AWS GovCloud

Extracted Attributes

• Core Services

  Compute (EC2), Storage (S3), Networking, IoT, and APIs

• Access Control

  Restricted to U.S. persons and entities; administered exclusively by U.S. citizens

• Data Sovereignty

  All data processing and storage must occur within the United States

• Parent Organization

  Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Compliance Certifications

  FedRAMP High, ITAR, CJIS, DoD SRG Impact Level 5, HIPAA, FIPS 140-3

• Market Share (AWS Parent)

  31% of cloud infrastructure market as of 2023-03-31

Timeline

• AWS holds a 31% market share for cloud infrastructure, leading competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2023-03-31

• Aqua Security publishes technical comparison of AWS GovCloud against standard regions and competitors. (Source: Web Search (aquasec.com))

  2024-02-06

• Inseego updates industry guidance on the importance of AWS GovCloud for government-related business compliance. (Source: Web Search (inseego.com))

  2025-08-26

• The Department of Defense labels Anthropic a supply chain security risk during a dispute over military access to AI models hosted on AWS GovCloud. (Source: 438752eb-c1ba-4151-9c9e-66c99d9bc9fd)

  2025-01-01

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. Clients often use this in combination with autoscaling (a process that allows a client to use more computing in times of high application usage, and then scale down to reduce costs when there is less traffic). These cloud computing web services provide various services related to networking, compute, storage, middleware, IoT and other processing capacity, as well as software tools via AWS server farms. This frees clients from managing, scaling, and patching hardware and operating systems. One of the foundational services is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which allows users to have at their disposal a virtual cluster of computers, with extremely high availability, which can be interacted with over the internet via REST APIs, a CLI or the AWS console. AWS's virtual computers emulate most of the attributes of a real computer, including hardware central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) for processing; local/RAM memory; hard-disk (HDD)/SSD storage; a choice of operating systems; networking; and pre-loaded application software such as web servers, databases, and customer relationship management (CRM). AWS services are delivered to customers via a network of AWS server farms located throughout the world. Fees are based on a combination of usage (known as a "Pay-as-you-go" model), hardware, operating system, software, and networking features chosen by the subscriber requiring various degrees of availability, redundancy, security, and service options. Subscribers can pay for a single virtual AWS computer, a dedicated physical computer, or clusters of either. Amazon provides select portions of security for subscribers (e.g. physical security of the data centers) while other aspects of security are the responsibility of the subscriber (e.g. account management, vulnerability scanning, patching). AWS operates from many global geographical regions, including nine in North America. Amazon markets AWS to subscribers as a way of obtaining large-scale computing capacity more quickly and cheaply than building an actual physical server farm. All services are billed based on usage, but each service measures usage in varying ways. As of 2023 Q1, AWS has 31% market share for cloud infrastructure while the next two competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have 25%, and 11% respectively, according to Synergy Research Group.

Web Search Results

• What is AWS Govcloud? Why should your business care about it?

  Updated on August 26, 2025 AWS Govcloud is a specific region within the larger Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing platform that is designed to meet specific regulatory and compliance requirements for government workloads. It offers a secure and compliant environment for government agencies and their sensitive data. It is separate from but functions similarly to, the standard AWS regions. ## What services are provided under AWS Govcloud? [...] ### AWS Govcloud: As the market leader in cloud computing, AWS Govcloud is a secure and compliant cloud environment specifically designed for government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. It offers many of the same services and features as the commercial version of AWS, but with additional security and compliance measures in place to meet government regulations. The key features of AWS Govcloud, as mentioned earlier, include government-specific compliance certifications such as FedRAMP, ITAR, and FISMA, as well as the ability to manage multiple levels of data security and access control. ### Azure Government: [...] ### Compliance with government regulations AWS Govcloud is designed to meet various compliance requirements, including FedRAMP, ITAR, HIPAA, and FIPS 140-2. This makes it easier for government agencies to deploy workloads on AWS without having to go through the lengthy and costly certification process themselves. ### Lower costs for government-related projects Government agencies often have strict budget constraints, and AWS Govcloud offers pricing options specifically for the public sector. This includes discounted pricing for government customers and special pricing for certain AWS services. This can help government agencies save money on their cloud computing needs. ### Access to specialized services

• AWS GovCloud (US) Compared to Standard AWS Regions

  # AWS GovCloud (US) Compared to Standard AWS Regions AWS GovCloud (US) are isolated AWS Regions designed to allow U.S. government agencies and customers to move sensitive workloads into the cloud by addressing their specific regulatory and compliance requirements, including Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High, Department of Defense Security Requirements Guide (DoD SRG) Impact Level 5, and Criminal Justice Services (CJIS). To assist customers in managing their obligations under U.S. export control regimes such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), AWS GovCloud (US) are logically and physically administered exclusively by U.S. citizens [...] AWS GovCloud (US) uses FIPS 140-3 approved cryptographic modules for all AWS service API endpoints, unless otherwise indicated in the Service Endpoints section. AWS GovCloud (US) is appropriate for all types of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and unclassified data. For more details, see Maintaining U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) Compliance. The AWS GovCloud (US) Regions are physically isolated and have logical network isolation from all other AWS Regions. [...] AWS restricts all physical and logical access for those staff supporting AWS GovCloud (US) to US Citizens. AWS allows only vetted U.S. citizens with distinct access controls separate from other AWS Regions to administer AWS GovCloud (US). Any customer data fields that are defined as outside of the ITAR boundary (such as S3 bucket names) are explicitly documented in the service-specific section as not permitted to contain export-controlled data. AWS GovCloud (US) authentication is completely isolated from Amazon.com.

