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Amazon's cloud services cleared for US government use

Amazon's cloud services cleared for US government use

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Amazon Web Services sign
Amazon Web Services sign

Amazon's Cloud services are now approved for government use in the US. The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes high-profile bodies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is now able to make use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host part or all of its websites.

AWS is wildly popular among web developers — services like Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3) provide the backbone to large portions of the web, including ultra-high-traffic sites like Netflix. Although Amazon has servers throughout the world, the government security clearance only covers those physically located in the US. Back in March, an unverified report claimed that Amazon is building a private cloud for the CIA. Although today's news is by no means a confirmation of the story, the fact that Amazon's standard cloud services have been deemed secure enough to support a major government department does lend some credence to the rumor.