The US government created new rules for Cloud Providers

Pierluigi Paganini August 27, 2015

A new set of rules was created by the Department of Defense (DoD) for Cloud Providers to report security holes when dealing with US government data.

A new set of rules was created by the Department of Defense (DoD) of the US government for how the cloud providers should report the security issues that involve US government data hosted in the cloud.

It’s important to refer that this set of rules only covers unclassified material, the classified one has another set of rules and security requirements.

The Department of Defense thinks that with the new set of rules, they are able to cover around 10.000 companies that have contracts with the US government.

“This interim rule requires contractors and subcontractors to report cyber incidents that result in an actual or potentially adverse effect of a covered contractor information system or covered defense information residing therein, or on a contractor’s ability to provide operationally critical support,”, “DoD is working to establish a single reporting mechanism for DoD contractor reporting of cyber incidents on unclassified information systems.” States the Department of Defense.

From the many rules, they are some that I think we can highlight:

The Department of Defense needs to be reported within 72 hours, if there is any cyber-intrusion.
Recording and saving affected disk and system images for 90 days.
Isolate and share a malware when it’s found in a system with government data.

In the set of rules, there are also the guidelines for the government agencies, to select their cloud provider, where the cloud providers need to meet some requirements

“Generally, the DoD shall acquire cloud computing services using commercial terms and conditions that are consistent with Federal law, and an agency’s needs,”

“The benefits of the increased security requirements implemented through this rule are that more information will be protected from release, inadvertently or through malicious intent,” and in so doing strengthen national security,” said Jennifer Hawes, editor of the Defense Acquisition Regulations System.

I think that this set of rules is indispensable to improve data control, but at the same time it may generate confusion between the US departments and cloud providers. I say this because the rules are considered temporary, and they will be subject to continuous reviews and modifications that could generate confusion.

If you want to check out the all set of rules you can do it here:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-20870.pdf

About the Author Elsio Pinto

Elsio Pinto (@high54security) is at the moment the Lead McAfee Security Engineer at Swiss Re, but he also as knowledge in the areas of malware research, forensics, ethical hacking. He had previous experiences in major institutions being the European Parliament one of them. He is a security enthusiast and tries his best to pass his knowledge. He also owns his own blog McAfee Security Engineer at Swiss Re, but he also as knowledge in the areas of malware research, forensics, ethical hacking. He had previous experiences in major institutions being the European Parliament one of them. He is a security enthusiast and tries his best to pass his knowledge. He also owns his own blog McAfee Security Engineer at Swiss Re, but he also as knowledge in the areas of malware research, forensics, ethical hacking. He had previous experiences in major institutions being the European Parliament one of them. He is a security enthusiast and tries his best to pass his knowledge. He also owns his own blog http://high54security.blogspot.com/

Edited by Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – cloud providers, DHS)

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