Government IT News For VARs — February 12, 2014
In the news, federal agencies struggle to implement Cloud First, and the June deadline for cloud service providers to comply with FedRAMP is approaching.
Government Agencies Consider Using Cloud Brokers
A FedTech article details Texas’ “cloud brokerage” pilot program. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines “cloud broker” as “an entity that manages the use, performance and delivery of cloud services and negotiates the relationships between cloud providers and cloud consumers.” Government agencies could benefit from using a cloud broker who can better compare costs and handle security and compliance procedures vetting. Cloud brokers could play a significant role in the federal Cloud First initiative.
Will Your Customer Require FedRAMP Security Authorization?
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), which includes security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services has a June deadline for cloud service providers that work with federal agencies. These providers will have to meet program requirements, apply or work with a sponsoring agency to make a submission to FedRAMP for authorization, have a third-party assessment, and provide continuous monitoring and reports to FedRAMP.
Federal Agencies Face Difficulties Implementing Cloud First
An Accenture Federal Services and Government Business Council report, “The Road Ahead: 3 Years After Cloud First.” Roadblocks to transitioning to the cloud include agencies submitting incomplete migration plans to the Government Accountability Office. More than two-thirds of agencies surveyed said they lack the staff to execute a cloud strategy, and would face expenditures to hire or train an employee. The study reveals only 10 percent of agencies have migrated more than one-half of their IT portfolio to the cloud, and 58 percent were not aware of any cloud strategy at their agencies.
MeriTalk’s Cloud First Consumer Guide also highlights some of the issues with agencies adopting Cloud First. The guide includes results of a survey of federal IT professionals, who rated cloud companies, the cloud offering itself, providers, brokers, and systems integrators. Systems integrators received a rating of “good” for messaging and collaboration, and “excellent” for support applications.
Government IT Talking Points
UPI reports 2 Israeli air force pilots received five days in jail, one was fined, and 11 received suspended sentences for storing military secrets on their smartphones. Information included photographs of documents and maps. The investigation began after one of the pilots lost his cellphone.
Gigaom reports a record-breaking distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurred Monday, more extensive than Spamhaus last year. This attack, reported primarily in Europe, was aimed at interfering with the accuracy of computers’ clocks.