Close to 75% of European businesses fear a kill switch scenario that would revoke their access to technology and infrastructure provided by US-based companies, according to new research released Thursday by Proton. The survey polled roughly 1,500 business decision-makers across the UK, France, and Germany, revealing widespread anxiety about digital sovereignty as geopolitical tensions rise. The findings suggest that concerns about government-imposed service cutoffs now rival cybersecurity threats as a top operational risk for European organizations.
More than half of respondents—54.5%—believe their operations would last just one business day or less if cloud access were suddenly revoked, the survey found. Companies estimated they would lose approximately €100,000 ($115,000) from a single day of downtime, with 44.8% expecting losses exceeding €50,000 ($58,000). Just under 75% of European firms report the same level of concern about cyberattacks and ransomware as they do about a kill switch, treating both as existential operational threats. Only one in 20 respondents said they have no worries about a government-imposed kill switch affecting their business in the future.
Proton Chief Operating Officer Raphaël Auphan told the outlet that no organization is immune to kill switch risk, and any business that has tied its critical operations to a single tech vendor's infrastructure "has effectively handed a third party the ability to disrupt its operations." The report notes that 44% of surveyed businesses have plans in place to address these risks, with investment concentrated on alternative email and cloud file storage systems. According to Auphan, the gap between awareness and preparedness is what every organization on both sides of the Atlantic needs to close, given that more than half couldn't stay operational for more than a single business day without cloud services.
The research argues that kill switch risk isn't limited to European companies—US firms face exposure too, both from potential domestic tech bans and from losing European clients who are establishing greater control over their digital assets. Several EU governments are already rejecting Microsoft in favor of open-source solutions, Ireland has stalled a €1 billion tender amid debate on US tech reliance, and AWS launched a European Sovereign Cloud to address availability concerns. The report recommends building resiliency through end-to-end encryption that prevents any vendor or government from accessing data, and implementing tested contingency plans to maintain operations even if the worst happens. Auphan cautions that geopolitical and political conditions change, regulatory environments shift, and assuming a provider's interests will always align with yours is a fragile foundation for business continuity. Organizations that treat vendor concentration as a strategic vulnerability rather than a procurement convenience may find themselves better positioned when the next wave of digital sovereignty legislation arrives. The real test won't be whether companies can avoid disruption entirely, but whether they've built enough redundancy to survive it without shuttering operations within hours.