Moving to the cloud is a very different proposition when you’re responsible for criminal justice information, whether that includes fingerprints and other biometric data, criminal histories, case records or information about property associated with a crime.

Law enforcement agencies and other organizations subject to CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) requirements want the flexibility and operational advantages of the cloud. Yet, they have little room for uncertainty about if or how sensitive information is protected, who can access it or what happens when a critical system goes down.

That sets a high bar for cloud security. And it provides useful context for the launch of Enterprise Security, a new suite of capabilities designed to help organizations securely modernize mission-critical operations in Laserfiche Cloud.

Enterprise Security addresses CJIS and GovRAMP security requirements based on the NIST SP 800-53 framework. It also introduces additional protections against emerging threats while strengthening the controls organizations rely on to keep critical information secure and available.

CJIS readiness isn’t defined by a single security feature. Agencies need to consider how they protect criminal justice information throughout their environment and configure technology around their own requirements.

For IT and security teams, that raises practical questions:

The last question is particularly easy to overlook. Agencies rarely use an information management platform in isolation. Often, other applications supply information to Laserfiche or retrieve information from it. Automated processes can connect those systems without someone manually moving a document from one place to another. For example, a workflow might route case-related information between systems or make a record available to an authorized user as part of an investigative or administrative process.

Those connections need the same security discipline as the applications themselves. Access should be limited to the information that’s necessary for each user and their role, and protections shouldn’t be lessened or disappear simply because a process has been automated.

Enterprise Security strengthens that environment with enhanced encryption using FIPS 140-3 compliant cryptographic algorithm modules. Configurable inactivity timeouts give organizations greater control over how long sessions remain active, complementing existing capabilities such as role-based access controls and single sign-on.

Together, these technology controls support CJIS security requirements. Agencies remain responsible for understanding the information they manage, configuring their environment appropriately and demonstrating that they meet those requirements in practice.

Security teams also need to know what’s happening around their information.

Repository audit logs provide a record of activity involving content. Enterprise Security expands that view through an advanced audit trail that covers activity across the system, including user and account security events. Support for integration with SIEM and log aggregation tools allows that activity to become part of the organization’s broader security monitoring.

That wider view is valuable when an agency needs to investigate unusual behavior or review changes to an account. If an administrator’s permissions change unexpectedly or an account begins accessing information it normally doesn’t, security teams need a record of those events alongside activity involving the content itself. It also helps organizations demonstrate that the controls they have in place are working as intended.

For teams managing sensitive information, comprehensive visibility provides a clear record of how people interact with the system, from the access they have to the actions they take.

Some security events begin with malicious activity. Others begin when infrastructure simply becomes unavailable. Either way, a public safety agency can’t afford to lose access to critical information for an extended period. A regional outage can quickly become an operational problem if criminal histories, identity or case records are unavailable.

Multi-region disaster recovery helps organizations prepare for regional outages, with near real-time account-level replication to support recovery. If a critical issue affects one region, the repository can be brought back online with disaster recovery support. Automated four-hour repository data snapshots provide an additional recovery capability.

This is one of the more consequential ideas behind Enterprise Security. Disaster recovery isn’t separate from protecting mission-critical information. Availability is part of the security commitment.

For agencies evaluating cloud environments through a CJIS lens, that changes the conversation from simply preventing an incident to asking how operations continue when prevention isn’t enough.

The environment agencies are defending is changing too. AI has introduced questions about how organizations govern the tools they choose to use. It’s also changing the nature of some security threats by making automated activity easier to scale, adapt and target.

Some of these threats are new, while others are longstanding attack methods becoming more sophisticated. Unauthorized AI bots generate large volumes of automated activity, while DDoS attacks increasingly use automation to vary tactics and make malicious traffic harder to distinguish from legitimate use. Both can overwhelm systems and disrupt availability. Laserfiche Cloud includes protections against these types of threats and can adapt over time.

For agencies working toward CJIS readiness, evolving threats add to an already high security bar. They need technology that protects sensitive information as applications connect and processes become automated, without creating so much friction that employees find ways around it. They also need a path back to normal operations when something unexpected happens.

Enterprise Security was built to strengthen that underlying architecture in Laserfiche Cloud, supporting rigorous security requirements while helping agencies prepare for what comes next.

Stronger cloud security creates room to modernize with greater confidence while maintaining the protections required for criminal justice information.

The standard is high because the information demands it.

Learn key considerations of establishing long-term enterprise resiliency by downloading the Operational Guide to CJI now.