Cloud Provider Group Gives Members GDPR Guidance, Help

Cloud computing businesses may be more directly affected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) than any others—and the association that serves them is ensuring that they’re well taken care of.

The International Association of Cloud and Managed Service Providers (MSPAlliance) announced this week a strategy to help cloud providers comply with the European Union’s much-talked-about new rules for data management to improve consumer privacy, which took effect late last month.

MSPAlliance’s GDPR program includes three parts: GDPR Verify, a module for the group’s existing MSP/Cloud Verify certification  (opens in a new tab); an insurance offering for alliance members; and a legal hotline. The centerpiece of the program is the GDPR Verify tool, which will offer information on geolocation disclosure, access controls, and data breach notification, among other aspects of GDPR.

In a news release  (opens in a new tab), MSPAlliance CEO Charles Weaver noted that cloud providers face significant risk under the new regulation.

“Because GDPR will have a significant impact on the global MSP community, every MSP needs to be aware of what this law says, especially those MSPs with customers in Europe,” Weaver said. “As the largest international organization for MSPs, MSPAlliance is once again bringing its extensive knowledge and expertise of the global MSP industry to help MSPs grapple with the complexities of GDPR.”

The solution, at least for now, offers a best-practices framework in the absence of one from the EU, Hestia Group Managing Partner Nicolas Geudens noted in a release.

“While we are awaiting further details on the official certification scheme to be issued by the EU and/or local authorities in the coming two years, the GDPR Verify Program provides us with a best-practice standard to measure how we stack up against GDPR obligations,” he said.

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