Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched AWS Secret Cloud for Industry (ASCI), a managed service designed to let cleared U.S. defense contractors and related organizations run their own classified workloads directly on AWS infrastructure. This move aims to bypass the traditional, capital-intensive requirement for contractors to build and manage their own on-premises classified systems, a process that often hinders rapid adoption of modern technologies like generative AI.
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The new offering holds Provisional Authorization at Impact Level 6 from the Defense Information Systems Agency, meeting standards for Secret-classified information. AWS guides organizations through the necessary authorization and network connection processes, ensuring compliance with existing frameworks.
Northrop Grumman Leads the Way
Northrop Grumman is the first defense contractor to deploy classified workloads using ASCI. Previously, setting up such a workload in the AWS Secret-East Region would have involved months of hardware procurement and facility setup.
