DT and Palo Alto Networks Launch Sovereign Cyber Defence Service

Deutsche Telekom and Palo Alto Networks have launched Sovereign Cortex with T Security, a joint offering combining market-leading AI cybersecurity with a data-sovereign architecture purpose-built for Europe. The service aims organisations with high regulatory demands – healthcare, the public sector, financial services, and critical infrastructure operators – and is designed to meet European compliance mandates for critical infrastructure environments, including DORA, NIS-2, and the GDPR.

In today’s threat landscape, attackers can progress from initial access to data exfiltration in as little as 72 minutes – four times faster than just a year ago. To defend against such rapid threats, organisations require cloud-delivered, AI-powered security solutions. However, European regulations simultaneously demand verifiable control over data, encryption keys, and access permissions.

Sovereign Cortex with T Security combines Palo Alto Networks' agentic SOC platform with DT's cybersecurity expertise to deliver a joint solution built for European compliance and performance. Palo Alto Networks Sovereign Cortex solution is hosted on DT’s Sovereign Google Cloud Platform, and T Security provides SOC and Identity Management Services as well as holds the key encryption keys in its own data centers.

All customer and systems data – including telemetry and threat intelligence – is stored, processed, and accessed exclusively within Europe. Encryption is controlled entirely by DT, leveraging Google Cloud's External Key Manager. DT holds and maintains the key-encryption-key outside the control of both Palo Alto Networks and Google, retaining sole authority over data access. DT holds the encryption keys, maintains independent audit oversight, provides identity services, and operates support wholly from within the EU, making sovereignty a structural property of the service rather than a contractual assurance.