Guide to Understanding FedRAMP

1 Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Version March 4, 2013. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Executive Summary This document provides helpful hints and guidance to make it easier to understand FedRAMP 's requirements. The primary purpose of this document is to act as an aid for Cloud Service Providers and Third-Party Assessment Organizations (3 PAOs) to get through the security assessment process quickly. The FedRAMP website can be found at and information found in this document is consistent with the program described on the website. The FedRAMP program supports the government's mandate that all federal information systems comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

2 Page 2. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Document Revision History Date Page(s) Description Author 6/6/2012 All Version FedRAMP Office 10/15/2012 pp. 38-39 Added , , and (PE-2, PE-3, PE-4) FedRAMP Office 10/26/2012 p. 36 Table number revised FedRAMP Office 10/26/2012 p. 46 Table number revised FedRAMP Office 10/26/2012 p. 49 Table number revised FedRAMP Office 11/14/2012 p. 20 Added , all other sections past renumbered FedRAMP Office 11/14/2012 p. 13 revised FedRAMP Office 11/14/2012 p. 33 revised FedRAMP Office 02/04/13 p. 40 Added , , FedRAMP Office 03/04/13 p. 14 revised to change 3 PAO scans to annual FedRAMP Office 03/04/13 p.

3 18 , removed requirement for CTW FedRAMP Office 03/04/13 p. 13 Updated Figure 2-1 FedRAMP Office 03/04/13 p. 38 Added new FedRAMP Office Page 3. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Version , March 4, 2013. Table of Contents About this document .. 9. Who should use this document? .. 9. How this document is organized .. 9. Conventions used in this document .. 9. How to contact us .. 10. 1. FedRAMP 11. Applicable Laws and Regulations .. 11. Applicable Standards and Guidance .. 11. FedRAMP governance .. 12. Overview of The FedRAMP Process .. 12. 2. Guidelines For Third-Party Assessment Organizations .. 13. Security Assessment Plan (SAP) Template.

4 14. Security Test Procedure Workbooks .. 14. Security Assessment Report (SAR) Template .. 14. Running Scans .. 14. 3. Guidelines For Cloud Service Providers .. 15. Before You Begin .. 15. Initiating the 16. After Acceptance Into The FedRAMP Program .. 16. FIPS 199 Template .. 17. e-Authentication Template .. 17. Privacy Threshold Analysis & Privacy Impact Assessment .. 18. CTW Template .. 18. CIS Template .. 18. User Guide .. 20. Components, Boundaries, and Architecture .. 20. Describing Information System Components ( SSP) .. 20. Use Cases .. 21. Case 1: Simple 22. Case 2: Simple 22. Case 3: Simple SaaS .. 23. Case 4: One Provider, Just SaaS.

5 23. Page 4. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Version , March 4, 2013. Case 5: Two Cloud Providers, IaaS and 24. Case 6: Three Cloud Providers, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS .. 25. Case 7: Two Cloud IaaS Providers .. 26. Case 8: Two Cloud IaaS Providers and a PaaS Provider .. 26. Case 9: Three Cloud Providers, One IaaS and Two PaaS .. 27. Discussing Virtualization .. 28. Discussing Boundaries ( in SSP) .. 29. Discussing Live Migrations .. 31. Discussing Storage Components .. 32. Addressing the Data Flow Diagram ( in SSP) .. 33. Describing the Security Controls in the SSP ( 13 in SSP) .. 34. Security Control Summary Information .. 36.

6 Security Control AC-7 .. 38. Security Control IA-5(3) .. 38. Security Control PE-2(a)(b)(c).. 39. Security Control PE-3(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g).. 39. Security Control PE-4 .. 39. Security Control PE-5 .. 40. Security Control PE-6(a)(b)(c).. 40. Security Control PE-6(1) .. 40. Security Control PE-13 (1)(2)(3) .. 41. Security Control PL (4) .. 41. Security Control SA-11(1) .. 42. Security Control SC-7 (1) .. 42. Security Control 44. IT Contingency Plan (CP-2) .. 45. Business Impact Analysis (BIA) .. 45. Configuration Management Plan (CM-9) .. 45. Incident Response Plan (IR-8) .. 48. Security Control IR-2 .. 50. Security Control IR-3.

7 50. Security Control IR-4 .. 50. Security Control IR-4(1) .. 51. Security Control IR-5 .. 51. Page 5. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Version , March 4, 2013. Security Control IR-6 .. 52. Security Control IR-6(1) .. 53. Security Control IR-7 .. 53. Security Control IR-7(1) .. 53. Security Control IR-7(2) .. 54. POA&M 54. 4. Instructions for CSPs on Maintaining the Authorization .. 54. Ongoing Assessment and Continuous Monitoring .. 54. 5. General Documentation Information for CSP .. 55. Formatting and Section Numbers .. 55. Sensitivity Markings .. 55. Items That Are Not Applicable .. 55. Page 6. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP .

8 Version , March 4, 2013. List of Tables Table 3-1. Preparation 15. Table 3-2. Information Types for IaaS Providers .. 17. Table 3-3. Example of Security Control Summary Information .. 36. Table 3-5. Configuration Management Controls .. 45. Table 3-6. Configuration Management Nomenclature .. 46. Table 3-7. Incident Response Controls .. 48. Table 3-8. Agency Points of Contact to Report Incidents .. 52. Page 7. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Version , March 4, 2013. List of Figures Figure 2-1. FedRAMP Process .. 13. Figure 3-1. Screenshot from CTW .. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 3-2. Select the Implementation Status in the CIS.

9 19. Figure 3-3. Select the Control Origination Responsibility .. 19. Figure 3-4. Example of Components Described by 21. Figure 3-5. Example of Components Described by Function .. 21. Figure 3-6. One IaaS Provider .. 22. Figure 3-7. One Provider for IaaS and PaaS .. 23. Figure 3-8. One Provider, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS .. 23. Figure 3-9. One Provider, Just SaaS .. 24. Figure 3-10. Two Providers, One IaaS and One PaaS .. 25. Figure 3-11. Three Providers, One IaaS, One PaaS, and One 25. Figure 3-12. Two IaaS Providers .. 26. Figure 3-13. Two IaaS and One PaaS Provider .. 27. Figure 3-14. Three Providers, One IaaS and Two 28. Figure 3-15.

10 Security Controls Fitting 30. Figure 3-16. Security Control Gap .. 30. Figure 3-17. Example of Storage Array Illustration .. 33. Figure 3-18. Data Flow Diagram Example .. 34. Figure 3-19. Access Control for System Components .. 35. Figure 3-20. Two Access Control Mechanisms .. 35. Figure 3-21. TIC Compliant Architecture .. 43. Page 8. Guide to Understanding FedRAMP . Version , March 4, 2013. ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT. This document has been developed to provide guidance on how to participate in and understand the FedRAMP program. WHO SHOULD USE THIS DOCUMENT? This document is intended to be used by service CSPs, 3 PAOs, government contractors working on FedRAMP projects, government employees working on FedRAMP projects, and any outside organizations that want to make use of the FedRAMP assessment process.