How to Streamline Your Cloud Deployment with AWS GovCloud

AWS GovCloud streamlines deployment for government and business operations, ensuring security, compliance, and scalability. We explore best practices, success stories, and future trends in cloud deployment in this blog.

Cloud deployment can be a complex task for government agencies and other public-sector organizations. Ensuring the highest security and compliance standards is crucial, but these organizations still need to innovate to best serve their citizens and communities.

Regardless of this consideration, government cloud spending grew by $6.2B in 2023, which makes it the second year in a row of major increases in spending.

AWS GovCloud can help – it offers a secure cloud environment specifically designed to meet the demanding needs of the U.S. government. In this article, we’ll explore the key features and benefits of AWS GovCloud, including how it empowers your government agency and other businesses to use the cloud’s scalability and flexibility while implementing strict security protocols.

Understanding AWS GovCloud: A Secure Environment for Government and Business Operations

The US Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently transitioned to the cloud using AWS GovCloud to not only deploy the cloud but to also drive IT transformation.

ATF found itself with a lot of technical debt with systems they were unable to update. In fact, the organization lost its data recovery center and ran on Windows 3.11. They would frequently send team members home to work because their home internet was faster with a VPN than it was in the office, and its newest data server was 10 years old. When their systems crashed, they lost data and couldn’t report.

They needed to modernize and fast.

AWS GovCloud is made for organizations like the ATF that are either a government entity or may need to do business with a government entity. For example, businesses will create all of their infrastructure in AWS GovCloud knowing that it provides all the services needed to receive an authorization to operate (ATO).

What is involved in an ATO? After you apply for the ATO, you have to go through a couple of rounds of auditors. The first set of auditors is usually one of the organization’s choices, and they’ll perform testing similar to the next round, so you have the chance to refine and make sure you have everything together in preparation.

Once you feel you have everything completed and these auditors sign off, the third-party auditor of the organization you will be working with will perform an audit. Once you receive the ATO, you can work with other government agencies as well, as they maintain a list of software and vendors with ATOs. AWS has a page that shows all their services, if these are approved, and at what level (medium or high trust).

All of this to say that compliance and security in government cloud deployments is especially critical in the business world due to the sensitive nature of the data involved.

Here’s why:

1. Citizen Data Protection – Your agency handles a ton of sensitive citizen data, including social security numbers, health records, and financial information. Complying with federal regulations like FedRAMP and HIPAA helps ensure this information stays safe.
2. Public Trust and Transparency – Data privacy fosters trust with the public and demonstrates transparency in how the government handles data within the cloud.
3. Accountability and Oversight – Ensuring you have a strong compliance framework helps you establish clear guidelines and audit trails to those you are accountable to: the public.
4. National Security Concerns – Because you handle classified information or other data related to national security, you need robust security measures in place.
5. Critical Infrastructure Defense – Your functions rely on critical infrastructure, such as power grids or communication networks. Without a secure cloud to manage these systems, bad actors can compromise operations.

Key Benefits of Deploying With AWS GovCloud

As mentioned in the last section, AWS GovCloud’s security and compliance measures are critical for ensuring the public sector can harness the cloud’s potential while ensuring the highest level of data protection and system resilience. Here are four benefits:

1. Enhanced Security Features Tailored for Sensitive Data

AWS GovCloud is built to handle sensitive unclassified data files. The platform has server-side encryption in Amazon S3, so you can manage and store security keys. You can also limit who has access to sensitive data, when they can access it, where they can access it, and more. The GovCloud region follows security requirements from the Department of Defense (DOD), Security Requirements Guide (SRG), Impact levels 4 and 5, FedRAMP, and Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS).

2. Compliance With U.S. Government Regulations and Standards

AWS GovCloud can meet various compliance requirements, including, as mentioned a few times above, FedRAMP. It can also handle International Traffic and Arms Regulation (ITAR), HIPAA, CJIS, and DOD needs. This helps take some of the burden off of your team members, allowing government agencies to deploy workloads without needing to get certified themselves.

