Fast Track Authority Helps Air Force Deploy, Secure IT Systems

The U.S. Air Force continues to implement a new process that reduces the time required for securing authority to operate information technology tools from a year to just weeks, FedScoop reported Monday. The service is using Fast Track ATO that Matt Donovan, undersecretary for the branch, unveiled in March to allow officials to speed up deployment and assessment of new software and systems. 

Wanda Jones-Heath, chief information security officer for the Air Force, said Fast Track helped the service improve risk assessment and address vulnerabilities faster than previous processes.  

“The penetration testing finds it and fixes it up front,” she said. “The continuous monitoring actually finds it continuously and then you’re able to keep moving.”

Through the same ATO process, Air Force officials plan to standardize bug bounties and “third-party adversarial testing.” Jones-Heath said the service has a list of additional systems it wants to put under Fast Track for deployment.