SENTINELLE, Mapping Supplier Sovereignty
“What Public Information Reveals About the Sovereignty of Your Critical Suppliers”
What is the actual level of sovereignty of the digital tools, consulting firms, audit firms, and financial backers on which strategic sectors depend?
SENTINELLE answers this question by mapping publicly available information.
Why use Sentienelle mapping?
Many organizations believe they are purchasing a sovereign solution when, in fact, it is not.
These organizations have their data stolen (without their knowledge) by companies subject to extraterritorial laws.
Specific examples:
- A French publisher that hosts its services on infrastructure subject to extraterritorial access laws exposes its customers to exactly the same risks as a foreign publisher.
- A French law firm—but one owned by a foreign power and subject to extraterritorial legislation—exposes its clients to a leak of their strategic data.
"Having a headquarters in France doesn't make a company sovereign!"
Many providers present themselves as French and independent simply because their headquarters are in France. This is just one criterion among many—and the easiest to meet.
Behind this headquarters, the capital is often held by funds based on the other side of the world; actual governance lies with a foreign parent company; and technical resources such as hosting, infrastructure, or subcontractors depend on entities subject to laws granting extraterritorial access to data. The brand is French. The chain of control is not.
What is SENTINELLE mapping?
SENTINELLE uses publicly available information (legal records, official publications, institutional communications, and trade press) to provide an initial assessment of the sovereignty of suppliers in strategic sectors. Each digital tool or company is assigned a score, along with details on the calculation method, sources, and the date of the assessment.
SENTINELLE determines the level of sovereignty of these suppliers:
- Business digital tools (cloud, email, CRM, ERP, videoconferencing, digital signatures, invoicing, payments, etc.)
- Consulting Firms
- Certification and Audit Firms
- Investment Funds
- Funding Sources
SENTINELLE Calculation Method
By ESTRADS Certification
Any information that is not public, cannot be verified, or cannot be found in open sources is worth zero points.
Nothing is estimated or extrapolated: only verified data earns points. Each assessment is therefore accompanied by its documentation rate, which distinguishes a low score due to low sovereignty from a low score due to a lack of transparency.
Among the criteria observed:
- Headquarters: The country of the entity that actually publishes the product or provides the service, not that of the local contracting subsidiary. The country of the entity that actually publishes the product or provides the service, not that of the local contracting subsidiary.
- Governance: The documented nationalities of the board members and the executive committee members.
- Ownership Structure: The chain of ownership traced back to the ultimate beneficial owner.
- Legal Exposure and Extraterritoriality: The Entity’s, Its Parent Company’s, or Its Hosting Provider’s Subjection to Foreign Data Access Laws.
- Technical sovereignty: Actual location of data, identity of the hosting provider, subcontractors, key custody, and reversibility.
What SENTINELLE is not:
SENTINELLE provides an initial snapshot, based solely on open-source information, as of a specific date. It does not assess the quality, security, or reliability of a service. It does not compile a blacklist or issue purchase recommendations. The SENTINELLE mapping does not replace an in-depth assessment such as the National Sovereignty Index (NSI) : it provides an initial snapshot, based solely on open-source data.
What is SENTINELLE used for?
For clients in sensitive industries:
- Base the selection of a supplier on documented evidence rather than on statements alone.
- Support your duty of care with well-sourced and dated reading material.
- Identify the hidden dependencies behind a supplier that appears to be domestic.
- Prioritize your in-depth audits where the score—or the documentation rate—calls for it.
Each sensitive supplier’s score is based on five weighted criteria: the location of the headquarters, governance, ownership structure, legal exposure and extraterritoriality, and technical sovereignty.
In addition, there is a penalty for negative signals triggered by a CNIL sanction, a decision by the European Commission, or a Schrems-type legal dispute dating back less than five years.
For a supplier risk assessment that also covers ESG, as well as financial and operational risks, discover ATLAS.
For citizens, policymakers, and the media:
- Bringing Objectivity to a Public Debate: The dependence of strategic sectors on foreign actors is a topic of discussion—but we still need data.
- Check for yourself: Each assessment publishes its sources. There are no restrictions on access. The SENTINELLE map is available to the public free of charge.
How can you improve your score?
Is your company being evaluated by SENTINELLE? You can complete your application.
Because SENTINELLE relies solely on open sources, accurate but unpublished information does not earn any points.
Any supplier, whether already profiled or not, may submit supporting documentation to ESTRADS Certification , such as a register of beneficial owners, articles of incorporation, a data location certificate, a hosting agreement, and relevant certifications.
After verifying the new documents sent to ESTRADS Certification, the index is recalculated and republished on a new date. The information sent to ESTRADS Certification is never published in any medium or made public.
ESTRADS Certification charges a fee for verifying evidence: this fee covers the investigative work, never the outcome. A score cannot be bought. Only verifiable evidence can change a score, and it can cause it to go up or down. The fee schedule is public and the same for everyone.
Why " ESTRADS Certification "?
SENTINELLE expands on this activity by making it public: whereas certification binds an organization to a contractual relationship, SENTINELLE provides everyone with an independent analysis, developed without a mandate or commission and based on public data.
Discover sovereignty ofESTRADS Certification.
Calendar
The initial evaluations will be published shortly and then expanded on a program-by-program basis. No results will be posted online until the scope of a category is sufficiently established to allow for comparison.
- Professional Digital Tools: Work in progress—coming soon
- Consulting Firms: Coming soon
- Certification and Auditing: Coming soon
- Investment Funds: Coming soon
- Banks and Financial Institutions: Coming soon
