BLUF - Bottom Line Up Front
BLUF - Bottom Line Up FrontIgnyte Platform Inc. has become a recognized FedRAMP 3PAO, crucial for evaluating cloud products used by the U.S. government. This comes after over a year of preparations following Ignyte's ISO 17020 accreditation. The FedRAMP process, required for U.S. government cloud services, involves multiple phases, with 3PAOs offering critical assessments. Ignyte provides tailored FedRAMP solutions, leveraging its automation platform to enhance audit efficiency, achieving significant cost savings for clients.
Ignyte Receives FedRAMP 3PAO Designation: Ignyte Platform Inc. is proud to announce that the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) has recognized it as a designated third-party assessment organization (3PAO). This designation is over a year in the making after Ignyte announced in May of 2021 that it reached ISO 17020:2012 accreditation.
FedRAMP is the United States Federal government’s way of ensuring the cloud-based products and services it uses are secure. It was developed and is managed by the FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO) which works closely with other departments and organizations to ensure a robust and comprehensive authorization process.
FedRAMP 3PAO Designation
An overview of the entire FedRAMP process taken from FedRAMP.org
Any organization that offers a cloud-based product or service to the U.S. government has to comply with FedRAMP 3PAO Designation.
According to the 2011 FedRAMP Policy memo, FedRAMP is applicable to:
1) Executive departments and agencies procuring commercial and non-commercial cloud services…
2) All cloud deployment models (e.g., Public, Community, Private, and Hybrid clouds)
3) All cloud service models (e.g., Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service)
Ignyte prefers to break the road to FedRAMP authorization into 6 phases, and one of the most critical phases involves contacting a 3PAO to perform a security assessment. A 3PAO is an independent organization (i.e., separate from the organization being assessed) that performs assessments at the onset of the FedRAMP authorization process on an ongoing basis.
3PAOs are vital for any organization looking to break into the Federal Marketplace. Specialized 3PAOs, such as Ignyte, can also make extremely effective partners to go beyond FedRAMP into the classified Department of Defense market.
“Ignyte is extremely proud to be recognized as a FedRAMP 3PAO,” said Aaron McCray, COO. “We’re a digital-first audit firm that’s built on delivering automated, software-enhanced FedRAMP assessments. We’ve been on both sides of the audit process, so we know what it takes to make the journey as easy and painless as possible. This designation is a huge achievement for us and wouldn’t have been possible without the support and efforts of the entire Ignyte team and our federal partners.”
To get a FedRAMP 3PAO designation, Ignyte went through a rigorous diligence process for more than a year. The official assessment criteria included the following:
1) Whether Ignyte has a fully operational, and adequately maintained Quality Management System (QMS) that meets ISO 17020 and FedRAMP-specific requirements;
2) Whether the Ignyte team is competent to perform automated cyber inspections of cloud service providers (CSP);
3) Whether Ignyte can demonstrate the technical competence of individual assessors through education, training, technical knowledge, skills, and experience.
Just like a FedRAMP authorization, Ignyte has to undergo a full reassessment every 2 years to maintain its 3PAO status.
Ignyte offers 3 distinct FedRAMP solutions – FedRAMP Certification, FedRAMP+ Certification, and FedRAMP Renewals – all of which leverage Ignyte’s Automation platform.
With over 1000 audits performed and an average cost savings of 35% per project, Ignyte is the perfect 3PAO to engage for FedRAMP audits. Look for Ignyte on the FedRAMP marketplace under the Assessors tab.
About Ignyte
Ignyte Assurance Platform is a leader in collaborative security and integrated GRC solutions created for streamlining compliance and audit processes to enhance the organizational cybersecurity posture of both corporate and Federal government. Its AI-enabled risk management software is designed to help Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) manage cyber & regulatory risk and meet multiple regulations at once by leveraging language and intent matching. It maximizes resource time, produces real-time reports, automates the evidence collection processes, and increases overall trust in the organization’s regulatory compliance response. As a result, it has reportedly improved the efficiency and GRC efforts of organizations such as Allina Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, St. Joseph Health Hospital, Global Ordnance, UFCU, and others.
Learn more here.
To view Ignyte’s Accreditation Certificate: https://customer.a2la.org/index.cfm?event=directory.detail&labPID=666D9226-426E-4968-828F-F7BFFDA92056
About ISO/IEC 17020:2012
ISO/IEC 17020:2012 specifies requirements for the competence of bodies performing inspection and for the impartiality and consistency of their inspection activities. It applies to inspection bodies of type A, B or C, as defined in ISO/IEC 17020:2012, and it applies to any stage of inspection.
More information here.