CWI and other academic partners have joined forces to create the Dutch Secure Autonomous Cloud. The goal is to establish a transparent, national cloud with security guarantees for the processing and storage of confidential information. Their first step is a workshop, paving the way for an ambitious national project proposal to realize this goal.
The second edition of the workshop will take place on Thursday 14 January 2021, from 13.00 to 16.00. This edition focusses specifically on the security needs and challenges of various industry sectors like finance, insurance, software, high tech system integrators, health, etc. Representatives from these sectors are cordially invited to attend and discuss their needs and challenges with academia and industry partners.
The workshop is an initiative of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Radboud University, Vrije Universiteit, and the University of Amsterdam. Registration is required, through this webpage: https://portals.project.cwi.nl/dutch-secure-autonomous-cloud/registration.
Background
Dutch governments and companies are completely dependent on foreign hardware and software suppliers for the storage, management and processing of growing amounts of data. As a result, they lose control over their data, and security standards are not guaranteed. Take, for example, the exchange of sensitive data; how sure are we that access rights to this data are securely verified? What guarantees are there that an attacker will not mimic or tamper with the verification process itself?
The answer is that at the moment there are virtually no guarantees and a complex hardware and software stack of American and Chinese origin: 'Big Tech' has to be trusted. The development of a transparent, national cloud, with security guarantees for the processing and storage of confidential information, could turn the tide and do justice to security standards, privacy legislation and digital autonomy.
Platform
The workshop serves as the first step in developing an ambitious national project proposal within the Long Term Programmes grant scheme (minimum size: 30M€, first deadline: 26 January 2021). It is open to public authorities and representatives from all industrial and societal sectors. The workshop provides a platform to present questions and challenges to science, and to exchange views. In addition, the more substantive and technical aspects of a national cloud facility will be discussed.
