On June 30, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the general availability of AWS Secret Cloud for Industry (ASCI), a managed service that lets cleared U.S. defense contractors, research institutions, and other organizations in the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) run contractor-owned classified workloads directly on AWS. AWS also announced an up to $20 million accelerator initiative to help qualified defense companies get started.
Historically, defense contractors working on classified programs generally had to build and maintain their own on-premises infrastructure—an approach that requires significant capital, can’t scale dynamically, and makes it difficult to adopt modern capabilities like generative AI. AWS Secret Cloud for Industry removes those barriers.
“America’s defense industrial base builds the capabilities that keep this nation safe, and it’s time they have the tools to match the urgency of the mission,” said Dave Levy, vice president of AWS Worldwide Public Sector. “AWS Secret Cloud for Industry puts the full power of cloud computing and AI directly into the hands of the engineers and scientists working on our most sensitive programs. Now, the Defense Industrial Base can innovate at the speed the moment demands, using the same classified infrastructure trusted by the Department of War.”
AWS Secret Cloud for Industry holds a Provisional Authorization at Impact Level 6 from the Defense Information Systems Agency, meeting the authorization standard for Secret-classified information. The service uses the same Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) compliance framework that cleared defense contractors already use for on-premises classified systems. AWS guides each organization through the authorization and connection process, from DCSA approval to establishing private, dedicated network connections from their existing secure facilities.
Source: AWS
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