An EU region of a US cloud
The data is stored in Frankfurt or Dublin.
Under the US CLOUD Act the provider remains obliged to hand over what it holds. The location does not help; the owner does.
European AI governance software
European AI governance software: know where your data is processed and what is kept.
Where does your data stay when you buy AI governance software? Built and hosted in Europe is a start, not an answer. The questions that matter: where data is processed and by whom, what is stored and whether prompts are kept, but also whether employees are tracked, how AI use is measured and how policy reaches people. BeeSensible processes data on its own servers at Scaleway in Amsterdam and Hetzner in Germany, European companies with no US parent. Text is held in memory and discarded straight away. The figures carry no user ID. The decision for each tool is shown to people, and is only enforced if the organisation sets it up that way.
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app.beesensible.eu/insights/sensitive-data
Detections over timeLast 30 days
12,438+18% vs the previous period
Detections by platform
78% adjusted
8,124
81% adjusted
3,210
74% adjusted
812
Detected entity types
4,212
2,930
1,486
1,104
612
StandardCritical
The problem
Every vendor says "in the EU". What else do you need to ask?
A European region of a US cloud is also "in the EU". Anyone choosing AI governance software to keep data in Europe has to dig deeper: who owns the machines, which law applies, and what is kept.
An EU region is not a European company
The US CLOUD Act obliges providers under US jurisdiction to hand over data, including data in European data centres. A European region changes nothing about that; a European owner does.
Governance software keeps its own copy
Many tools in this category are built around visibility and intervention, and store what employees type to make that work. That creates a second copy of the data you wanted to protect.
Measuring becomes tracking
A view per employee is a works council question in many European countries and always a GDPR question. Yet in many tools that view is the starting point.
Procurement questions
What to ask every vendor of European AI governance software.
Not whether the company is European, but what happens to the data. Each row is a requirement you can put to a vendor, with what BeeSensible answers and where the limit lies.
| Requirement | Why you ask | BeeSensible |
|---|---|---|
| Servers owned by European companies | A European region of a US cloud falls under the US CLOUD Act. A European company with no US parent does not. | Yes Our own servers at Scaleway in Amsterdam (96% owned by the French Iliad group) and Hetzner in Germany (a German company). No US parent. |
| ISO 27001 certified hosting | Says something about how the infrastructure is managed and secured. Ask whose certificate it is: the host's or the vendor's own. | Partly Scaleway and Hetzner are ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified. |
| Prompts are not stored | A copy of what people type is a second place where sensitive data can leak, and one more processing operation to justify. | Yes Text is processed in memory and discarded straight away. It is never written to disk. |
| No external AI service in the chain | If the detection itself calls a US model, the European hosting is just a detour. | Yes Detection uses our own models, on our own server at Hetzner. No external AI service is involved. |
| Clear about what is kept | "We store nothing" is never entirely true. Ask for the fields and the retention period. | Yes The fields and the retention period are listed below, under "So what is kept?" |
| No user ID in the measurement | A view per employee is a GDPR question and, in many countries, a works council question. | Yes The figures on AI use reach the servers without a user ID. No drill-down per person; department figures only for groups of at least 5 people, over at least 7 days. |
| AI use measured at organisation level | You want to know which tools are in use and how much use goes through allowed tools, not who did what. | Yes Only the tool's domain, counted anonymously. The share through allowed tools is shown with its trend. |
| Policy shown, not enforced automatically | A block without a workable alternative often moves use to personal phones, and you lose sight of it. | Yes The decision for each tool appears in the browser, with the alternative first. People can still continue, unless the organisation has chosen otherwise. |
| Data processing agreement (DPA) and DPIA | The responsibility stays with you; the vendor has to supply the documents. | Yes A DPA with every customer, a product DPIA on request. The DPIA for your own deployment is still up to the organisation. |
| Block and enforce | Some buyers expect it from governance software. | Partly BeeSensible does not block on its own: it shows the decision, and the organisation chooses whether people can still go ahead with a tool that is not allowed, and how warnings and masking are set up. |
What it does not do
What European hosting does not take care of for you.
Anyone looking for European software mainly wants to avoid surprises later. So here are the limits, up front.
- No GDPR assessment on your behalf. European hosting makes that assessment simpler, not unnecessary.
- No certification of BeeSensible itself. The hosting at Scaleway and Hetzner is ISO 27001 certified.
- No languages other than Dutch and English in the detection.
The approach
See, decide, help and substantiate with as little processing as possible.
Each step processes as little as possible, and what is processed stays on servers owned by European companies.
1 See
See, with only the domain
The extension counts which AI tools are opened, without a user ID and without content. Those counts are stored at Scaleway in Amsterdam.
2 Decide
Decide, with the catalogue as advice
Over 1,000 tools with vendor, country of processing, training policy and a risk score across six dimensions. The organisation makes the decision; nothing is pre-selected.
3 Help
Help, in memory
A national ID number, IBAN or name is highlighted as someone types. The text goes to our own servers, hosted by European providers, where it is checked in memory and discarded straight away.
4 Substantiate
Substantiate, without names
Three topics with two figures each per period, mapped to provisions of the GDPR, NIS2 and the AI Act. Never content, never per person.
and again How the cycle works
Why this approach
Other ways to keep data in Europe, and what they miss.
Three choices organisations make when they want data to stay in Europe.
Hosting everything yourself
Your own server, your own operations.
Possible, but then the detection, the models and the maintenance are yours too. And it says nothing about what is recorded per employee.
Blocking AI at the firewall
No traffic to AI domains.
Without a workable alternative, use shifts to personal phones. The data goes with it; your view of it does not.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask before they choose.
What makes AI governance software European?
Not the flag on the website. Look at who owns the servers, which law applies to them, what is stored and whether the detection calls an external AI service. BeeSensible processes data on its own servers at Scaleway and Hetzner, both European companies, keeps no typed text and uses no external AI service.
Does the US CLOUD Act reach BeeSensible?
The CLOUD Act addresses providers under US jurisdiction. Scaleway is 96% owned by the French Iliad group, Hetzner is a German company, and BeeSensible has no US parent either. So there is no party in the chain that has to follow a US order. Besides, there is no typed text to hand over: it is processed in memory and discarded at once.
Is BeeSensible ISO 27001 certified?
The hosting is: Scaleway and Hetzner are both ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified. BeeSensible itself holds no certification. We only claim certifications we actually hold.
So what is kept?
Counts, types, apps, timestamps and the organisation's choices. Detection, document and notice events are kept for at most 24 months. No prompts, no documents, no user ID in the figures on AI use.
Does it work outside the Netherlands?
Yes. The interface is available in Dutch and English, and processing works the same way for every customer.
Further reading
Where data stays, and what to ask.
See which AI tools are in use, without handing over your data.
Every module is included, and processing runs at European providers from the first minute, during the trial as well.
14 days free, no credit card. Rolled out across your organisation within an hour.
