10 new services added to FedRAMP High ATO as part of ongoing work to make commercial innovation more accessible to government agencies

Microsoft now has 67 services covered by the FedRAMP High Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) for Azure Government in the continental United States.

Why is FedRAMP compliance important?

The new era of the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge is empowering agencies to lead citizens through digital transformation. In many cases, government agencies must balance between cost efficiency and the most robust security for their IT systems.

To help government agencies achieve the benefits of cloud innovation while ensuring security of data and infrastructure, the U.S. government developed a set of standards to ensure cloud service providers protect federal data and adhere to compliance and security assessments. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) provides a standardized approach to authorization, security assessment, and continuous monitoring thereby removing much of the complexity for CIOs. FedRAMP is based on the NIST SP 800-53r4; the standard for security control frameworks.

Azure Government provides the most trusted cloud for mission-critical government workloads. This environment includes a unique cloud instance, exclusively for government customers and their solution providers, and hardened US datacenters that are operated by extensively screened personnel.

Which new services are now in scope for FedRAMP?

• Azure Security Center: Following the general availability of Azure Security Center in Azure Government in October, we are announcing that the service has been included in the Microsoft Azure Government FedRAMP-High authorization. With Security Center, Azure Government customers get unified cloud security posture management and advanced threat protection, with assessments across hybrid workloads, connections to partner security and SIEM solutions, and Secure Score metrics to guide prioritization and remediation efforts. Customers can also gain visibility across the Azure environment to verify compliance with regulatory requirements, such as Azure CIS, PCI DSS, SOC, and ISO 27001.
• Azure Advisor: Advisor is a personalized cloud consultant that helps you follow best practices to optimize your Azure deployments. It analyzes your resource configuration and usage telemetry and then recommends solutions that can help you improve the cost effectiveness, performance, high availability, and security of your Azure resources.
• Azure DB for MySQL: Azure DB for MySQL is a fully managed database as a service offering that can handle mission-critical workloads with predictable performance and dynamic scalability. Develop applications with Azure Database for MySQL leveraging the open-source tools and platform of your choice.
• Azure DB for PostgreSQL: Azure DB for PostgreSQL is a relational database service based on the open-source Postgres database engine. It’s a fully managed database as a service offering that can handle mission-critical workloads with predictable performance, security, high availability, and dynamic scalability.
• Azure File Sync: Use Azure File Sync to centralize your organization’s file shares in Azure Files, while keeping the flexibility, performance, and compatibility of an on-premises file server.
• Azure Lab Services: Azure Lab Services enables you to quickly set up an environment for your team (for example: development environment, test environment, classroom lab environment) in the cloud. Once users start utilizing resources in the lab, a lab admin can analyze cost and usage across multiple labs and set overarching policies to optimize your organization or team’s costs.
• Azure Migrate: Azure Migrate service assesses on-premises workloads for migration to Azure. The service assesses the migration suitability of on-premises machines, performs performance-based sizing, and provides cost estimations for running on-premises machines in Azure.
• Azure Policy: Azure Policy helps you manage and prevent IT issues with policy definitions that enforce rules and effects for your resources. When you use Azure Policy, resources stay compliant with your corporate standards and service level agreements.
• Microsoft Flow: Create automated workflows between your favorite apps and services to get notifications, synchronize files, collect data, and more
• Microsoft PowerApps: Build apps fast with a point-and-click approach to app design. Choose from a large selection of templates or start from a blank canvas. Easily connect your app to data and use Excel-like expressions to easily add logic.

Microsoft continues to support more services at both FedRAMP Moderate (83) and FedRAMP High (67) impact levels than any other cloud provider. Government customers can continue to take advantage of the additional protections available in Azure Government or choose to deploy applications in Azure public regions, based on specific regulatory requirements. Our coverage of services, and the rate at which we are increasing our scope, highlight our commitment to be the most Trusted and Certified cloud, accelerating compliance for Government customers.

To learn more about Azure Government, read our blog.

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