Law enforcement professionals have been wary in adopting cloud-based solutions when it comes to storing and managing digital evidence for many reasons. One of the primary reasons has been because of security concerns (think Snowden) and CJIS compliance requirements. However, as of March 2015, the FBI has announced it was moving to the Cloud. This Microsoft article tells more.
Many are surprised at the turn of events in which the FBI found Microsoft’s Azure Government to be “secure enough to house the secrets of any state, city, or county agency in California if they so choose to house their information in the cloud.” What’s more, according to the same article:
The news comes after a 2013 partnership began between California and Microsoft to establish Office 365 compliance and use with the FBI’s CJIS standards. Along with being government grade secure, Microsoft’s Azure team can also hang their hat on the fact that Azure Government as of right now, is the first and only hyper scale commercial infrastructure cloud platform that has met the contractual CJIS requirements for local, state and federal governments.
The article continues to unpack the implications of the decision and explain the relationship between the CJIS and the FBI. The CJIS Division of the FBI is responsible for maintaining and operating systems through which criminal justice information flows among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. This information could include information like:
- Criminal history
- Sex offender registries
- Fingerprint records
- And many other types of information
The hope is that law enforcement agencies will be able to get faster at processing information with this transition to the Cloud.
Another Microsoft article explains that:
Across the U.S., state and local governments are shifting more of their computing to the cloud. According to a 2014 report from the Pew Charitable Trust, 93 percent of state governments are deploying applications in the cloud, with 20 percent saying they are “heavily invested.”
Key in all of this conversation for many government cloud applications is meeting strict regulatory compliance requirements for data security and privacy, which Microsoft’s platform provides.
Do You Want to Learn More?
Learn more about this development and what it could mean for your agency or law enforcement department and read the full articles by clicking here and here.
Do you have an opinion about moving to the cloud? We’d love to know more as we prepare to implement significant changes of our own.