Netskope GovCloud Receives FedRAMP® High Impact Authorization

At Netskope, we have a long history of supporting customers in the US Federal Government. For example, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently chose Netskope to help with its cloud-first security initiatives, building out their entire SASE architecture.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce two major developments to make it easier to acquire and implement Netskope in US federal agencies and the contractors that support them: 

• Netskope GovCloud
• FedRAMP High Authorization for Netskope GovCloud

Introducing Netskope GovCloud

We recognize that it’s difficult for government agencies to navigate the markets for commercial security products. Government organizations have specific use cases and requirements for compliance. Without clear labeling, it’s not always easy to tell if a commercial product can be used in a compliant configuration,  or if any functionality changes when used in such a way. 

That’s why we are introducing the name Netskope GovCloud for our government solutions. By providing a distinct name, now it’s easier for federal agencies to find product information that’s relevant to their needs. It helps us explain how functions map to federal use cases, such as how to speed up network transformation, protect sensitive data in the government cloud or address cybersecurity in line with the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. It helps our customers understand what to procure. By giving our government solutions a name, we can more clearly communicate relevant information about product developments and roadmaps that are of interest to the government, and eliminate sources of uncertainty or ambiguity.

FedRAMP High Impact Authorization for Netskope GovCloud

The Joint Authorization Board developed FedRAMP to define requirements for security operations with cloud-based IT. It spells on standards and operating processes designed to establish the minimum bar for security assessment, monitoring and continuous operations in federal agencies. 

Given the breadth of the US government, there are different levels of authorization suited for different usages. Netskope is proud to announce that Netskope GovCloud is FedRAMP High Impact Authorized, thus making it suitable for a broad number of use cases. As stated in the FedRAMP website:

“High Impact data is usually in Law Enforcement and Emergency Services systems, Financial systems, Health systems, and any other system where loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could be expected to have a severe or catastrophic adverse effect on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals. FedRAMP introduced their High Baseline to account for the government’s most sensitive, unclassified data in cloud computing environments, including data that involves the protection of life and financial ruin.”

The FedRAMP review process requires strong partnership with the US government, because there are a limited number of vendors that are sponsored in any given year. We are grateful to have been working closely with the Department of Veteran Affairs as our key partner.

With this announcement, Netskope GovCloud will soon be visible from the FedRAMP Marketplace, which catalogs and labels authorized products. As a platform, agencies can deploy Netskope GovCloud to protect web and cloud and take advantage of other protections delivered through Netskope Intelligent SSE. This reduces operational overhead compared to point solutions, due to the use of common architecture, single pass policy enforcement and single client and admin console. 

Finally, the massive differentiator is our FedRAMP architecture which is built upon an advanced foundation of our global, telco-grade framework. Most notably this design will allow Netskope full feature parity with our commercial offering and that our commercial code has also been elevated to FedRAMP high control standards, simply good hygiene, bringing unprecedented efficiency and modern stability to all of our customers.    

To learn more about Netskope GovCloud, visit our web page here. Additionally, we’d like to invite you to join us in person at our very first Washington DC SASE Summit on January 24, 2024.