What Happens if there is a major cyber-attack on the Principality’s Data

The Principality is demonstrably advanced in IT and is morphing at a fast pace on the road to being one of the smart cities of the future. And an important part of that is having control of one’s data in one’s own “Cloud”. 

Now you would think on achieving all that one could relax and even bask in the achievement. 

But once having climbed to the top of the mountain and created one’s own Data Cloud, there is in fact no time to take a breather. It is necessary to protect the Data Cloud from every conceivable risk. 

It’s not hard to imagine sophisticated cyberattack attempts. But equally natural disasters such as an earthquake or a tidal wave could risk damaging everything. And the consequence could mean bringing part of the country to a halt. 

The answer is to duplicate the sovereign cloud with a digital safe hosting Monaco’s data in another data centre. Luxembourg has been chosen by the Prince’s Government. 

A bilateral agreement was signed on July 15, 2021 between the Minister of State, Pierre Dartout, and the Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy, Xavier Bettel. The elected members of the National Council approved the ratification of the relevant act, unanimously voting on Bill 1076 on April 13th. 

Why Luxembourg 

Luxembourg is a pioneer in digital security. NATO, the European Union and also Estonia, host a backup of their sensitive data there. Monaco representatives have visited the Bissen data centre, 30 kilometers from the capital of the Grand Duchy.

The Duplicate Data Safe has to be at a distance 

The data and systems will be located over 1,000km from Monaco which more than meets the security standard of a minimum 150 km between the main data center and the back-up one.

Guarantees of inviolability and immunity and Monaco’s sole Control of its own data 

The creation of this “twin” of the sovereign cloud could only be conceived on the condition of benefiting from all the guarantees of inviolability and immunity. It’s like being a country embassy which essentially is part of Monaco itself. 

The signed agreement between the two countries acknowledges this preservation of Monegasque sovereignty. Article 4 specifies that the premises may not be subject to any search, requisition, seizure or execution measure. 

Only official representatives of the Principality, its authorized representatives and representatives of the Monegasque judicial authority will be able to access the premises.

The Luxembourg authorities, whether administrative, judicial, military or police will not be able to enter it without the prior consent of the Principality who will retain strict control. 

Needless to say the Monaco Cloud, with this back-up, is as safe as it is possible to be.