KCG Successfully Completes 3PAO Cloud Assessment for Akamai Technologies

RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - Aug 27, 2013) - Knowledge Consulting Group (KCG), one of the largest privately held cybersecurity services firms in the United States, today announced that it successfully completed a comprehensive cloud assessment for Akamai Technologies as a Third Party Assessment Organization (3PAO). KCG's support as a 3PAO resulted in a Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) by the Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program (FedRAMP) Joint Authorization Board for secure public cloud services offered by Akamai.

"As one of only a handful of companies to receive a Provisional ATO through FedRAMP, this certification opens up significant opportunities for us in the federal space," said Tom Ruff, vice president, Public Sector, Akamai. "Having KCG act as our 3PAO was an important aspect of our ability to go through the P-ATO process smoothly. Unlike many other cloud providers, Akamai delivers its services via a highly distributed cloud platform. This added complexity to the process, which KCG handled admirably. We look forward to their support in the next phase of the program." 

FedRAMP provides a standard approach to security in the federal cloud environment, enabling Cloud Service Providers (CSP) to be approved once for government-wide use. The program, which requires a 3PAO to conduct a detailed, independent assessment evaluating and documenting a CSP's information systems, ensures that all security requirements adhere to FedRAMP standards. Once a solution earns authorization, it must participate in ongoing assessments and authorizations through continuous monitoring.

"3PAO assessment is an important step in ensuring the security of the government's cloud initiatives," said Matt Brown, Vice President, Homeland Security and Cyber Solutions, KCG. "However, we cannot forget the importance of the continuous monitoring requirements that each FedRAMP recipient will need to maintain, which will only strengthen the overall security posture."

"It was a pleasure to serve as the 3PAO for Akamai's successful FedRAMP assessment," said Maryann Hirsch, President, KCG. "KCG is committed to our role as a 3PAO, delivering high quality assessments that provide the government the most secure cloud options available. In addition, our significant past performance providing critical continuous monitoring capabilities to federal agencies perfectly positions us to help support the next phase of the program."

About KCG
Knowledge Consulting Group (KCG) is one of the largest privately held cybersecurity services firms in the United States. We operate as a trusted cyber advisor to our customers across the country. We take great pride in maintaining a single focus on being the leader in cybersecurity services, providing risk management, governance, operations and compliance services, utilizing our Chief Information Security Officer Framework methodology. We are uniquely positioned as a trusted cyber advisor with over 90 percent of our cyber professionals holding security clearances and security-specific certifications. With over 13 years of experience in providing cybersecurity services to our customers, we have a strong record of past performance in advising and executing cyber missions for all types of organizations and sectors.

Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C. in Reston, Virginia, KCG provides cybersecurity services for organizations across the homeland security, federal civilian, defense and commercial sectors. For more information about KCG, please visit http://www.KnowledgeCG.com.