Obama administration releases security standards for agency cloud adoption
Friday, December 09, 2011 5:55:44 PM
Businesses continue to adopt cloud computing at a rapid pace, but enterprise IT departments aren't the only entities flocking to cloud providers to implement cost-cutting technology.
The Obama administration recently released security standards for cloud computing companies looking to provide services to government agencies, which have increasingly adopted cloud technology to combat lower IT budgets and increased security issues. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program includes a list of cloud providers pre-screened by the government, and the Obama administration hopes the initiative produces widespread agency cloud adoption.
"With FedRAMP, we have established a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services which every agency will be required to use," said federal chief information officer Steve Van Roekel in a blog post. "This approach uses a "do once, use many times" framework that will save cost, time, and staff required to conduct redundant agency security assessments so no one has to reinvent the wheel."
Van Roekel said the FedRAMP standards could save the government between 30 to 40 percent on costs related to cloud provider security assessments.
An InformationWeek survey in April revealed 29 percent of federal agencies are using cloud services, and that figure could pass 50 percent during the next year.
-McAfee Cloud Security
