What is FedRAMP High P-ATO? FedRAMP High Compliance and Certification Explained
FedRAMP High authorizations are required for commercial cloud services that must satisfy federal mission requirements with highly sensitive data.
FedRAMP High authorizations are required for commercial cloud services that must satisfy federal mission requirements with highly sensitive data.
Lowering FedRAMP, CMMC 2.0 and StateRAMP Compliance Costs is critical for Organizations operating in highly regulated markets with public sector and government clients. Meeting complex NIST 800-53 security control requirements and generating a FedRAMP, StateRAMP, or CMMC 2.0 compliance package are critical requirements. FedRAMP compliance costs can be prohibitive due to the need for R&D, developing a package and implementing FIPS and DISA STIG controls that requires skilled cybersecurity, compliance and cloud experts that understand complex security requirements and government regulations. stackArmor’s compliance accelerator helps reduce the time and cost of FedRAMP, CMMC 2.0, StateRAMP and other Government mandated security requirements by providing a dedicated accreditation boundary with compliant security controls that meet NIST SP 800-53 and NIST SP 800-171 requirements. stackArmor pre-integrated solution delivers an end-to-end technology enabled solution that has been vetted and audited by government agencies, assessors and independent third-parties. Lowering FedRAMP Compliance Costs with ATO Acceleration
FedRAMP authorized commercial cloud services offer a ready-made cybersecurity accelerator for helping organizations in critical infrastructure sectors rapidly protect their IT assets.
Author: Matt Venne, Solutions Director, stackArmor, Inc. One of the biggest challenges that cloud architects and security professionals have is protecting “sensitive” data. This challenge is multiplied when that sensitive data must move between different systems for analysis and consumption. Data security is difficult in such a dynamic scenario, which requires special tooling and techniques to prevent the data from leaving its designated areas. Typically, these tools and techniques fall in the category of Data Loss Prevention or DLP for short. The marketplace has no shortage of DLP solutions; they can be network-based, examining data in flight at central egress points – e.g., firewalls; or agent-based, installed on a device, such as a workstation, to examine data at rest to programmatically identity which data is sensitive. Often, they are used in conjunction, agents identify sensitive data and network firewalls block the data identified by the agents from leaving. Data Loss
Federal and Defense Agencies are increasingly buying commercial cloud services to meet their mission requirements. Commercial cloud solution providers must obtain FedRAMP authorization prior to offering their services to agencies. The FedRAMP Kickoff Briefing Guidance is critical to help prepare for the authorization process.
The FedRAMP Marketplace continues to grow especially with the passage of the FedRAMP Act as part of the NDAA 2022.
Updated 5/24/2025 with transition of the DOD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (SRG) from NIST SP 800-53 Rev 4 to Rev 5. US Government and Department of Defense agencies are continuing to modernize and transform operations using modern commercial cloud computing services. A recent report on the Federal Cloud Computing Market predicts that demand for commercial cloud computing goods and services will grow to nearly $19 Billion by 2024. A significant growth market in the next 5 years is going to be the US Department of Defense propelled by the recent award of the $9 Billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contracts to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Corporation, and Oracle. JWCC is a multiple-award contract vehicle that will provide the DoD the opportunity to acquire commercial cloud capabilities and services. Commercial Cloud Service Providers (CSP) looking to offer services to Department of Defense (DoD) components must become
FedRAMP is a government-wide program that promotes the adoption of secure cloud services across the federal government by providing a standardized approach to security and risk assessment for cloud technologies and federal agencies. Commercial cloud service providers wanting to sell their services to US Federal Agencies, their contractors or suppliers that are part of the defense industrial base (through reciprocity) must obtain FedRAMP accreditation. The experts at stackArmor have developed a comprehensive guide for helping organizations prepare for their FedRAMP accreditation and assessment journey. This FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) Whitepaper provides an actionable resource for busy executives and project managers to understand and plan for a FedRAMP Authority To Operate (ATO). The Table of Contents of the Whitepaper include: Preparing for FedRAMP ………………………………………………………………………………………….. A Brief History ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Finding a Sponsor: Two Paths to ATO………………………………………………………………………… Understanding FedRAMP Control Baselines (Based on NIST) ……………………………………… Getting Listed in the Marketplace
FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) is a government-wide program that streamlines the assessment, authorization and continuous-monitoring (ConMon) requirements for cloud-based IT services. It is how the federal government ensures that its cloud IT services do not put sensitive data or systems at unnecessary risk. Bottom line, Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) wanting to serve US government agencies must first obtain a FedRAMP Authorization to Operate (ATO). Designed to apply the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Risk Management Framework (RMF) approach to cloud solutions, the FedRAMP program embraces the concept that CSPs can build and verify their compliant Cloud Service Offerings (CSOs) once and use that verification to deliver it multiple times to multiple agencies. FedRAMP ATO Acceleration with AWS Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers IaaS and PaaS services that have been accredited at the FedRAMP High and Moderate levels. AWS offers two regions – East/West (Commercial) and
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program was established in 2011 to provide a cost-effective, risk-based approach for the adoption and use of commercial cloud services by the federal government and contractors supporting agencies. FedRAMP promotes the adoption of secure cloud services by providing a standardized approach to security and risk assessment for cloud technologies and federal agencies. FedRAMP mandates the use of numerous templates and documents in support of the compliance requirements required for certification. During the Continuous Monitoring phase of the FedRAMP authorization, a CSP must maintain and provide a FedRAMP POA&M artifact that follows the prescribed template. POA&M (aka POAM) stands for “Plan of Action and Milestones.” It is a document used to track and report on the progress of security controls implementation and compliance efforts for cloud systems and services. POAM management is required for any cloud service that is seeking FedRAMP certification. The POAM outlines
The FedRAMP Marketplace provides a searchable and sortable database of Cloud Service Providers (CSP) that have FedRAMP compliant services as well as a list of federal agencies using FedRAMP Authorized CSOs, and FedRAMP recognized auditors (3PAOs) that can perform a FedRAMP assessment. The FedRAMP Marketplace is maintained by the FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO). The marketplace includes a searchable catalog of authorized products and services, that streamlines the process of finding and using cloud services in the federal government. The website is used extensively by Agencies and CSPs as a resource to: Research cloud services that have achieved a FedRAMP Marketplace designation Research agencies partnering with CSPs for a FedRAMP Authorization Identify agencies that are using FedRAMP Authorized CSOs, and Review FedRAMP’s community of recognized 3PAOs The FedRAMP Marketplace lists Cloud Service Offerings (CSO) along with their designations (or compliance status) which are either FedRAMP Ready, In-Process or Authorized. The
StateRAMP is an organization that has developed a cloud cybersecurity and compliance program that provides a state-level equivalent to the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). It is a state-level certification program that allows cloud service providers to be assessed and authorized to operate in a state’s cloud environment. It is designed to be similar to FedRAMP, but tailored to the specific needs of individual states. StateRAMP allows cloud service providers to meet the security requirements of multiple states by obtaining a single certification, rather than having to go through a separate certification process for each state. The goal of StateRAMP is to make it easier for cloud service providers to do business with state governments and to increase the use of cloud services by state agencies. Unlike FedRAMP, which is managed and administered by a US Federal Agency, StateRAMP is a registered 501(c)(6) nonprofit membership organization comprised of service
stackArmor, Inc. a Tyto Athene Company, provides FedRAMP, FISMA/RMF, and CMMC/DFARS compliance acceleration services. stackArmor’s ThreatAlert® Security Platform reduces the time and cost of an ATO by 40%. We serve enterprise customers in Defense, Aerospace, Space, Government, and Healthcare markets as well as ISV’s looking to offer cloud solutions for Government.
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