3. Scalability and Flexibility in Cloud Resources

As with any cloud deployment, GovCloud provides the exact same scalability and flexibility found in non-public sector clouds. For example, its database services, which are secure and compliant, can scale up or down as needed for government agencies to modernize.

Starting Your Journey With AWS GovCloud

Before you get started, you need to know who can use AWS GovCloud – and who can’t. AWS GovCloud is available to government customers, organizations in government-regulated industries, and other commercial organizations that pass a screening process. All customers will have to confirm they’ll use a U.S. green card holder or citizen to manage and access account keys to the region, they are based on U.S. soil, and they can handle ITAR export-controlled data.

To set up your account, you have two options:

Option 1:

1. Create a standard AWS account by signing up here.
2. Log in with the root credentials.
3. Go to the “Account” page at the top right of your management console.
4. On the “Account” page, go to the “Other Settings” section and choose “AWS GovCloud.”
5. Sign up for the AWS GovCloud account by accepting the legal agreement and providing the additional information so they can verify your eligibility.

Option 2:

1. Use AWS Organizations to create a separate AWS GovCloud account in the AWS GovCloud partition.
2. Call the AWS Organizations CreateGovCloudAccount API within the AWS Standard account that manages your organization. This will create an associated AWS GovCloud account and an AWS Standard Region Organization account. The API will also establish roles for accessing the new standard account from the standard organization and will establish new roles in the AWS GovCloud account.
3. The API call may take a few minutes to complete. To get the account numbers, please run the describe-create-account-status command.
4. Once complete, you can log in.

Establishing your login is only the first step in your AWS GovCloud setup. As you continue on your journey, there are a few best practices to keep in mind.

Streamlining Deployment: Best Practices and Strategies

Before you implement your cloud deployment, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Potential Technical Debt

If your applications are older, they could present some challenges. It may be difficult to integrate AWS GovCloud with older protocols and security implementations.

2. Technical Support

AWS GovCloud provides support to customers who have purchased their support package and no one else. Make sure your team purchases the best support plan for your needs.

3. Service Limits

AWS GovCloud provides you with a subset of AWS tailored to your needs. Some services, however, may not function or be available within GovCloud at all. Make sure you can access all the services you need before deploying.

4. Data Residency and Restrictions

To comply with specific data residency requirements, AWS GovCloud must store and process data within the U.S. Similarly, anyone accessing AWS GovCloud must physically work in the U.S. and must be a citizen or permanent resident of the country.

5. Compliance and Security Maintenance

AWS GovCloud is a tool that helps you maintain security and compliance. However, it’s a shared responsibility model. Prepare to implement regular security and compliance checks.

6. Cost and Resources

As with any cloud platform, you must monitor your AWS GovCloud instance to ensure you don’t go over your budget and keep track of your resources to maintain performance. For example, when considering cost, data transfers between AWS GovCloud and any other regions or non-GovCloud accounts may accrue additional costs.

Once you’ve thought through all of this, you can create your GovCloud migration strategy, communication plan, and training. The ATF, for example, had to create processes that included a lot of code rewriting (or coding from scratch), database migration, implementing new disaster recovery processes, and more.

After their deployment, they can now implement business process improvements faster than ever before and shift to testing automation, which couldn’t run on their previous on-premises system.

Use AWS Support and Resources for Successful Deployment

AWS has several options for support and resources you can access, including customer service and several videos, blogs and guides.

To access customer support, you’ll need to purchase a plan using your AWS root account credentials. AWS support will then be available to you based on that plan. Customer service is available all day, every day, also depending on the support tier you’ve purchased. You can also keep track of AWS GovCloud’s status on the Service Health Dashboard.

Resources include:

• AWS GovCloud Documentation.
• YouTube Videos.
• Public Sector Cloud 101 Guides.
• Public Sector Blogs.
• Government, Education, and Nonprofit Resources.

Now that we have a solid grasp of the AWS support and resources available to streamline deployment, let’s look at the future of cloud development.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Cloud Deployment with AWS GovCloud

The biggest trend in cloud deployment is the hybrid cloud. Almost two-thirds of public sector IT decision-makers expect to increase their use of the cloud by 25 percent in the next five years, making it clear that cloud adoption is not as much of a mad dash as it is in the privacy sector.

