CISA orders federal agencies to secure their cloud environments

Federal civilian agencies are compelled by the Binding Operational Directive to adopt specific cloud standards under SCuBA, a government blueprint that helps agencies assess cloud security security guidelines.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency invoked a binding directive Tuesday that requires federal agencies to retune their cloud security posture to a set of standards that can prevent hackers from gaining unauthorized access to their systems.

The order requires agencies to comply with measures set under CISA’s Secure Cloud Business Applications — or SCuBA — project, which helps guide civilian agencies on protecting their cloud environments. 

SCuBA’s creation was fueled in part by the 2020 SolarWinds Orion incident, a first-of-its-kind hack against the federal civilian agency enterprise that motivated the need for a more consistent approach to governmentwide cloud safety.

“As part of CISA and the broad U.S. government’s effort to move the federal civilian enterprise to a more ...