Page 74 - Red Hat PR REPORT - AUGUST 2025

8/7/25, 10:55 AM The urgency of digital sovereignty in a geopolitically unstable world - The Catalyst
operate independently, regardless of whether disruptions originate at the

geopolitical or vendor level. This distinction has now been officially defined in the
Netherlands by the Dutch government.

ATB was sovereign (regulated under Dutch law) but not autonomous, so when its

cloud providers pulled the plug, it had no backup plan. And, of course, ATB is not
alone, in Australia another major hyperscaler accidentally deleted superannuation

fund UniSuper’s online account. Thankfully for UniSuper and its half a million

members, they had taken the wise step of having a third-party back-up.

Building true autonomy takes a strategic approach

To avoid ATB’s fate, organisations need to take proactive steps towards

technology and systems resilience. First, they should eliminate single points of

failure by adopting multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies including on-premise
solutions, reducing reliance on any single provider. Open-source solutions, such

as Red Hat OpenShift, offer portability across environments, helping businesses

avoid lock-in to a single vendor’s ecosystem, and providing customers with the

flexibility, privacy and portability required to adapt to future regulations and
sovereign requirements.

In addition to this, specific technologies such as Confidential Computing can help

you to continue using your current investments in cloud technologies while
protecting your data from third party operations. Open-source software, being a

neutral decentralised way to develop software, delivers access and transparency

while not relying on a single vendor, instead leaning on the decentralised
community as the real back up.

Next, organisations must control their exit strategy, for a smooth migration of data

and applications if vendors change policies or face geopolitical restrictions. Lastly,

they should invest in community-driven resilience that can provide an additional
safety net. The CVE database, a cornerstone of global cybersecurity, nearly

collapsed after US funding cuts but was saved by international collaboration,

https://thecatalystonline.com/home/the-urgency-of-digital-sovereignty-in-a-geopolitically-unstable-world/ 3/4