Dive Brief:
- The Federal Communications Commission has reportedly signed a five-year deal with AT&T to move some of its operations to the cloud.
- Among other things, AT&T will “provide the FCC a cost-effective IP solution that will support mobile and cloud-based applications,” and “link offices and data centers and allow the commission to change network and Internet needs on demand,” according to a news release.
- Federal agencies have been urged to adopt cloud technology, but few have made much progress over the last two years.
Dive Insight:
Though few details were made available, it was noted that the AT&T solution meets the Managed Trusted Internet Protocol Service (MTIPS) requirement for enhanced security.
In a news release, Mike Leff, vice president-Civilian, AT&T Government Solutions said that the agency wants to both modernize and ensure its cloud service is highly secure.
Security has been a major stumbling block in federal cloud adoption. In November, the FBI's CISO Arlette Hart said at a conference that the federal government wants to take advantage of the "enormous value" in public cloud infrastructure, but it also needs to ensure greater security to protect important data.
Unlike private companies, the federal government is not as concerned about money as it is about securing data, Hart said.
Hart suggested cloud providers offer more transparency about their security policies so the government can verify their practices are sufficient for protecting data.