FedRAMP offers a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring of cloud services and products. Federal agencies and cloud service providers must comply with FedRAMP to do business together. The initial certification process involves extensive documentation, security control assessments, and authorizations that take significant time and staffing to complete manually. It acceleration of the process allows providers to achieve certification faster.
Ensures compliance and reduces costs
Automation reduces the staff time and costs associated with fedramp certification and continuous monitoring activities. Tools programmatically generate documentation, run security scans, identify risks, and create reports. This eliminates the need for manual processes and makes more efficient use of cloud provider staff and resources. The cost savings compound as these automated processes scale across multiple services and over time.
Ongoing FedRAMP compliance requires continuous monitoring and authorization of changes to cloud environments. Automation mechanisms that continuously scan for risks, vulnerabilities, changes, threats, and incidents allow providers to immediately identify and resolve issues. Automated monitoring and testing tools make the process more manageable across complex and dynamic cloud infrastructure.
Improves consistency and compliance accuracy
Automated processes apply standardized methods for documentation, assessment, and reporting. It reduces human error and inconsistencies that can occur with manual compliance activities. The improved consistency also enhances the compliance posture across services. Automated mechanisms that generate audit trails, reports, and real-time visibility into compliance activities help demonstrate transparency for FedRAMP auditors and agency consumers. The insights derived from automated tools can show proof of compliance and increase trust in the cloud provider’s overall security posture.
Integrates with existing IT systems
Many automation tools integrate with providers’ existing IT infrastructure, security, and operations systems. It improves efficiency by eliminating redundant manual work, centralizing data collection, and leveraging systems providers already have in place. The integrated automation also leads to faster identification and remediation of compliance issues. Providers relying on manual processes often struggle to scale FedRAMP compliance across multiple cloud services and gain agility in responding to changes. Automation platforms with broad capabilities easily accommodate new services, infrastructure changes, vulnerability patches, and feature releases without increasing staffing demands.
- Comprehensiveness – Look for tools that automate major FedRAMP documentation, assessment, and monitoring processes end-to-end, not just partially.
- Cloud-native – Solutions designed specifically for cloud and containers provide more seamless integration.
- Interoperability – The ability to integrate and transfer data across other infrastructures and tools improves ecosystems.
- Configurability – Customizable tools aligned to your workflows and infrastructure avoid vendor lock-in.
- Data security – Rigorous security protections on automation platforms prevent data breaches.
- Reporting – Robust dashboards that centralize and visualize compliance data add value.
- Support – Ongoing technical support and guidance help successfully adopt automation.
- Cost – Balance features with total cost of ownership and return on investment. Carefully vetting providers on these criteria ensures optimal automation selection.
The advantages of FedRAMP automation make it an easy choice for boosting compliance efforts initially. Providers should view automation as an integral part of compliance lifecycle management, not just a temporary accelerator. The right automation tools implemented holistically form the backbone of robust FedRAMP compliance frameworks for the long haul.
