Executive summary
Military and national security organizations face challenges in maintaining secure communications across diverse mission partner environments.
Akamai's Zero Trust mission partner solution provides a comprehensive, edge-delivered platform to address these challenges.
Key features include:
Identity federation across coalition partners
Attribute-based access control for data-centric security
Mission-critical performance and availability
Resilient architecture and advanced threat protection
Microsegmentation to control both north-south and east-west traffic
The solution enables secure collaboration and information sharing across coalition partners while maintaining the necessary security posture.
- It provides a secure foundation for a unified network environment that's extensible for effective collaboration.
In today's complex threat landscape, military and national security organizations face unprecedented challenges in maintaining secure, interoperable communications across diverse mission partner environments. Whether coordinating coalition mission planning, facilitating intelligence sharing among allied nations, or executing joint operations across multiple security domains, the need for robust, scalable, and secure infrastructure has never been more critical.
At Akamai, we've spent more than two decades supporting Department of War (DoW) missions by evolving our capabilities to meet the dynamic requirements of modern military operations.
Our comprehensive suite of solutions enables secure collaboration across coalition partners while implementing the principles of Zero Trust architecture and Least Permissive Trust practices that are essential for protecting sensitive information and critical mission systems.
The challenge of securing mission partner environments
Modern military operations increasingly rely on coalition partnerships, requiring seamless collaboration among organizations with varying security postures, authentication systems, and access control requirements. Traditional perimeter-based security models fall short when dealing with:
Multidomain operations spanning classified and unclassified networks
Diverse identity ecosystems across coalition partners
Dynamic threat environments requiring continuous verification
Mission-critical applications demanding high availability and performance
Regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions and security frameworks
These challenges demand a fundamentally different approach to identity management and access control — one that treats every user, device, and transaction as potentially untrusted while enabling the collaboration essential for mission success.
Akamai's Zero Trust mission partner solution
Our Zero Trust federated identity, credential, and access management solution addresses these challenges through a comprehensive, edge-delivered platform that scales to support the most demanding coalition environments. Built on our globally distributed infrastructure, which processes up to one-third of global internet traffic daily, our solution delivers enterprise-grade security with the performance and reliability that mission-critical operations demand.
Identity federation across coalition partners
At the heart of effective coalition operations lies the ability to federate identity across disparate systems and organizations. Akamai's solution supports comprehensive identity federation through:
Multiprotocol support: Our platform natively supports SAML, OIDC, ADFS, WS-Federation, and custom authentication mechanisms, enabling seamless integration with existing identity providers across coalition partners. This includes support for CAC/PIV cards, foreign PKI systems, and commercial identity solutions.
Standards-based interoperability: We use open standards for assertion and token generation while maintaining the flexibility to support vendor-specific authentication methods. This approach enables a phased migration strategy that preserves existing investments while establishing a common authentication framework across mission partners.
Cross-domain federation: Our solution enables secure identity federation across security domains, supporting everything from NIPR/SIPR environments to coalition partner networks while maintaining strict segregation and access controls.
Attribute-based access control for data-centric security
Modern military operations require granular access controls that go beyond traditional role-based models. Our attribute-based access control (ABAC) implementation provides:
Dynamic policy enforcement: Access decisions are made in real time based on multiple attributes, including user identity, device posture, network location, time of access, and data classification. This ensures that access is granted only when all necessary conditions are met.
Context-aware authentication: Our solution continuously evaluates contextual factors throughout user sessions, adjusting access levels based on changing risk profiles. For example, a user who is accessing systems from a secure coalition facility might receive broader permissions than the same user when connecting from an untrusted network.
Data-centric protection: Rather than focusing solely on network perimeters, our approach protects data wherever it resides, enabling secure sharing across coalition environments while maintaining granular control over information access and use.
Mission-critical performance and availability
Military operations cannot afford downtime or performance degradation; they require resiliency when contested. Our solution delivers performance and resilience through:
Global edge distribution: With more than 4,400 locations across 130 countries, including dedicated infrastructure on DoW networks (NIPR/SIPR), our platform provides low-latency access and high availability even in challenging operational environments.
Tactical edge capabilities: Our Tactical ICAM (T-ICAM) solution extends identity and access management to disconnected, intermittent, and limited bandwidth (DDIL) environments, maintaining local authentication capabilities while synchronizing with enterprise systems when connectivity permits.
Proven scale: Our platform currently handles more than 2 million daily authentications and 43 million authorization events while maintaining 100% availability — the scale and reliability that large coalition operations demand.
Supporting coalition mission planning and intelligence sharing
Effective coalition operations require secure, real-time collaboration across multiple organizations and security domains. Our solution enables this through:
Unified authentication across diverse systems
Secure intelligence sharing
Unified authentication across diverse systems
Mission partner onboarding: Our platform supports the rapid onboarding of coalition partners through flexible identity integration, which enables organizations to maintain their existing identity systems while participating in joint operations.
