First floated as an idea in 2010, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program was officially launched in 2012 as a government-wide program to secure cloud products and services. A recent audit by the General Accountability Office showed that more than 900 government cloud projects have been authorized by FedRAMP, but hundreds more continue to operate without authorizations, which presents a kaleidoscope of security challenges to the...

Fending off cyber threats and preserving cybersecurity has never been more challenging. Among federal, state and local executives, cybersecurity consistently tops the list of concerns that keep them up at night. Attack surfaces are larger; the universe of bad actors seeking to breach security is expanding; techniques for exploiting vulnerabilities are more sophisticated; and in a digitally transformed environment, the stakes are higher, as wel...

Agencies have made significant progress in improving interactions with their citizen customers by modernizing their infrastructure, moving to the cloud, using agile digital services and emerging technologies on the front end and capturing and analyzing the data on the backend. There is still work to be done, however, and the 21st Century IDEA Act -- passed as part of the 2018 NDAA -- has added new priorities for improving and expanding the typ...

As agencies follow the administration's IT Modernization guidance and move more of their systems to the cloud, it's essential to protect the data from a host of evolving threats. There are a number of programs to help with the journey, however. The FedRAMP program is an important part of any agency’s cloud strategy, and it is providing a path and structure to the move by certifying cloud services providers so agencies have a trusted list...

Register today for the FCW Workshop: The Future of FedRAMP being held on November 19th in Washington, DC, featuring speakers from NIST, GSA and more. Hear these seasoned experts explore FedRAMP's latest initiatives, the pre- and post-approval obligations, and the 2020 outlook for both government and industry stakeholders. Topics for discussion may include: * The impact of FedRAMP Connect * Best practices for pursuing an Authority to Operate* M...

The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program was created in 2012 with the vision that all federal networks should be continuously scanned to identify and respond to threats and breaches. A tremendous amount has changed in the years since, for both the program itself and the government networks it protects, but that central CDM mission remains. FCW's 4th Annual CDM Summit will bring together the top government program leaders and essential...

The President’s Management Agenda set out an aggressive plan for more effective and efficient government, and a key component of that plan is the modernization of agencies’ technology infrastructure. In a time of budget questions and manpower shortages, how do agencies deliver on this goal? This FCW Summit will explore how agencies have navigated the policy developments, the workforce challenges and look at who has delivered the be...

Cybersecurity consistently tops the list of concerns that federal and state and local executives face every day. It affects their spending and their hiring. It is a major undertaking, shifting from a security paradigm focused on perimeter defense to a network-, application- and data-level security that’s inextricably enmeshed in the network. Among the challenges, agencies must determine how much of the lift they will shoulder and how muc...

Chairman: John Pescatore, SANS Director of Emerging Security TrendsKeynote: Ashley Mahan, Secure Cloud Portfolio & FedRAMP Director Sponsors: AWS, IBM, Rackspace and Okta The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) has been a highly successful GSA initiative to enable government agency use of cloud services by providing streamlined approach to assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring. Providers of cloud servi...

Since 2013, the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program has provided federal agencies with IT tools for countering cyberattacks on federal government networks. It is no surprise, however, that over the years attacks on government sites have intensified and become more sophisticated. In its new phase CDM DEFEND rolls out tools and services to create a tailored security strategy, as agencies face demands for more visibility and new enterpr...