Week 3 Discussion

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Introduction: Over a decade ago, Congress became aware that the use of the internet and

computers would increase over time between the citizens and Government; therefore, they

would need to find a more efficient way for how the government could deliver information

and services to its citizens, businesses, and the general public. In today’s age of information

technology, utilizing “the cloud” has become more popular when it comes to storing and

accessing data or programs over the internet verses using a computer hard drive (Griffith,

2016). Currently, many “Cabinet-level” agencies are investing in cloud computing, so it is

important to have systems in place to properly evaluate the system to ensure the cloud

information systems are protected. With the Federal Risk and Authorization Management

Program (FedRAMP), U.S. federal agencies can properly assess and authorize their cloud

computing products and services (Goodrich, 2018). By understanding what FedRAMP is and

how it contributes to improving security is important to ensure that any data will be safe when

it is stored in the cloud.

What is Digital Government: Digital government, formally known as E-Government, is the

interface between the government and the people utilizing the internet and other information

technologies with the purpose of eliminating time-consuming bureaucratic tasks (Rager,

2013). The Digital Government Strategy’s main focus is to deliver better digital services to

the people and is built upon the Executive Order 13571, Streamlining Service Delivery and

Improving Customer Service, and the Executive Order 13576, Delivering an Efficient,

Effecting, and Accountable Government (DoS, n.d). Along with these two executive orders,

the Memorandum M-13-13, Open Data Policy-Managing Information as an Asset, this

strategy aims to disseminate general information, consolidate and manage government

functions more efficiently, support electronic communication between the government and its

citizens through emails social meadia, or other online correspondence.

FEDRAMP: Launched in 2012, this program is utilized government-wide providing a

standard approach to assessing the security of cloud products and services, authorizes them

for government agencies to utilize them, and continuously monitors the long-term security of

the cloud services (Cisco, n.d). FedRAMP establishes standard security requirements for the

cloud vendors, which lowers the overall cost of assessing and approving products and services

because it is a “do once, use many times” type of approval. This program originally only had

requirements for low- and moderate-impact systems, but as of June 2016, the program now

has requirements for securing high-impact systems in the cloud (Cisco, n.d). All the

requirements for the FedRAMP program were derived from the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) security controls (Goodrich, 2018).

How Can We Improve Security: One of the main priorities of the Digital Government is

securing personal data, whether it is stored in physical servers or within the cloud. Within the

Digital Services Playbook, the continuous review and improvement of protecting sensitive

information and keeping it secure is under Play #11. It provides a checklist as a starting point

in order to adapt to changes in the digital world is important (U.S. Digital Services, n.d). The

checklist includes determining if a System of Records Notice, Privacy Impact Assessment, or

other reviews should be made, and from there it will review what data is collected and why,

how it is used or shared, and how long is it kept (U.S. Digital Services, n.d). Additional

questions would be reviewed, such as, if the user is notified that personal data is being

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Introduction: Over a decade ago, Congress became aware that the use of the internet and computers would increase over time between the citizens and Government; therefore, they would need to find a more efficient way for how the government could deliver information and services to its citizens, businesses, and the general public. In today’s age of information technology, utilizing “the cloud” has become more popular when it comes to storing and accessing data or programs over the internet verses using a computer hard drive (Griffith, 2016). Currently, many “Cabinet-level” agencies are ...
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