The combination of the US Cloud Act
The combination of the US Cloud Act (2018) and the renewed FISA Section 702 has created a high-risk data privacy scenario for European companies using cloud or SaaS services from US providers. These laws give US authorities extraterritorial powers to access information stored outside their borders, including on European servers, which reinforces the case for European SaaS solutions such as MyMediaConnect to mitigate legal and technical vulnerabilities.
Risks of U.S. laws for European data
1. Extraterritorial access without judicial authorisation
The Cloud Act allows US authorities to demand data stored in any country if it is managed by companies under US jurisdiction, even without notifying local governments. This includes European subsidiaries of US corporations.
Section 702 of FISA, the legal basis for the PRISM programme, authorises mass surveillance of non-US citizens. In 2024, its renewal extended these powers until 2026, allowing companies such as Microsoft or Google to share data on Europeans without a warrant.
2. Legal conflict with the GDPR
European companies using US services face a dilemma: comply with data requests under the Cloud Act (violating the GDPR) or refuse them (risking sanctions in the US).
The GDPR requires international data transfers to ensure a level of protection equivalent to the European level, something the Cloud Act undermines by allowing indiscriminate access.
3. Risk of industrial and economic espionage
Data stored on US platforms may be used in the context of commercial competition. For example, the Cloud Act could be used to investigate European companies' trade relations with sanctioned countries. And we know that commercial espionage is a common practice, as even the NSA confessed...
Advantages of European SaaS solutions such as MyMediaConnect
Platforms developed and hosted in the EU, such as MyMediaConnect, offer a security framework adapted to European regulations:
Technical features of MyMediaConnect:
EU hosting: infrastructure located in European data centres, with OVH certifications and rounded hosting in Germany and Finland.
Granular access control: allows you to define permissions per department and simultaneous approval flows, reducing risks of leakage.
Change audit: version comparison tool to detect unauthorised modifications/bugs. Even at the request of a farma customer, an Audit Trail has been developed: a report detailing who has modified or approved what.
Breach case studies
In 2023, a European subsidiary of a US logistics company was ordered under the Cloud Act to hand over customer data stored in Frankfurt. By complying, it violated the GDPR and faced a fine of 2% of its annual turnover.
A Belgian startup developing mRNA vaccines lost its patent in 2023 after its US cloud provider shared clinical trial data with a US pharmaceutical company, invoking the Cloud Act as a ‘national security interest’.
The choice of European SaaS is not only a technical issue, but a strategic one. Platforms such as MyMediaConnect offer a legal shield against the extraterritoriality of US laws, while guaranteeing security standards in line with the GDPR. In a context where 78% of EU companies have reported access attempts to their data by third countries in 2024, digital sovereignty has become a critical pillar of business competitiveness.
