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BSI Declares Germany’s Digital Sovereignty Unattainable, Urges Technical Controls

Germany’s cybersecurity agency calls for technical safeguards, isolated domestic clouds, swift AI oversight decisions under new EU regulations.

Overview

  • BSI President Claudia Plattner warns that Germany will remain reliant on non-European cloud and AI technologies for years due to US firms’ investment lead.
  • A February agreement with Google Cloud to develop secure cloud services for German authorities faces criticism from the Gesellschaft für Informatik over US Cloud Act access risks.
  • The federal administration awarded Ionos a contract to build a BSI-certified, air-gapped private cloud hosted in federal datacenters to prevent uncontrolled data flows.
  • EU AI transparency and safety rules effective 2 August have intensified pressure for a clear allocation of AI cybersecurity responsibilities between the BSI and the Bundesnetzagentur.
  • The BSI has issued operational guidance urging firms to avoid uploading security-relevant data to public AI services and to use corporate accounts with strict privacy settings.