NOAA hopes to find data security in the cloud
As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration pushes more of its massive trove of data out to the public, securing that information becomes a greater concern.
Distributing publicly available data to commercial cloud service providers could help federal agencies mitigate cyberthreats, said a top data manager at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
David McClure, data asset portfolio analyst at NOAA, said the agency is working on making its massive amounts of weather data available to the public. That effort includes hooking up with commercial cloud providers to build paths into NOAA's data troves.
Commercial providers can offer a more efficient way for NOAA's data customers to access the agency's terabytes of information by freeing up access points at the agency, McClure said.
Officials are also considering how to provide that data securely, he added during a Nov. 13 AFCEA Bethesda breakfast panel discussion on using enterprise data.
When asked about the recent cyberattack on four of NOAA's National Weather Service websites, McClure said he could not comment on the incidents. But he did say that providing public data through commercial cloud providers could help alleviate some security and technical pressure on the agency's IT infrastructure.
"Pushing a copy to the cloud gets [the data] out of our defense perimeter," he said.
To further increase security, officials are exploring electronic verification methods that would stamp cloud-based information as an official copy of NOAA data, McClure said.
In February, NOAA generated buzz with a request for information seeking ideas on how to make the agency's 20 terabytes of daily data readily available online. At the time, NOAA was sharing only about 10 percent of that information, and officials wanted to hear about ways to get more information into the hands of users -- and maybe make a little money on the side.
The RFI drew 70 responses from individuals, academia and industry organizations before closing March 31. McClure said NOAA's market research is ongoing, and the agency is soliciting ideas from commercial service providers that already use the data.