed an important milestone, having obtained security approval from the authorities of the European Union ; becoming also the first and only provider that has achieved it so far.
Safe Harbor Death Announced
The express prohibition of user information and/or data being transferred outside the borders of the European Union to countries that do not meet the criteria defined in the legislation, has had a powerful blocking effect on cloud growth and adoption in the EU
In order for North American companies to comply with the European directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data, the Department of Commerce of The USA created an annual certification process called Safe Harbor - which defined the principles that cover the requirements of the EU - and which has not stopped receiving negative reviews since its establishment.
The security approval that Microsoft Cloud services have obtained anticipates that Safe Harbor is going to be suspended, for which reason users Europeans can rest assured that because of them there will be no cuts or interruptions in services.
If Safe Harbor were not finally repealed, it would only apply to the United States, allowing unrestricted data transfers and storage with the rest of the world.
In order to reach these agreements and obtain approval, a significant technical and legal effort has been made so that the users can fully legally move the information through these Cloud services. And Microsoft has included it in contractual agreements with its customers; which they are also the first to do.
Starting July 1, all customers of services covered by the approval: Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Windows Intune , they will be asked to sign the new data privacy conditions, as required by the EU; and start operating internationally, without the current legal restrictions.
More information | Privacy authorities across Europe approve Microsoft’s cloud commitments, The Safe Harbor, ARTICLE 29 Data Protection Working Part
