It’s Official: Defense Department Will Use Other Agencies’ Cloud Security Assessments

GreenTech/Shutterstock.com

The department’s IT office issued a provisional rule to accept other agencies’ FedRAMP ATOs without the need for written approval.

The Defense Information Systems Agency announced a provisional authorization Thursday that will speed up cloud deployments by eliminating some of the Defense Department’s oversight over security authorizations.

Defense components had been waiting on the rule, which will allow them to purchase and deploy cloud products and services at the moderate security level—impact level two—without having to ask for written permission.

“This authorization allows for data designated publicly releasable or IL2, to be stored in the cloud on authorized FedRAMP offerings without waiting for DOD to issue a specific authorization document,” said Roger Greenwell, the risk management executive and authorizing official at DISA. “We worked with officials from the DOD, Chief Information Office and mission partners on the drafting of the policy, and believe this approach provides significant benefit to both the DOD community as well as the cloud industry."

Previously, Defense offices were required to do their own security assessments on systems, issuing a program- or department-level authority to operate, or ATO. But this system worked directly against the promise of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, which was designed to facilitate the certification process and allow agencies to reuse the ATO work done at other departments.

The reuse issue—called “reciprocity”—has been a sticking point since FedRAMP was launched in 2011. Since that time, administration officials and lawmakers have pushed agencies to reuse more ATOs whenever appropriate.

“What was supposed to be an expedited process—six months, maybe costing a quarter of a million dollars—instead, in many cases, took years—and takes years—and can cost companies millions of dollars, the very opposite of what FedRAMP was designed to achieve,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said during a hearing July 17 held by the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations. “We can’t leverage the potential of cloud computing if the processes are slower than the speed at which the technology itself advances.”

Jack Wilmer, Defense Department deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity, previewed the pending rule during the hearing.

“We are fully committed to reciprocity. There’s a massive incentive for us in having that reciprocal arrangement with FedRAMP,” Wilmer said. “Going through those 325 [controls] at the moderate baseline, as an example, which is something that the FedRAMP program takes on for us, is something we no longer have to do in order to leverage those cloud services.”

The blanket agreement comes with some caveats, however. The rule only applies to solutions approved at the moderate baseline through FedRAMP and listed in the program’s marketplace. Even then, Defense offices can only reuse authorizations from companies whose data centers are physically located in the U.S. or its territories.

The covered products also have to maintain their FedRAMP ATO and agree to continuous monitoring.

“If the FedRAMP [Joint Authorization Board] or agency authorization is suspended, revoked, restricted or limited in any manner, the DOD IL2 reciprocity for that [cloud service offering] is considered suspended and will be explicitly revoked until all issues with the authorization are mitigated in accordance with policy,” according to a release.

As of the July hearing, the department had approved the reuse of 140 moderate-level ATOs, only 20 of which required additional reviews, according to Wilmer.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.