The partnership between Senetas and AUCloud, a sovereign Australian IaaS provider, enables sovereign data storage for Australian government and business customers using Senetas’ SureDrop encrypted file-sharing and collaboration SaaS application. Senetas and AUCloud have joined forces to offer the best of both worlds – a secure sovereign application and SaaS sovereign data storage.
SureDrop – a sovereign Australian security solution itself – is offered as both an on-premises and cloud enabled SaaS customer solution. With this partnership, Australian customers can now elect to have their SureDrop SaaS solution hosted by AUCloud’s sovereign infrastructure.
Hosted by AUCloud, SureDrop file sharing and collaboration enables 100% data sovereignty and end-to-end encryption security without compromising user friendly convenience. Importantly, SureDrop offers seamless integration with Microsoft 365, Azure and Outlook enterprise solutions.
With remote working an increasing need for business and government organisations, SureDrop provides the ‘must have’ comfort organisations require to share files and collaborate online whilst mitigating cyber risks – with the assurance that all data remains sovereign within Australia.
The importance of data sovereignty
Driven by a greater focus on what data organisations keep and where they keep it, together with increasingly stringent data protection legislation, data sovereignty has become a high-profile topic.
The original concept of data sovereignty is that data is subject to the laws and governance within the nation it’s collected. However, this approach has caused concern for cloud computing users (commercial enterprises or government agencies), as many cloud service providers have storage and resources spread across the globe.
This is especially troublesome for businesses that need to keep certain types of information within a defined geography – whether due to internal policies or external governance.
Combining the cybersecurity technologies of both companies delivers an ‘all-Australian’ sovereign solution. Customers can rest assured that their data remains end-to-end encrypted and on Australian soil; protecting them at a time where cybersecurity incidents are on the rise and data protection is more important than ever.
ACSC 2020 updated Cloud Assessment and Authorisation Framework
The importance of data sovereignty is highlighted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) released 2020 updated Cloud Assessment and Authorisation Framework (CAAF). It should be received enthusiastically by the cybersecurity community, as well as government departments and agencies, for which it provides an important and clear cloud infrastructure risk assessment framework.
Moreover, whilst the CAAF is specifically aimed at Australian government department agencies, it serves as an important guide for all Australian commercial enterprises.
Specifically, the CAAF recognises the importance of ‘data sovereignty’. Sovereign Australian cloud providers (Australian owned and operated) may offer a reduced sovereignty risk profile compared with foreign owned providers, even when they operate within Australia.
The CAAF highlights the need for more detailed data definitions, recognising the off-shore risks associated with complete customer data, metadata, data monitoring and analytics (or derived data). Such enhanced data definitions should be adopted consistently across all government IT activities, from cloud services to procurement. This would enable essential risk assessment visibility and informed authorisation.
Find out more about SureDrop encrypted file-sharing & collaboration.
About Senetas
Senetas, is an Australian public listed company (ASX:SEN) and a leading developer of high-performance encryption security solutions. From certified high-assurance hardware and virtualised encryption for data networks, to the most secure file-sharing and collaboration application with data sovereignty control; all are based on the same crypto-agile, quantum-ready platform.
Senetas solutions protect enterprise, government, defence, technology service provider and critical national infrastructure customers against data breaches and cyber-attacks. Leveraging end-to-end encryption and state-of-the-art key management, they provide long-term data protection without compromising network and application performance, or user experience.
Visit senetas.com to find out more.
About AUCloud
AUCloud is Australia’s sovereign cloud IaaS provider exclusively focused on Government (Federal, State and Local) and Critical National Infrastructure Industry communities. We are independently certified to the PROTECTED level controls of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Information Security Manual (ISM).
Our mission is to deliver the leading scalable IaaS service sovereign to Australia, supporting Australian Governments and Critical National Industries, making their applications and systems more secure, more efficient and more effective for all users and citizens
Visit australiacloud.com.au to find out more.
