The more digital government becomes, the more often I’m asked this question. And it’s a fair one! In France, more than 6,000 data leaks were recently reported within a single year. The number of major incidents has risen sharply in a short time. This shows a dilemma in digitising government. We want more digital services, more data exchange, more convenience. At the same time, that increases the attack surface.
But the answer can’t be to digitise less. Because paper files are neither secure nor efficient. The real solution:
- Fewer copies of data
- Fewer data silos
- Less redundant storage
The more often the same data sits in different systems, the greater the risk. That’s why the most successful digital states are increasingly relying on controlled data exchange rather than countless copies of the same information.
So the most important question isn’t:
Do authorities have my data?
But rather:
How many copies of it exist, and who has access to them?
Image: Ruben Ramirez on Unsplash
Source: French data protection authority CNIL, May 2026
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