Switzerland Wants To Become the World's Data Vault

wiredmikey writes "Business for Switzerland's 55 data centers is booming. They benefit from the Swiss reputation for security and stability, and some predict the nation already famous for its super-safe banks will soon also be known as the world's data vault. For example, housed in one of Switzerland's numerous deserted Cold War-era army barracks, one high-tech data center is hidden behind four-ton steel doors built to withstand a nuclear attack — plus biometric scanners and an armed guard. Such tight security is in growing demand in a world shaking from repeated leaks scandals and fears of spies lurking behind every byte."

Comments

Re:Swiss's NSA analog?

[AHuxley]

The Swiss mil did a lot of mil 'swaps' and further 'education' with the US. The Swiss also had a lot of their deep bunker information sold to the Soviet Union. Would the US have been invited in to help with security after such an event and friendships formed?
Switzerland had great skills in ~cold war crypto products for export but did not seem to pose any decryption issues for the GCHQ/NSA over time.
What an Australia, UK, NZ, Canada gives to the US via generational agreement, the Swiss might give to the US out of staff friendship and ongoing gov trust?
The other aspect would be the ongoing tax issues with US citizens and the use of EU/Swiss banking products.
Swiss banking might become more open to US legal requests, would Swiss data protection laws for non Swiss end users bend the same way over time under constant US legal/gov/mil requests?

More holes than Swiss cheese

[Anonymous Coward]

Three more Swiss banks join US tax deal - Reuters - 12 hours ago.

Swiss banks are supposedly the safest place to store money, If the Swiss are willing to share customer data with the US, what else can't they share?

Just another tentacle of the Nothing is beyond our reach motto.

Re:More holes than Swiss cheese

[TubeSteak]

Switzerland signs [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] tax convention
  October 15, 2013

The convention provides for all forms of mutual assistance including exchange on request, spontaneous tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection, while protecting taxpayers' rights, the OECD said. Automatic exchange of data is possible under the convention but requires additional agreements between the states involved.

Once this treaty gets passed through the Swiss legislature, their bank secrecy will become a thing of the past.

Data in any single place is vulnerable

[presidenteloco]

The solution to data longevity is such things as:

-Redundant storage

-Globally distributed storage

-Fragmentation and reassembly of data (so no host is responsible for content, since it is all just fragments)

-A protocol whereby the network monitors how many copies of a datum there are and creates more copies if it can't find enough.

-A protocol that automatically migrates data fragements to both newer host storage and more reliable host storage gradually over time.

-Re-wrappable encryption protocol

-Onion routing for access

-An economic model such as quid pro quo storage sharing (you store some of anonymous others' fragments, they store some of yours, no money exchanged.

-Storage of metadata and programming language execution environments and programs (with instructions) along with data

Not safe anymore

[flyingfsck]

The Swiss banks are not secret anymore. The laws changed and the NSA and GCHQ monitors all SWIFT and other transfers as well.