The Zero Trust (ZT) architecture is a modern concept shaping cybersecurity in the public and private sectors. The growing use of SaaS applications, migration to cloud-based architecture, a rising number of remote employees, and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) have rendered perimeter-based security obsolete. The concept of a network perimeter where those outside of the enterprise's control are malicious and insiders are trustworthy — is no longer a viable approach to cybersecurity.

Article originally posted to the GovDevSecOpsHub here.

As I.T. professionals, security needs to be at the forefront of everything that we do. Even in mature organizations with robust cloud deployments we must always believe there is room for improvement. Here are four considerations to make when evaluating the security of your AWS workloads.  

How will you utilize your logging data?

Cloud billing can be a tedious and complicated task if not planned for correctly. If you do not have a well thought out plan on how to approach your AWS bill when charging back to various departments or projects, things can get messy when attempting to divide the bill correctly. In this article we will discuss three methods to make strategizing your approach ahead of time to make things much easier when it comes to invoice time.
 
Cost Allocation Tags

The AWS Public Sector Summit is less than two weeks away. This event brings the public sector cloud community together to connect, collaborate, and learn about AWS. This will be the second year in a row as a virtual event. If last year was any indication the event will be just as impactful as a virtual experience. DLT continues to be a proud sponsor and will be taking part in the day’s activities.

Cybersecurity attacks have been a part of the national security conversation since the beginning of the technological age. However, with a significant changes in 2020, we have seen more intrusions in the first half of 2020 than throughout all of 2019 (as reported by NETSCOUT). A new wave of highly sophisticated attacks has evolved with fear tactics and the change of work environments from offices to work from home. 

Teresa Carlson, Vice President, AWS Public Sector held a leadership session, From complexity to clarity: The strategic value of AWS. Teresa’s breakout highlighted how crucial cloud technology has been for organizations. The AWS cloud provides the ability to respond quickly to the new reality brought on by the ongoing global crisis. Several AWS customers shared how they were able to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges using the cloud. Furthermore, how they are driving impact around big ideas, discoveries, and turning points to solve some of the world’s largest challenges.

Sandy Carter, Vice President WWPS at AWS led a leadership session, Keeping “mission-critical” critical but simple focusing on the available AWS programs for public sector partners. These are specific programs that enable partners to focus on mission-critical work. Several partner success stories were shared with a special nod to DLT and the success with the NewBe program! The New Business Engagement (NewBE) Program provides additional monthly rebates for SLED customers that are 100% new to AWS.

Adoption of Amazon Web Service (AWS) in the public sector is skyrocketing. Today, approximately 6,500 agencies use AWS to accelerate innovation while balancing economy, agility, security, compliance, and reliability. 

This represents a tremendous opportunity for technology product and services providers to sell and deploy cloud applications and solutions to public sector organization who are rapidly adopting the cloud.

If I asked you which cloud provider had the most experience running Microsoft applications, would you know the answer? You might be surprised. Customers have been running Microsoft Workloads on AWS since 2008 – two years before Microsoft Azure became commercially available. We work in an industry that can sometimes become clouded with competitive statements that can confuse customers and introduce doubt into the decision-making process, but the facts are clear: Windows is truly a first-class citizen on AWS.