Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said it’s expanding the availability of its most secure Azure Government Cloud services, making them available to other agencies besides the Department of Defense.

The Redmond-based firm explained that in order to work with the DoD, it needs to satisfy a host of security requirements beyond what it does for its regular cloud customers. That was achieved when it was certified for Impact Level 5 of the Defense Information System Agency’s cloud security requirements earlier this year, meaning it was cleared to handle the DoD’s most sensitive data.

However, Tom Keane, head of global infrastructure for Microsoft Azure, said that other agencies besides the DoD that have similar strict security protocols were also interested in using its cloud services. With that in mind, Microsoft is introducing a new Azure Government Secret service based on its Impact Level 5 certification, so it can deliver cloud computing services such as artificial intelligence and translation to those customers.

Azure Government Secret is needed because government agencies are a prime target of hackers – both the criminally inclined and those of the state-sponsored variety. The problem is that although many government departments work with secret data, they don’t always have the necessary security budgets, or talent, to keep that data safe. That’s where Microsoft comes in, with its cloud services backed up by some of the most secure computing systems available.

Microsoft said the new service lets agencies use the Azure Cloud for their most highly classified data. “Customers of Azure Government Secret will gain access to new technologies at scale and pace of innovation they’d experience in a commercial environment,” Keane said.

In a second announcement, Microsoft also said it’s planning to make its blockchain technology available to government agencies after several of them expressed an interest in evaluating it. Keane said that blockchain – which is a distributed ledger for conducting secure transactions – could be used for jobs such as tax management, voter records and licensing services.

“Blockchain technologies deployed on Azure are applicable to many complex problems facing government today, including distribution of funds after natural disasters, registration of property ownership, and other issues involving tracking ownership of funds or assets through multiple transactions,” Keane wrote. “Today we’re launching Blockchain for Azure Government, which will support a wide array of our Azure blockchain and distributed ledger marketplace solutions. These solutions automate the deployment and configuration of blockchain infrastructure across multiple organizations, allowing our customers to focus on government transformation and application development.”

On a busy day, Microsoft also announced a host of other government-focused services, including specialized versions of its Office 365 and Dynamics 365 products.

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