As Cyber Attacks Rise, Thales Chooses OVHcloud for Made in France Hosting of Citadel Team Encrypted Messaging Data

• Thales and OVHcloud have joined forces to provide ‘Made in France’ sovereign data hosting for the Citadel Team trusted messaging service for enhanced protection of data in transit and at rest, and increased resilience.

• To meet growing demand for communications and data security, the secure Citadel messaging app is available to the public free of charge on smartphones and computers.

• More than one out of three CAC 40 companies have already adopted Citadel Team, which now includes new functionality for professional users, including videoconferencing, group calls and screen sharing.

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- To guarantee security and complete control of data, Thales and OVHcloud have joined forces to offer Citadel Team encrypted messaging customers a trusted hosting platform that guarantees the sovereignty of their data. Citadel Team customers' data is encrypted and stored at OVHcloud, via its own datacenters located in France.

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to infiltrate enterprise networks through vulnerabilities created by the large numbers of people working from home. With the sharp rise in cyberattacks — there have been four times the number of attacks in 2020 than in 2019 according to ANSSI, France’s national agency for information system security. There has also been a growing demand for greater security on data sharing and communication apps; it is more important than ever for companies and users to protect their information, encrypt their data and suitable hosting solution to control how it is stored.

Thales offers professionals a secure instant messaging service, Citadel Team, which requires users to register with a company email address. Already adopted by over a third of CAC 40 companies, the service includes the encryption system used by 50 NATO countries. It provides the guarantee that a company’s data will not be used or sold to third parties. It also ensures that all data is stored in France and that the organization can easily manage user devices themselves. Based on these guarantees, the Citadel development teams have recently obtained the France Cybersecurity 2021 label*.

Citadel Team’s new partner, OVHcloud, shares the same values of security, sovereignty and data protection. Hosting Citadel Team data in OVHcloud's data centers in France is a guarantee for customers of the application to benefit from an environment of trust. OVHcloud relies on an integrated model that gives it complete control over its value chain: from the design of its servers to the construction and management of its data centers, not forgetting the orchestration of its fiber optic network.

Available free of charge, Citadel Team offers users end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice services on a smartphone or computer, plus a host of premium services, including videoconferencing, group calls and screen sharing. Citadel Team continues to add new functionality tailored to the communication requirements of professionals to offer an all-in-one communication solution without sacrificing data security or usability.

“We are especially proud to announce this partnership to our customers and the general public. Thales and OVH have been trusted partners for many years, and by combining our strengths under this new hosting arrangement, we are taking the sovereign Citadel Team solution to the next level to offer our customers the very best data hosting option available,” Pierre-Yves Jolivet, Vice President, Cyber Defence Solutions, Thales.

“We welcome Thales' choice to host Citadel Team data on OVHcloud infrastructures. The combination of our strengths is good news for users looking for guarantees that their data will be respected. They can now be sure to benefit from an alternative, trusted and secure end-to-end solution,” Caroline Comet-Fraigneau, VP France and Benelux, OVHcloud.

* The label “France Cybersecurity”, is a guarantee for users that the products and services bearing the label are French and that they have clear and well-defined functionalities, with a level of quality attested by an independent jury.

A propos de Thales
Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations – connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum computing – to build a confident future crucial for the development of our societies. The Group provides its customers – businesses, organisations and governments – in the defense, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security domains with solutions, services and products that help them fulfil their critical role, consideration for the individual being the driving force behind all decisions.

Thales has 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2020 the Group generated sales of €17 billion.

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