The analyst firm Gartner has advised international companies to rethink their options for maintaining data outside the US and how they connect to it.
Rethinking Telecoms
Those connections could be subject to eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, Silicon.com noted in reference to accusations that AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon had provided information on millions of calls to the government agency.
Gartner said greater scrutiny of communications by the government should compel firms in other countries to reconsider where they host data. The increasing risks to having privacy invaded may be enough of an issue that those companies should host that data outside of the US.
The article cited part of Gartner's advisory note to clients:
Businesses with both domestic and international employees and customers - particularly those with significant operations in Canada and the EU - should expect heightened sensitivity about the way they use telecommunications, internet and other communications service providers in the United States, and be prepared to answer questions about their use of US providers.
Although Gartner recommended companies question their service providers about the issues of data management and its disclosure to outsiders, that may not be sufficient to allay concerns. Government requests for that information tend to be conducted under laws that prohibit the provider from even acknowledging it had received a request for information.
This could lead to international firms relocating their data to countries with less potential for intrusion into their communications. Some may turn to using VPN technology or other methods of encrypted access to data for their daily operations.
The latter choice seems more likely. Any government could compel a telecom to provide access to information. Encryption technology looks like it could be in for greater demand by firms of all sizes to counter eavesdropping threats.
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