AU is deeply dependent on American IT solutions – this worries students

When it came to light in May that Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague had suddenly lost access to his Outlook, Bálint Márk Sosovicska was taken aback. He is studying classical philology at Aarhus University, is a member of the Arts Council and is a member of the Academic Council at the Faculty of Arts.

Since AU introduced guidelines for the use of GAI (generative artificial intelligence) at the university, he has talked to other students about the uncertainties surrounding the use of digital tools. How secure are the digital tools and how should they be used?

As a representative of the students in the Academic Council, he wanted to make AU aware that students are concerned about digital solutions. This became even more relevant when an expert in March in a TV 2 article said that the US could shut down Denmark’s access within an hour due to Denmark’s heavy reliance on cloud services dominated by American tech companies. AU, for instance, uses Microsoft’s cloud platform, and just this month, all students switched to Microsoft Outlook email, gained access to Microsoft 365, and started using Microsoft Teams.

“We brought this up at the Academic Council because at the end of March, we read the TV 2 article where an expert said the US basically has a monopoly on the tools we use and could shut Denmark down. That’s exactly what we see in the ICC case. As students, we want AU to focus more on this issue,” Bálint Márk Sosovicska says.

Why did AU move away from Post AU?

At the Arts Academic Council meeting, Bálint Márk Sosovicska presented a proposal for “a digitally sustainable faculty,” where students urge a discussion on alternatives to digital tools and point out that “a one-sided dependency on a few suppliers can limit our flexibility and innovation.”

For example, he has heard students question why AU abandoned its own student email system, Post AU, in favour of Outlook.

“Isn’t it more secure if AU develops its own systems? That’s what the average student would assume,” he says.

He elaborates on the uncertainties students face around digital tools:

"We recently gained access to Teams as an alternative to Google Drive, which had data security issues. But students were never informed why this change was made - that Google Drive wasn’t secure, and Teams was supposed to be safer. AU also used Zoom during the pandemic, but later it was discovered that Zoom has security problems. Now AU has moved entirely to Microsoft: Teams, Office, and Outlook. These are all American products, which creates another layer of concern. Students follow what happens in the US closely, and as with the ICC case, it becomes political,” Bálint Márk Sosovicska says, continuing:

"It's also about data breaches. Student data can fall into the wrong hands. We've heard of Meta (Facebook owner, ed.), actively using user data to develop AI without consent,” he says.

Students want AU to implement “concrete strategic measures,” Bálint Márk Sosovicska explains.

“Clear goals for what AU will do so that students and staff feel secure. For example, whether AU will maintain physical servers in case cloud solutions go down,” he adds, emphasising that the issue is bigger than AU:

“We expect the government to address this too. Not to exempt AU, we still want concrete measures. But it is a problem that reaches all the way to the EU. The EU has talked about European alternatives to the American products. That will be a goal in itself," he says.

Dean: Serious and important debate

Maja Horst, Dean of Arts and member of the Academic Council, welcomes the students’ input. She stresses that at AU level, it is the university director’s responsibility, but she sees the debate as important. She stresses that she is not an expert in the field and is speaking from a managerial perspective on the issue.

"It's great that students are raising this question. They remind us that this is serious and important, and that we need to talk about it. We must find solutions, and already now we can begin to reflect on how we use software,” Maja Horst says, sharing her personal approach:

"For a number of years, I have used different browsers, and I refuse to use Google Docs. It's not that I think Microsoft is much better than Google, but we pay for a service from Microsoft. When you get something for free, it's because you're the product," she says.

The issue is tough because the large companies such as Microsoft offer the most user-friendly services, the dean points out. She is convinced Denmark can't solve this alone; it requires a European effort.

“I wish I could solve it myself, but I can’t. I can only say: Let’s talk more about it,” she says.

Horst is not currently worried:

"I'm not nervous right now or tomorrow. And I’d say you’re much better off with paid software than with free ones. I have a personal Gmail that could theoretically be shut down any day,” Maja Horst says.

