Snowflake Hits Protected Level on Google Cloud

Snowflake announced it has completed an Infosec Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) assessment for its deployment on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in the Melbourne region. This certification confirms the platform meets the Australian Government’s “Protected” level security requirements.

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Google Cloud

A suite of cloud computing services offered by Google, providing infrastructure, data analytics, and machine learning.

Snowflake

$12.4B

A cloud-based data platform enabling data warehousing, data lakes, data engineering, and data sharing.

This milestone is crucial for Australian government agencies aiming to modernize their data infrastructure and handle sensitive information securely. The IRAP Protected assessment enables these agencies to utilize Snowflake for advanced analytics and AI workloads on GCP.

Expanding Secure Cloud Options

The assessment was performed by third-party assessors endorsed by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). It evaluated Snowflake against controls detailed in the ASD Information Security Manual (ISM).

This achievement builds upon Snowflake’s existing support for protected workloads in Australia on AWS and Azure. It now extends this capability to Google Cloud Platform’s Australia Southeast 2 (Melbourne) region.

This expansion provides Australian public sector organizations with greater choice for deploying data workloads across major cloud providers, supporting secure multi-cloud strategies.

Empowering Government Data Initiatives

With Snowflake on Google Cloud now assessed at the Protected level, agencies can confidently support various data and AI initiatives. This includes deploying multi-cloud strategies for business continuity, unifying fragmented data for comprehensive operational views, and enabling secure data sharing without unnecessary duplication.

The platform’s robust security and governance capabilities are designed to help government entities modernize their data estates and accelerate digital transformation goals. This compliance is vital for agencies looking to leverage AI for improved decision-making and service delivery, aligning with broader cloud data platform compliance efforts.

Snowflake’s commitment to security is further demonstrated by its existing global certifications, including SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and FedRAMP. The company also holds ISO 42001 certification for Artificial Intelligence Management, ensuring AI capabilities are developed with safety, fairness, and accountability.

This move underscores Snowflake's investment in Snowflake cloud security and its dedication to supporting government innovation.

Agencies can now confidently use Snowflake on GCP for enhanced public sector data analytics and AI applications.