The federal government spends billions of dollars every year on cloud computing. In fact, Deloitte research indicates that public sector cloud spending is increasing at a steady annual rate of 14.3%. At this pace, the United States will invest over $11 billion toward cloud computing in 2022 alone.
At the same time, a number of obstacles are keeping the federal government grounded. According to the Government Accountability Office, agencies are facing challenges in:
- Ensuring cybersecurity and protecting sensitive data.
- Procuring secure cloud solutions.
- Maintaining a skilled cloud security team.
- Tracking costs and savings.
That’s where the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) comes into play. The only issue? FedRAMP compliance isn’t simple.
Luckily, we’re here to clear the air and walk you through the FedRAMP process. Let’s take a closer look at the initiative and why it’s an absolute must for any independent software vendor (ISV) working in the public sector.
Understanding FedRAMP compliance
Before diving into the complexities of FedRAMP authorization, let’s back up and paint the picture.
Digital transformation already made incredible headway at the turn of the century. By 2011, cloud computing was well on its way to revolutionizing how organizations of all shapes and sizes conducted their business — the federal government included. Aching to reap the rewards of a decentralized and digital-first infrastructure, nearly every federal agency wanted to punch its ticket to the cloud.
However, given the sensitive nature of government data, agencies soon recognized a pressing need for stricter cloud security. As part of its Federal Cloud Computing Strategy (otherwise known as “Cloud First”), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo that introduced a solution: the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.
The purpose of FedRAMP
The OMB worked in lockstep with several agencies and organizations to develop the FedRAMP initiative. Why? To create “an innovative policy approach to developing trusted relationships between executive departments and agencies and cloud service providers.”
In other words, these stakeholders came together to create a uniform security framework under which a federal agency could confidently assess the cloud security posture of any ISV whose cloud service offering they want to use. All told, FedRAMP’s purpose is to:
- Standardize security requirements for the authorization and continuous monitoring of cloud service offerings used by the federal government.
- Create a security assessment program capable of ensuring ISVs are consistently implementing security controls.
- Accelerate the adoption of cloud computing through reusable assessments and authorizations.
- Establish a repository of authorization packages for cloud services that can be leveraged government-wide — now known as the FedRAMP Marketplace.
Who governs FedRAMP?
Several executive branch entities work in harmony to develop, manage and operate the program:
- Joint Authorization Board: The FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) is the primary decision-making authority and is composed of representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Defense (DOD).
- Office of Management and Budget: The OMB issued the initial policy memo that defines the FedRAMP compliance requirements.
- CIO Council: The CIO Council is a group of chief information officers who disseminate program information to federal agency CIOs.
- FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO): The FedRAMP PMO is responsible for the development of the program and its regulation operations.
- Department of Homeland Security: The DHS manages the program’s continuous monitoring strategy.
National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST): The NIST advises FedRAMP on compliance requirements and the accreditation of assessment organizations. The federal government spends billions of dollars every year on cloud computing. In fact, Deloitte research indicates that public sector cloud spending is increasing at a steady annual rate of 14.3%. At this pace, the United States will invest over $11 billion toward cloud computing in 2022 alone.
At the same time, a number of obstacles are keeping the federal government grounded. According to the Government Accountability Office, agencies are facing challenges in:
- Ensuring cybersecurity and protecting sensitive data.
- Procuring secure cloud solutions.
- Maintaining a skilled cloud security team.
- Tracking costs and savings.
That’s where the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) comes into play. The only issue? FedRAMP compliance isn’t simple.
Luckily, we’re here to clear the air and walk you through the FedRAMP process. Let’s take a closer look at the initiative and why it’s an absolute must for any independent software vendor (ISV) working in the public sector.
Understanding FedRAMP compliance
Before diving into the complexities of FedRAMP authorization, let’s back up and paint the picture.
Digital transformation already made incredible headway at the turn of the century. By 2011, cloud computing was well on its way to revolutionizing how organizations of all shapes and sizes conducted their business — the federal government included. Aching to reap the rewards of a decentralized and digital-first infrastructure, nearly every federal agency wanted to punch its ticket to the cloud.
However, given the sensitive nature of government data, agencies soon recognized a pressing need for stricter cloud security. As part of its Federal Cloud Computing Strategy (otherwise known as “Cloud First”), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo that introduced a solution: the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.
The purpose of FedRAMP
The OMB worked in lockstep with several agencies and organizations to develop the FedRAMP initiative. Why? To create “an innovative policy approach to developing trusted relationships between executive departments and agencies and cloud service providers.”
In other words, these stakeholders came together to create a uniform security framework under which a federal agency could confidently assess the cloud security posture of any ISV whose cloud service offering they want to use. All told, FedRAMP’s purpose is to:
- Standardize security requirements for the authorization and continuous monitoring of cloud service offerings used by the federal government.
- Create a security assessment program capable of ensuring ISVs are consistently implementing security controls.
- Accelerate the adoption of cloud computing through reusable assessments and authorizations.
- Establish a repository of authorization packages for cloud services that can be leveraged government-wide — now known as the FedRAMP Marketplace.
