Cloudflare unveils Data Localization Suite

Cloudflare released Data Localization Suite to give businesses across the globe tools to address their data locality, privacy, and compliance needs.

With Data Localization Suite, businesses can use Cloudflare’s global cloud network to control where their data goes and who has access to it – no matter what countries they operate in, their industry, or their specific data protection obligations.

Many countries across the globe are introducing new standards and regulations to address data access, protection, and privacy. As a result, businesses now need to evaluate and set data controls at the regional level.

Until now, businesses who wanted to localize their data often had to choose to restrict their application to one data center or one cloud provider’s region—sacrificing performance or security as a result. The Data Localization Suite helps businesses get the performance and security benefits of Cloudflare’s global network, while making it easy to set rules and controls at the edge about where their data is stored and protected.

“Companies that want to win globally need to be able to operate within the local values and requirements of different regions, and that is increasingly true as nearly every country evaluates how to address data access and protection within its borders,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. “We’ve always prioritized privacy at Cloudflare, and now we’re making it easier than ever for our customers to navigate this shifting landscape globally, and regionally.”

With Cloudflare’s Data Localization Suite, businesses of all sizes have a suite of tools to give them:

• Control over where their data is inspected, no matter where they do business: To quickly adapt to changing local requirements, companies need an easy way to adjust local controls. With Cloudflare’s Regional Services offering, companies can choose the location of the data centers where their traffic is inspected. Businesses can also use Cloudflare’s Geo Key Manager to choose where private keys are held, and Edge Log Delivery to send their logs anywhere in the world.
• An easy way to build and deploy serverless code, with regional control: In this complex ecosystem, developers need an easy way to build applications that combine global performance with local compliance. Now Cloudflare is expanding Workers, its serverless platform, with Jurisdiction Tags for Durable Objects to give developers control of where they store data without sacrificing global performance.
• Alignment with global and European security certifications: As regulations and industry norms shift, standardized certifications can provide validation that businesses are acting in line with their industry. Today, Cloudflare meets industry-leading standards for security and privacy, and validates those commitments with third party auditors on an annual basis. This includes ISO 27001/27002, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), and SSAE 18 SOC 2 Type II.
• Default encryption based on the latest industry research: Privacy isn’t possible without encryption, which is why Cloudflare continuously contributes to the industry’s pursuit of better encryption protocols. For example, Cloudflare’s work developing the Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) protocol standard will help protect the privacy of Internet traffic metadata.

“Cloudflare has operated in Europe since it’s very early days, and so we are acutely aware of how companies headquartered or operating here need greater flexibility to operate in different localities here and across the world,” said Thomas Seifert, CFO of Cloudflare. “With this launch, Cloudflare is doubling down on its track record of building privacy safeguards into its network and products – furthering our mission to help build a better Internet.”

Today, Cloudflare’s global network spans more than 200 cities in over 100 countries including more than 78 cities across Europe to bring its security, performance, and reliability solutions to as close to its European customers as possible. Cloudflare continues to invest in the region, with offices in Lisbon, London, Munich, and Paris.

“SIXT operates in more than 105 countries, and we turned to Cloudflare because we needed a solution that could truly scale globally,” said Dr. Klaus Kolitz, Chief Technology Officer, at SIXT. “With Cloudflare, we have confidence that we have the tools we need to ensure a safe and fast online experience for our customers, while providing our teams a flexible and secure way to build and deploy applications.”

“At Delivery Hero, we always strive to deliver an amazing experience to our customers. Cloudflare helps us do the same for our internal teams: offering them a secure working environment across the globe and an easy way to build fast, reliable, and privacy-respecting applications,” said Christian Von Hardenberg, CTO of Delivery Hero.

“Millions of people and businesses around the world trust TransferWise for a faster, more convenient, and transparent way to send and spend money abroad. With Cloudflare, we can deliver a fast and reliable online experience, operate securely so our customers are safe, and ensure user privacy with built-in data protection,” said Dr. Thomas Hewer, Engineering Lead at TransferWise.

“Cloudflare streamlined our migration from on-premise to the cloud — giving us the strategic flexibility to choose the right cloud solution for the job, and the ability to easily make changes down the line,” said Isabel Wolters, CTO of Handelsblatt. “We look forward to Cloudflare’s continued investment in both its product and its presence in Europe.”

“Cloudflare’s Project Galileo reflects exactly the spirit of technological innovation combined with a responsible business approach, which we at the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and many of our European partners and friends highly endorse. The focus of our foundation is to advance democracy worldwide. Hence, we didn’t hesitate for a moment to partner with Cloudflare for Project Galileo, because we know how important it is to protect democracy activists and civil society organizations from malign interference of state or non-state actors,” said Jonas Parello-Plesner, Executive Director of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation.