Miguel de Bruyck, director of the Belgian Cyber Security Center, issued a warning: Europe has now “lost the Internet” due to US companies dominating the global digital infrastructure, and it is “simply impossible” to store data within Europe. “Frankly speaking, we've lost the entire cloud services market, and we've lost the internet.” De Bruyck said, “If anyone wants to store 100% of their information within the EU... then it's just whimsical, and the goals set are completely unrealistic.” The Belgian official pointed out that Europe's cyber defense system relies on the cooperation of private companies, and most of these companies come from the US. “In cyberspace, everything is commercial; everything is privately owned.” De Bruyck has been in charge of the Belgian Cybersecurity Center for ten years. He believes that this dependency is not a “huge security problem” for the EU, but Europe is missing out on key new technologies spearheaded by the US and other regions — including cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which are critical to resisting cyber attacks.

Miguel de Bruyck, director of the Belgian Cyber Security Center, issued a warning: Europe has now “lost the Internet” due to US companies dominating the global digital infrastructure, and it is “simply impossible” to store data within Europe. “Frankly speaking, we've lost the entire cloud services market, and we've lost the internet.” De Bruyck said, “If anyone wants to store 100% of their information within the EU... then it's just whimsical, and the goals set are completely unrealistic.” The Belgian official pointed out that Europe's cyber defense system relies on the cooperation of private companies, and most of these companies come from the US. “In cyberspace, everything is commercial; everything is privately owned.” De Bruyck has been in charge of the Belgian Cybersecurity Center for ten years. He believes that this dependency is not a “huge security problem” for the EU, but Europe is missing out on key new technologies spearheaded by the US and other regions — including cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which are critical to resisting cyber attacks.