Who governs FedRAMP?
Several executive branch entities work in harmony to develop, manage and operate the program:
- Joint Authorization Board: The FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) is the primary decision-making authority and is composed of representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Defense (DOD).
- Office of Management and Budget: The OMB issued the initial policy memo that defines the FedRAMP compliance requirements.
- CIO Council: The CIO Council is a group of chief information officers who disseminate program information to federal agency CIOs.
- FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO): The FedRAMP PMO is responsible for the development of the program and its regulation operations.
- Department of Homeland Security: The DHS manages the program’s continuous monitoring strategy.
- National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST): The NIST advises FedRAMP on compliance requirements and the accreditation of assessment organizations.
Why is FedRAMP security important?
Government data is under constant threat. Whether they’re lone cybercriminals, part of a major network of hackers or acting on behalf of a foreign government, malicious actors have their eyes on the government’s information. Although cloud security has come a long way from its early days, cybercriminals have routinely set the pace when it comes to data protection
Consequently, FedRAMP isn’t optional. In fact, it’s mandatory for any government agency that handles federal data. In turn, ISVs can’t possibly do business at the federal level without first achieving FedRAMP authorization.
What’s also important to note is that FedRAMP-compliant ISVs are at a significant advantage. Here are a few of the many benefits of FedRAMP compliance:
- Increases consistency and confidence in cloud security.
- Improves transparency between government agencies, cloud service providers and independent software vendors.
- Eases the burden on the federal government by reducing duplicative efforts, inconsistencies and cost inefficiencies.
- Enables ISVs to capitalize on a rapidly growing market.
The step-by-step authorization process
Achieving FedRAMP authorization isn’t easy, but that’s by design. A government agency needs to be absolutely sure that a cloud provider can be trusted with their sensitive data before using their cloud service offering to its advantage.
Here are the high-level FedRAMP compliance requirements:
- The ISV must be granted an Agency Authority to Operate (ATO) by a federal agency or a Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) by the Joint Authorization Board.
- The ISV must meet all security controls and FedRAMP requirements as described in NIST SP: 800-53, Rev. 4.
- All security packages must use the required FedRAMP templates.
- The cloud service offering must be assessed by a third-party assessment organization (3PAO).
- The completed security assessment package must be posted on the FedRAMP Marketplace.
To dig deeper, let’s break down the FedRAMP process into its four main stages.
Documentation
- Identify an agency partner: The first step in the FedRAMP process is to establish a partnership with a government agency interested in using your product.
- Choose your path: There are two paths you can take to obtain a FedRAMP authorization. If you choose to acquire P-ATO, you’ll need to work with the JAB. This path is much more intensive but allows you to reuse an authorization across multiple agencies. The JAB prioritizes its evaluations based on proof of demand.Or, you can work directly with a single federal agency to obtain an ATO. This path is less complicated because you don’t need to provide proof of demand from multiple agencies. However, this FedRAMP designation cannot be reused.
- Determine impact level: FedRAMP categorizes ISVs into three impact levels: Low, Moderate and High. Each corresponds to a certain amount of confidentiality and sensitivity related to the government data being accessed by the ISV.
- Implement security controls: Based on your impact level, fulfill the corresponding FedRAMP requirements. The program separates its controls into several domains, which are outlined in the FedRAMP Security Controls baseline.
- Document controls: After controls are implemented, document the details in a System Security Plan (SSP), which provides proof that FedRAMP compliance requirements are fulfilled.
Assessment
Once documentation is done, you need to hire a 3PAO to verify that the security controls are effectively implemented according to the SSP.
The 3PAO will develop a security assessment plan, which outlines the testing approach for the cloud service offering. Then, the assessor will test the controls and create a security assessment report.
Authorization
After the security assessment report is complete, you’ll then submit a security package to the authorizing official at the federal agency you’ve partnered with or the JAB. These parties will then review the collected materials and determine whether additional testing is required. If not, a final review will be completed and the ISV may be granted FedRAMP authorization.
Continuous Monitoring
Even after achieving FedRAMP authorization, the work isn’t done. To maintain FedRAMP compliance, you need to continuously monitor your security controls and routinely verify that you’ve met all compliance requirements. Failure to do so could result in your agency partner or the JAB revoking the authorization.
How Project Hosts simplifies compliance
Navigating the twists and turns of this journey requires a lot of time and attention. As a matter of fact, it often takes years to acquire FedRAMP authorization. As if that’s not enough, ISVs typically spend millions of dollars working their way to the finish line.
Project Hosts has a smarter alternative to going it alone. When you work with Project Hosts, you leverage our turnkey compliance-as-a-service solutions, including compliance inheritance.
By connecting your application to our FedRAMP-authorized General Support System (GSS) platform, you can offload up to 80% of security controls to us while inheriting FedRAMP compliance. That means you significantly reduce the amount of work you need to do to achieve and maintain authorization.
Better yet, our team will work alongside you to complete the FedRAMP process. Whether you need us to collect evidence or engage an assessor on your behalf, we take the burden off your shoulders, freeing up your time to focus on your business operations.
