StateRAMP: An Outgrowth of FedRAMP for SLED

By Troy Fortune, VP & General Manager

Is StateRAMP on your radar screen? If you are a cloud software vendor and trying to sell into the state, local and education market, I encourage you to pay attention.

Modeled after FedRAMP, StateRAMP is gaining traction among many state CIOs. For the last seven years cybersecurity has topped the priority lists for CIOs at the state, local and education (SLED) levels, yet there are no established security standards they have all agreed to.

StateRAMP plans to leverage the existing FedRAMP assessment and approvals processes to help simplify the implementation for government and industry. Logistics for FedRAMP to StateRAMP transitions are still being finalized but vendors should look for the marketplace to launch in Q2 of 2021.

Cyberattacks on the Rise

Cyberattacks in SLED have amped up in recent years and become increasingly sophisticated, targeting sensitive citizen PII data. Many organizations have begun taking steps to protect their databases and systems, but those measures vary widely from state to state and even department to department. The expanded use of cloud-based systems to house and manage critical services like Medicaid and unemployment insurance only increases the risk. Unfortunately, few standards exist for cybersecurity or cloud security, which makes the protection of their sensitive data even more challenging.