Computer Science Professor: A wake-up call

Ivan Bjerre Damgård, professor at the Department of Computer Science, calls the ICC case a wake-up call, though he emphasises that it is unknown exactly what has happened. Microsoft states in a declaration that it did not shut down the email, but the decision was made by the ICC. To avoid repercussions from Donald Trump’s sanctions on ICC’s US office, ICC reportedly chose to comply with the demand to close the chief prosecutor’s email, according to DataNews. At the same time, Karim Khan, the current chief prosecutor, is on leave and under UN investigation following allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour.

“This (the ICC case) puts things in perspective. I’ve always thought there was reason not to be too dependent on a single provider. No one says that cloud, email, and everything else should come from the same supplier. It’s important to consider, if only for supply security. This is probably a wake-up call that will make people think about what we should do,” Ivan Bjerre Damgård says.

If AU uses servers outside its control, there is a risk of losing access.

“If cloud services run on machines controlled by Microsoft or authorities outside Europe, they could be shut down. And of course, that's a problem, because then access is lost."

Ivan Bjerre Damgård does not know AU's internal system well enough to assess whether losing access to large amounts of data is realistic.

"AU IT has a policy of wanting to maintain control of its own data. My guess is that most of the data involved at AU – emails, documents and the like – are on servers AU operates or controls," Ivan Bjerre Damgård says.

European alternatives

Damgård mentions European alternatives but acknowledges AU’s desire to streamline services. For example, the Swiss cloud service pCloud markets itself as having servers in Europe, free from US control. However, it works more like Dropbox, Ivan Bjerre Damgård explains.

Here, it is important to distinguish between file storage – what can be compared to a large external hard drive – and cloud services such as Google Docs, which run software remotely. Ivan Bjerre Damgård does not know of any European cloud services that can replace Google Docs.   

Deputy director: It’s about user-friendliness and security 

Peter Bruun Nielsen, Deputy Director of AU IT, explains that the move to Microsoft is about user-friendliness and security.

"When we, like all other Danish universities and probably the vast majority of companies in Denmark, use Microsoft's platform, it’s because it is really user-friendly, it provides a high level of security, and is easy to operate. When you gather the solutions on one platform, you can integrate things and with your user easily access everything. There are almost no outages, and Microsoft does a lot to protect users. Plus, we have favourable license agreements. It’s much more cost-effective,” Peter Bruun Nielsen says.

In the specific example of the replacement of Post AU, it has been a long process driven by security needs, the deputy director explains.

"Post AU has been fine, but you can't use two-factor authentication. There is a lack of the layer of security that we have wanted for the students. Microsoft provides that security and guarantees data protection," he says.

AU data stored in Europe

Peter Bruun Nielsen feels confident about Microsoft, which in April gave a number of "digital commitments" to its users in Europe. For example, that Microsoft "will maintain Europe's digital resilience amid geopolitical instability". Microsoft is appointing a new board of directors for its European cloud business and, according to Peter Bruun Nielsen, has moved its source code to Switzerland, which may shield it from US legal changes.

All AU data with Microsoft is stored in European storages, Peter Bruun Nielsen says.

“Our agreement ensures data does not leave Europe, so it’s housed in European data centres. I can’t imagine we would lose data,” he says.

While theoretically Microsoft could block access to its tools, Peter Bruun Nielsen finds this unlikely.

"They could restrict access to tools so that we can’t use them. In theory, it can happen, but Microsoft is very insistent that they will do everything to avoid getting into such a situation, and that they will go to court if it should come to that," says Peter Bruun Nielsen.

Although the deputy director is not concerned about AU's situation as such, he is concerned about developments in the United States and what he calls "some pretty wild initiatives" from the Trump administration.

"Of course, it's worrying what we're seeing from the Trump administration," he says.

"It’s concerning when you hear about a chief prosecutor in a European institution who the Trump administration dislikes. But I also think we should give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt," Peter Bruun Nielsen says.   

Ultimately, the debate about digital dependence on the United States must be taken to a higher level, he explains.

"In the short term, there’s little we can do. Long-term, we have to consider digital sovereignty in Europe. Do we want to remain as dependent on American services as we are today – and that is the whole of society. It’s important our politicians address this huge task, and it must always be balanced with the fact that Microsoft and the other tech giants deliver services that are really good and that have enabled much digitalisation," Peter Bruun Nielsen says.  

This text is machine translated and post-edited by Cecillia Jensen.