World’s Hard Drive - Data Embassy

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Introduction
As the nations quickly transition to the digital economies, data security and safety are important concerns. Have you ever wondered if you are really safe and secured from data breaches and hackers when there are countries and governments who have been victims of cyber attacks leading to data theft and breaches?
The 2007 Cyberattacks on Estonia became one of the major events that led it to become the first country to have a data embassy.
What exactly is a data embassy? Is it similar to a diplomatic embassy or is it a completely different concept and how it is related to India’s economy? Let’s find out. 


What is a Data Embassy?
A data embassy enables a nation to store a backup of its most important information and services in foreign data centres, where they can be restored in the event of major disasters.
A different sovereign state's territory will be used by the data embassy to keep citizens' personal information. There will be backup outside the boundaries in the case of a cyberattack.

How does it work?
It comprises a group of servers that are situated in different countries but hold data belonging to one country and are governed by that country's laws. By utilizing diplomatic agreements supported by cloud technology solutions, data embassies develop a novel method of data security.

1st data Embassy in Estonia
Estonia, a small country in eastern Europe and a constituent of the former Soviet Union, is the first country in the world to work upon the idea of a data embassy. But the question is what made Estonia think about the concept of a data embassy? In terms of governmental data digitization, Estonia is one of the most advanced countries and has one of the most sophisticated data storage systems in the world.
Rapid steps towards the digitization of government records were made but the spate of increasing cyber-attacks made the government think more about securing its data. The first major cyber-attack occurred in 2007 when 58 major government websites including various websites linked to banks and other institutions were hacked by hackers from Russia. The government had two options- first, to have a virtual cloud-based data storage system offered by a private entity or second, to have a physical data storage system in their own country or in the territory of a friendly foreign country. The first option though it provided good opportunity was not preferred because the state wanted full control and jurisdiction of their data which is why they opted for physical data storage systems situated in and protected by a friendly foreign country, in this case, Luxembourg. This is how the idea of the data embassy came into being.
India's Expectations 
The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced in the budget 2023-24 the setting up of a data embassy in GIFT-City( Gujarat International Finance Tech City) Gujarat. This will be the first such data embassy to be established in India as of now which will promote the vision of India becoming “the hard drive of the world”. What we want to do is to take advantage of our sophisticated IT services and help India become a trustable data bank of the world.

Advantages
It will promote greater investment from cloud storage companies while also enhancing the forex reserves of the government apart from providing employment opportunities to IT professionals directly and to other persons indirectly. 

Challenges
Data embassies, just as attractive they sound, come with huge responsibilities for the government. Extra resources will have to be put in to ensure the safety of the data. Further, in order to attract other countries to set-up their data embassies in our country we need to develop that level of sophisticated technology to match other countries’ expectations.

Conclusion
The problem of data security amid increasing trends of cyber-attacks is not limited to Estonia but extends to the whole world as we transition to a paperless data governance and management. However, this concept of data embassy, if proved successful, can prove to be a shot in the arm for a movement towards greater digitization, data protection and security at a global level. 

References


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