Cybersecurity firm Bitdefender has formed a strategic alliance with secunet, a specialist in digital sovereignty and critical environment protection, to host Bitdefender’s unified GravityZone platform exclusively within the EU through SysEleven’s certified cloud infrastructure in Germany. This partnership aims to provide European businesses and public authorities with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that ensure digital sovereignty and compliance with strict regional regulations.
The collaboration addresses a growing demand for data sovereignty, particularly among EU organizations that rely on cloud and software services hosted outside the region. Recent discussions have highlighted potential data access requests from governments to U.
S.-based companies, leading to uncertainty. The Bitdefender-secunet partnership ensures that customer and configuration data, security events, and telemetry data for GravityZone are processed exclusively within the EU, mitigating these concerns.
This offering is particularly relevant for sectors such as financial services, healthcare, education, critical infrastructure, energy, and manufacturing, which are subject to stringent data protection and compliance criteria. The partnership also enhances Bitdefender’s channel ecosystem, allowing partners and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to offer and manage the Germany-hosted GravityZone platform for clients with high data sovereignty and compliance needs.
Bitdefender GravityZone, the platform at the core of this initiative, delivers comprehensive unified security, risk analytics, and compliance. It provides advanced endpoint protection (EPP), endpoint detection and response (EDR), extended detection and response (XDR), and cloud-native security. This end-to-end coverage across the attack chain offers deep context for detections, seamlessly extending to Bitdefender’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services.
Hosting GravityZone on the SysEleven OpenStack Cloud leverages an infrastructure designed for critical IT and high compliance requirements. SysEleven, a Berlin-based cloud and managed Kubernetes specialist and a secunet company, is certified by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) according to ISO 27001 on the basis of IT-Grundschutz. This makes SysEleven one of only two sovereign cloud providers in Germany characterized by the triad of IT baseline protection, C5 attestation, and ISO 27001 certification.
Andrei Florescu, President and General Manager of Bitdefender Business Solutions Group, stated, “Businesses across Europe need security solutions that deliver advanced threat prevention, protection, detection, and response without sacrificing data sovereignty. The partnership with secunet offers just that, giving regulated industries the confidence to implement state-of-the-art cybersecurity while maintaining full control over how they store, process and secure their data. With GravityZone on the SysEleven OpenStack Cloud, customers know that their data stays within the EU. They can also more easily comply with regulations such as GDPR, NIS2, DORA, and other regulations.”
Andreas Rückriegel, CEO of SysEleven and Vice President Cloud at secunet, added, “With our secure and certified cloud infrastructure, we enable Bitdefender to deliver its proven cybersecurity platform seamlessly. This partnership represents a unique and necessary step toward strengthening digital resilience. By combining the technologies and expertise of two trusted European market leaders, we empower both businesses and public authorities to drive innovation while operating with the highest level of security and compliance.”
Bitdefender, a cybersecurity leader founded in 2001, specializes in threat prevention, detection, and response solutions globally. Secunet, established in 1997, is Germany’s leading cybersecurity company, listed in the SDAX of Deutsche Börse, and generated revenue of around 406 million euros in 2024, focusing on resilient digital infrastructures and data protection. SysEleven, a 100% subsidiary of secunet since 2007, is a cloud and Kubernetes managed service provider with ISO 27001, IT-Grundschutz, and C5 certifications, serving over 500 customers in the DACH market.