The hybrid cloud offers government agencies and contractors the opportunity to dip their toes in the sand without getting wet. In one example, Veterans Affairs (VA) recently needed to migrate to the cloud both to improve innovation and free up funding to provide more services to veterans.

While they ultimately implemented AWS GovCloud for their shared services and their Active Directory, they still opted for a hybrid cloud option. Why? Security.

The VA houses a lot of sensitive data, including health data. A data breach would devastate the people it serves. The hybrid model also allows for modernization while maintaining some level of caution.

The VA is still saving money and freeing up funding without subscribing to an all-or-nothing mindset.

This example highlights both the benefits of the hybrid cloud model, specifically regarding security and cost savings, and sets a precedent for future cloud strategies in various industries. Now let’s look at how your company can maximize your cloud investment.

Maximizing Your Investment in the Cloud

To ensure you’re making the most out of your cloud deployment, you need to:

• Continue to monitor your AWS GovCloud environment for security and compliance: Just because you’re using a system built on security and compliance, that doesn’t mean you can stop performing audits of your system and doing maintenance checks.
• Reevaluate your cost and resource allocation: It’s incredibly important to continue optimizing performance and cost within AWS GovCloud – with AWS especially. It’s easy for the cost to add up without your team noticing.
• Take on a continuous learning mindset: AWS is constantly updating and adding new services, and there are always third-party tools via the AWS Partner Network (APN) that you can use. You have to be willing to do the research to continue evolving your use of the cloud.

AWS GovCloud Questions to Consider

Here are a few frequently asked questions about AWS GovCloud:

What makes AWS GovCloud different from other AWS regions?

AWS regions all provide businesses and other organizations with a complete cloud infrastructure platform. However, if you need compliance and extra security, standard AWS won’t work since it might store some of its data outside of the U.S. and with non-US citizens handling it.

Because of the hurdles related to compliance requirements, while most AWS services are available in GovCloud, there might be some limitations. You can find more information here.

How does AWS GovCloud ensure compliance with government regulations?

AWS GovCloud complies with the strictest compliance and regulatory requirements in the U.S. and for businesses encountered by U.S. governments. This includes ITAR, DoD, CJIS, and HIPAA, all of which were mentioned previously, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which protects European Union individuals’ right to privacy.

While AWS GovCloud provides the design and infrastructure to meet these requirements, the agency or business using it must ensure security and compliance.

Can businesses not related to the government use AWS GovCloud?

Yes, if you want to show that you are serious about security, using AWS GovCloud to become compliant with something like FedRamp is one way to help bolster that view. FedRamp has higher security restraints, and services have to be thoroughly tested and approved before they can be used – as opposed to new services that might have insecure or not yet fully formed interfaces. You could also greatly reduce needing to develop your own security since AWS designed GovCloud to be out of the box.

What are the best practices for deploying applications within AWS GovCloud?

There are a few routes you can take when deploying applications in GovCloud.

1. You can deploy to both new standard and new AWS GovCloud accounts, which is useful if you plan on hosting workloads in both regions.
2. You can deploy on a new AWS GovCloud account only. This environment will still have access to standard regions, but you won’t see workloads within the standard. You’ll only be able to vend new accounts.
3. You can deploy on an existing AWS GovCloud account. In this instance, a third party provides AWS GovCloud accounts.

Is AWS GovCloud Deployment Right for You?

If your organization needs to deploy the cloud while requiring maximum security and compliance, the AWS GovCloud might be the solution for you.

Government agencies and contractors can transform their IT infrastructure, improve efficiency, and deliver better services to citizens by using AWS’s robust security features, built-in compliance measures, and vast pool of resources. However, careful planning and a clear understanding of AWS GovCloud’s limitations are crucial for a successful deployment.

Your organization’s journey to and within the cloud doesn’t stop after deployment. By continuously monitoring security and compliance, optimizing costs and resources, and embracing a continuous learning mindset, you can maximize your investment in AWS GovCloud and unlock the full potential of cloud computing.

Interested in learning more or need help with your cloud deployment? Our Modern Software Delivery team can help.
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