• AWS GovCloud: Basics & How It Compares to Azure & GCP

  # AWS GovCloud: Basics & How It Compares to Azure & GCP Aqua Security for Federal GoverementGet Demo The Cloud Native ExpertsFebruary 6, 2024 ## What Is AWS GovCloud (US)? AWS GovCloud (US) is a dedicated region of Amazon Web Services (AWS) designed to host sensitive data and regulated workloads. It’s a part of AWS’s secure cloud services, specifically tailored to meet the rigorous compliance and regulatory requirements of U.S. government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as contractors, educational institutions, and other U.S. customers. [...] The primary reason behind the creation of the GovCloud was to enable these agencies and institutions to move sensitive workloads into the cloud by addressing their specific regulatory and compliance requirements. AWS GovCloud (US) provides the same reliable, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure as other AWS services, but with the additional security and compliance controls that align with government standards. One of the key features of GovCloud is its geographical and logical isolation from other AWS regions, providing an environment where data can be stored and processed solely within the United States. This is particularly important for organizations that are bound by U.S. data sovereignty requirements. Source: AWS-highrez.18c4d1a1f3ab7b1b24db471fefc50da8ff29b6e0.png) [...] Compliance and regulatory standards: GovCloud adheres to stringent compliance standards including ITAR, FedRAMP High, DoD SRG, CJIS, and HIPAA. U.S. data sovereignty: In GovCloud regions, all data processing and storage must occur within the United States. This is not a requirement for standard AWS regions, which can operate internationally. Strict access control: Only U.S. entities that pass a screening process can have access to GovCloud. Root account owners and all IAM users must be U.S. Persons. In contrast, standard AWS regions do not have such restrictions.

• AWS GovCloud (US) - AWS Documentation

  AWS GovCloud (US) consist of isolated AWS Regions designed to allow U.S. government agencies and customers move sensitive workloads into the cloud by addressing their specific regulatory and compliance requirements, including Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High, Department of Defense Security Requirements Guide (DoD SRG) Impact Levels 4 and 5, and Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS). To assist customers in managing their obligations under U.S. export control regimes such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), AWS GovCloud (US) Regions are logically and physically administered exclusively by AWS personnel that are U.S. citizens only. In this guide, the term AWS GovCloud (US) Regions [...] You can run workloads that contain all categories of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) data and government-oriented, publicly available data in AWS GovCloud (US). For a list of compliance frameworks, see AWS GovCloud (US) Security. AWS GovCloud (US) supports the management of regulated data by offering the following features: Restricting physical and logical administrative access to AWS personnel that are U.S. citizens only. Providing FIPS 140-3 endpoints. (For details on each service, see the Service Endpoints section.) Depending on your requirements, you can also run non-government workloads in the AWS GovCloud (US) regions; and use the unique capabilities of these Regions. ###### Note [...] ###### Note AWS manages physical and logical access controls for the AWS boundary. However, the overall security of your workloads is a shared responsibility, where you are responsible for controlling user access to content in your AWS GovCloud (US) account. The AWS GovCloud (US) User Guide provides details on setting up your AWS GovCloud (US) account, identifies the differences between AWS GovCloud (US) Regions and other AWS Regions, and defines usage guidelines for processing ITAR-regulated data within the AWS GovCloud (US). This guide assumes that you are familiar with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Additional resources:

• AWS GovCloud (US) Getting Started

  ### Getting an AWS GovCloud (US) Account AWS GovCloud (US) is available to US government agencies, U.S. government contractors, private and public commercial entities in the U.S., U.S. educational institutions, and U.S. non-profits and research organizations that meet the region’s requirements for access. In order to obtain an AWS GovCloud (US) account, the account owner must first have an associated standard AWS account for billing and support purposes. The sign-up process also requires acceptance of the AWS GovCloud (US) Addendum to the Amazon Web Services Customer Agreement. AWS Resellers should use the Contact Us form below to request an AWS GovCloud (US) account. [...] Search # AWS GovCloud (US) Getting Started ## Getting started AWS GovCloud (US) is an isolated AWS region designed to host sensitive data and regulated workloads in the cloud, helping customers support their US government compliance requirements, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High baseline requirements. AWS services the region with U.S. citizens and only U.S. persons are permitted to hold account credentials. ### Getting an AWS GovCloud (US) Account