The cloud service ecosystem for FedRAMP authorization has been growing year over year, as has the demand for the reuse of cloud products across agencies. To facilitate cloud product adoption across different agencies without compromising security and usability, FedRAMP provides a quick process to help reuse these services.
One of the foundational pieces of information that a cloud provider needs to know when preparing for their FedRAMP Authorization is the required Impact Level. These levels aren’t generic labels applied by agencies to highlight the importance of their data–they are clearly-defined categories laid out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to structure security requirements.
The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) handles lab and testing requirements for several categories of products and services, several within cybersecurity. One of the most important categories is cryptographic testing and validation.