Air Force Looks to Use Fast-Track ATO to Accelerate Cloud Migration

The U.S. Air Force expects the new streamlined process to secure the authorization to operate certification will allow the service to move up to 100 applications to the cloud in 2019, FCW reported Friday. Bill Marion, deputy chief information officer of Air Force, said the Fast-Track ATO pilot announced that it only takes six to 18 months to obtain a certification in March.

“Imagine if you will an Air Force software ecosystem where these major factories are baking in security — the things that we’ve talked about for a decade — truly baking in security and remediation and pen testing [and sensors] into the process,” he said at a recent BMC Federal Exchange event. 

The decision to utilize rapid ATOs comes after the Air Force’s software factory Kessel Run reported success in testing the new process. Fast-Track ATO currently covers cybersecurity baseline, penetration testing and continuous monitoring. Marion said testing will continue at Kessel Run and he expects to get updates later in 2019.