Plus, our engineers will constantly monitor your application, patch your environment and prevent intrusions. Why? So that you never have to worry about being FedRAMP compliant.
Bottom line: Project Hosts helps you achieve compliance in less time and at a fraction of the cost. Learn how to get FedRAMP Audit Ready in 2 months here.
Contact our team to learn more about our turnkey compliance services today.
Why is FedRAMP security important?
Government data is under constant threat. Whether they’re lone cybercriminals, part of a major network of hackers or acting on behalf of a foreign government, malicious actors have their eyes on the government’s information. Although cloud security has come a long way from its early days, cybercriminals have routinely set the pace when it comes to data protection
Consequently, FedRAMP isn’t optional. In fact, it’s mandatory for any government agency that handles federal data. In turn, ISVs can’t possibly do business at the federal level without first achieving FedRAMP authorization.
What’s also important to note is that FedRAMP-compliant ISVs are at a significant advantage. Here are a few of the many benefits of FedRAMP compliance:
- Increases consistency and confidence in cloud security.
- Improves transparency between government agencies, cloud service providers and independent software vendors.
- Eases the burden on the federal government by reducing duplicative efforts, inconsistencies and cost inefficiencies.
- Enables ISVs to capitalize on a rapidly growing market.
The step-by-step authorization process
Achieving FedRAMP authorization isn’t easy, but that’s by design. A government agency needs to be absolutely sure that a cloud provider can be trusted with their sensitive data before using their cloud service offering to its advantage.
Here are the high-level FedRAMP compliance requirements:
- The ISV must be granted an Agency Authority to Operate (ATO) by a federal agency or a Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) by the Joint Authorization Board.
- The ISV must meet all security controls and FedRAMP requirements as described in NIST SP: 800-53, Rev. 4.
- All security packages must use the required FedRAMP templates.
- The cloud service offering must be assessed by a third-party assessment organization (3PAO).
- The completed security assessment package must be posted on the FedRAMP Marketplace.
To dig deeper, let’s break down the FedRAMP process into its four main stages.
Documentation
- Identify an agency partner: The first step in the FedRAMP process is to establish a partnership with a government agency interested in using your product.
- Choose your path: There are two paths you can take to obtain a FedRAMP authorization. If you choose to acquire P-ATO, you’ll need to work with the JAB. This path is much more intensive but allows you to reuse an authorization across multiple agencies. The JAB prioritizes its evaluations based on proof of demand.Or, you can work directly with a single federal agency to obtain an ATO. This path is less complicated because you don’t need to provide proof of demand from multiple agencies. However, this FedRAMP designation cannot be reused.
- Determine impact level: FedRAMP categorizes ISVs into three impact levels: Low, Moderate and High. Each corresponds to a certain amount of confidentiality and sensitivity related to the government data being accessed by the ISV.
- Implement security controls: Based on your impact level, fulfill the corresponding FedRAMP requirements. The program separates its controls into several domains, which are outlined in the FedRAMP Security Controls baseline.
- Document controls: After controls are implemented, document the details in a System Security Plan (SSP), which provides proof that FedRAMP compliance requirements are fulfilled.
Assessment
Once documentation is done, you need to hire a 3PAO to verify that the security controls are effectively implemented according to the SSP.
The 3PAO will develop a security assessment plan, which outlines the testing approach for the cloud service offering. Then, the assessor will test the controls and create a security assessment report.
Authorization
After the security assessment report is complete, you’ll then submit a security package to the authorizing official at the federal agency you’ve partnered with or the JAB. These parties will then review the collected materials and determine whether additional testing is required. If not, a final review will be completed and the ISV may be granted FedRAMP authorization.
Continuous Monitoring
Even after achieving FedRAMP authorization, the work isn’t done. To maintain FedRAMP compliance, you need to continuously monitor your security controls and routinely verify that you’ve met all compliance requirements. Failure to do so could result in your agency partner or the JAB revoking the authorization.
How Project Hosts simplifies compliance
Navigating the twists and turns of this journey requires a lot of time and attention. As a matter of fact, it often takes years to acquire FedRAMP authorization. As if that’s not enough, ISVs typically spend millions of dollars working their way to the finish line.
Project Hosts has a smarter alternative to going it alone. When you work with Project Hosts, you leverage our turnkey compliance-as-a-service solutions, including compliance inheritance.
By connecting your application to our FedRAMP-authorized General Support System (GSS) platform, you can offload up to 80% of security controls to us while inheriting FedRAMP compliance. That means you significantly reduce the amount of work you need to do to achieve and maintain authorization.
Better yet, our team will work alongside you to complete the FedRAMP process. Whether you need us to collect evidence or engage an assessor on your behalf, we take the burden off your shoulders, freeing up your time to focus on your business operations.
Plus, our engineers will constantly monitor your application, patch your environment and prevent intrusions. Why? So that you never have to worry about being FedRAMP compliant.
Bottom line: Project Hosts helps you achieve compliance in less time and at a fraction of the cost. Learn how to get FedRAMP Audit Ready in 2 months here.
Contact our team to learn more about our turnkey compliance services today.
