The Department of Defense is preparing to store sensitive data using “cloud” server technology and is trying to find vendors interested in powering the service.
While Amazon’s cloud service has already received provisional authorization to store lower-level Defense files, the announcement would be the first time “level six,” or highly classified, information has been considered for cloud-based storage and distribution by a private company.
Although it could improve the efficiency of the DoD, consumer and enterprise-grade cloud implementations would not be secure enough to protect high-level data.
To address this problem, the DoD is considering two strategies for ensuring that documents are kept safe. The first is to allow companies to lease floor space from the DoD which would be used to install physical servers on-site. The second would have cloud providers send server equipment in sealed containers to the DoD, which would set them up.
In both instances, there is a physical connection between the data servers and the DoD. Since the cloud network would be self-contained within the DoD, it would extremely hard for a hacker to breach the network directly — although depending on the specifics of the implementation, it could be possible to access classified documents if they are taken from the cloud and saved on an unsecured computer.
At this point, the transition to the cloud is still in its developmental stages. Companies will have until early November to submit proposals for the project.
