Taking Cloud Security to the Next Level

Cloud technology brings much-needed flexibility and innovation to IT enterprises and overall business operations, making it an essential element of the government’s digital transformation. However, as agencies deploy more cloud-based services from a variety of providers, they create more complexity.

Industry and government are working on a variety of solutions. For example, artificial intelligence can help defenders stay abreast of vulnerabilities and threats while handling routine security tasks, and techniques such as cloud security posture management can highlight misconfigurations and gaps in security compliance. In addition, various federal agencies are focused on improving cloud security in government, and FedRAMP continues to evolve in ways that speed the use of secure cloud products.

FedRAMP has played a pivotal role in the government’s cloud security since the program’s creation in 2011 — before CISA or USDS existed. In late 2022, the FedRAMP Authorization Act was signed into law, finally codifying the program “as the authoritative standardized approach to security assessment and authorization for cloud computing products and services that process unclassified federal information,” a FedRAMP blog post states. According to FedRAMP, the law includes provisions for using automation to speed the authorization of cloud products and services, continuing to improve agencies’ ability to evaluate FedRAMP-authorized cloud products for reuse, and strengthening the dialogue between industry and government through a new Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee to ensure stronger adoption of secure cloud capabilities and reduce legacy IT.

Whatever approach agencies take to reach the cloud, addressing security concerns is a core consideration. Industry and government will continue finding new ways to protect cloud ecosystems because agencies rely on them to operate effectively and innovate continuously in an ever-changing world. 

Read the latest insights from cloud security industry thought leaders, including: 

• Jon Tidwell, Government Strategic Services Lead at Mandiant, now part of Google Public Sector, explains how automation and a comprehensive strategy can help agencies put security at the forefront of multi-cloud adoption
• David Kubicki, Senior Manager of Solutions Architecture for the Public Sector at Palo Alto Networks, details how collaboration between internal teams and external partners is the key to future-proofing cloud security
• Mark Anderson, Associate Principal Solutions Architect at Red Hat, highlights how the scale of today’s IT operations demands an everything-as-code approach combined with automation
• Jason Payne, CTO at Microsoft Federal, notes how emerging tools such a zero trust and artificial intelligence help agencies stay ahead of threats to cloud environments
• Anthony Vultaggio, CTO at SMX, explains how an MSP/MSSP helps agencies navigate the complexities of security compliance and data protection across cloud environments

Read more insights from Carahsoft and our cloud security partners when you download the full report: