Government clouds face security and compliance gaps

Since the launch of the U.S. federal government’s pioneering "cloud-first" strategy in 2010, agencies like the GSA and Department of Defense have embraced cloud technologies to drive efficiency and innovation, according to Forbes.

However, according to Forrester, maintaining security in these environments remains a major challenge due to a mix of outdated procurement models, complex compliance mandates, and evolving policy landscapes. While industry-specific government clouds like FedRAMP offerings provide infrastructure-level certifications, they often fall short in securing the full technology stack. Additional hurdles include workforce reductions, rigid data classification tiers, frequent policy shifts, and the high cost of certifying third-party security tools. Multicloud adoption and the widespread use of SaaS applications further complicate risk modeling and threat visibility. Even as cloud usage accelerates, many government agencies remain constrained by approval bottlenecks and a lack of unified security tooling. As a result, agencies face mounting pressure to balance innovation with the operational demands of security and compliance.