On Oct. 8, 2022, Silicon Valley Defense Group hosted “The Challenge of ATOs” webinar which featured Second Front Systems’™ Chief Revenue Officer Tyler Sweatt as moderator, and Chief Technology Officer Enrique Oti as a speaker.
The webinar also features Paul Burnette, vice president and director of the Software Accelerator at Leidos, and Jeanette Manfra, director of risk and compliance at Google Cloud.
The webinar covers many of the challenges and areas of opportunity in the federal Authority to Operate (ATO) process:
- How can national security organizations accelerate access to technologies from the commercial sector?
- How can companies scale software from a security and compliance standpoint?
- What is the future of ATOs?
This webinar addresses pressing federal go-to-market strategy questions for software companies.
Manfra discusses how the amount of work it takes to achieve certifications can present a barrier to entry for smaller companies. In her experience with Google Cloud, partners can inherit a certain level of security controls, a factor that she notes as very valuable to accelerating the ATO process.
Oti identifies a lack of clarity and shared understanding of definitions as a shortfall of the ATO landscape. “There is a lot of terminology that gets thrown out. Very little of it is clearly defined in policy,” said Oti. This often leaves companies confused.
Burnette further emphasizes the importance of inheritance, as he states that this is how the commercial tech industry evolves so quickly. He relates the evolution of ATO compliance with how commercial tech builds on preexisting work, and minimizes complexity.
The conversation continues with further reflections on the ATO process, tips that may help commercial companies through the process, and projections for the future of ATOs.
Watch the full webinar above.
