KCG Successfully Completes Government's First FedRAMP JAB Provisional Authorization for a Software as a Service Solution

RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - Jan 8, 2014) - 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 Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) 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 (JAB) for CTC's Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings, the first SaaS solution to complete the process.

"Serving as the first and only SaaS solution to be FedRAMP certified provides us a clear differentiator in the market," said Greg Hoffman, URHD Program Manager, CTC. "We wanted to ensure we were way ahead of the game in terms of becoming certified prior to the June 2014 deadline for agencies to be using FedRAMP approved solution providers. KCG's support as a 3PAO was a major reason for our success in seamlessly moving through the FedRAMP process."

KCG secured a P-ATO for CTC's Unclassified Remote Hosted Desktop (URHD) platform. URHD provides government agencies the ability to access their applications and data through a user-definable virtual workspace, full virtual desktop, mobile cloud or a light-weight client from many different client types including PCs, tablets and smartphones. 

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.

"When working to put the first type of solution through the FedRAMP process -- in this case, the first SaaS platform -- it is even more essential to ensure the work is detailed and coordinated," said Maryann Hirsch, President, KCG. "We are proud to have led the effort as CTC's 3PAO and look forward to focusing on the next important step in the process -- looking at agencies continuous monitoring requirements."

"This certification was a true collaboration between all parties -- KCG, CTC and the government -- throughout the entire process," said Matt Mitchell, Director, Risk Advisory Services, KCG. "The team approach definitely helped make it as seamless as possible."

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.

About CTC
Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is an independent, nonprofit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization providing innovative management and technology-based solutions to government and industry. As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, CTC's primary purpose and programs are to undertake applied scientific research and development activities that serve the public interest. For more information about CTC, visit www.ctc.com. For more information about the URHD, visit www.ctc.com/cloudsolutions.