Nonperson entity support: Beyond traditional user authentication, our solution supports service accounts, automated systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are increasingly central to modern military operations.
Mobile and tactical authentication: Support for mobile authentication solutions, including DoW-approved mobile authenticators and tactical devices, ensures that personnel can securely access mission systems regardless of location or device.
Secure intelligence sharing
Information compartmentalization: Our ABAC engine supports complex compartmentalization schemes, ensuring that intelligence is shared only with authorized personnel and organizations based on clearance levels, need-to-know requirements, and coalition agreements.
Audit and compliance: Comprehensive logging and monitoring capabilities provide full visibility into access patterns and data use, supporting forensic analysis and compliance requirements across multiple regulatory frameworks.
Real-time policy enforcement: Policy changes can be implemented instantly across the global platform, enabling rapid response to changing operational requirements or security threats.
Zero Trust architecture principles in practice
Our implementation of Zero Trust architecture goes beyond marketing concepts to deliver practical security benefits via:
Continuous verification
Least Permissive Trust
Continuous verification
Never trust, always verify: Every access request is authenticated and authorized in real time, regardless of the user's location or previous authentication status.
Risk-based authentication: Our platform continuously assesses risk factors and can require additional authentication steps when suspicious activity is detected.
Session monitoring: Active sessions are continuously monitored for anomalous behavior, with the ability to revoke access instantly when threats are detected.
Least Permissive Trust
Just-in-time access: Users receive access only for the specific resources and duration required for their current tasks, with permissions automatically revoked when no longer needed.
Microsegmentation: Network-level segmentation ensures that compromised systems cannot move laterally through the network, containing potential breaches.
Principle of least privilege: Access decisions are based on the minimum permissions necessary to accomplish mission objectives, reducing the attack surface and limiting potential damage from compromised accounts.
Mission execution in contested environments
Modern military operations and interagency public safety activities often occur in contested cyber environments where traditional security assumptions no longer apply. Our solution addresses these challenges through:
Resilient architecture
Advanced threat protection
Resilient architecture
Distributed enforcement: Security policies are enforced at multiple points across our global edge network, ensuring that operations can continue even if individual components are compromised or unavailable.
Autonomous operation: Our Tactical ICAM solution can operate independently in disconnected environments, maintaining security even when communication with central systems is interrupted.
Rapid recovery: Our platform's distributed architecture enables rapid recovery from attacks or failures, ensuring minimal impact on ongoing operations.
Advanced threat protection
Real-time threat intelligence: Our platform processes security events from across the global internet, providing unparalleled visibility into emerging threats and attack patterns.
Behavioral analytics: Machine learning algorithms continuously analyze user and system behavior, identifying potential threats before they can impact operations.
Proactive defense: Our security operations teams monitor for threats 24/7/365, providing proactive defense against sophisticated adversaries that target military and government systems.
Mission and data microsegmentation: Controlling both north-south and east-west traffic
In mission partner environments, data flows in multiple directions, and each direction requires different security approaches. Traditional perimeter-focused cybersecurity models primarily address north-south traffic (traffic entering and leaving the network) but often overlook the critical need to control east-west traffic (lateral movement within the network).
Akamai's comprehensive microsegmentation solution, built on our Guardicore platform, provides granular control over both traffic patterns while enabling secure data proliferation in a manner applicable to the Joint Force, interagency, and coalition environments.
Understanding traffic patterns in mission environments
North-south traffic control: This encompasses all traffic flowing among coalition partner networks and external entities, including:
Intelligence data flowing from collection sources to analysis centers
Mission planning updates shared between coalition command structures and common operating picture environments
Operational orders distributed from higher echelons to tactical units
Logistics data shared between government, military, interagency, and commercial partners
Status reports and situational awareness data flowing back up the command chain
East-west traffic control: This addresses lateral movement within and among mission partner networks, including:
Interapplication communication within coalition systems
Data replication among distributed mission databases
Cross-domain information sharing among different classification levels
Service-to-service communication in distributed mission architectures that include mobile, managed, and unmanaged systems that require network resources
Unmanaged, adjacent operational technology and embedded systems, such as commercial off-the-shelf drone control systems, communicating with IT infrastructure
Lateral data flow between artificial intelligence (AI agents, autonomous systems, and AI agents and data sources
Akamai’s mission-focused microsegmentation
Microsegmentation is critical to coalition working environments in order to provide the combination of both security-related controls and isolation along with flexibility to extend the environment effectively to emerging mission partners. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation implements mission-aware policies that understand the operational context of data flows, including:
Identity-based mission segmentation: Rather than relying solely on network topology, our solution segments traffic on the basis of mission roles, clearance levels, and operational requirements. For example, warfighters from different coalition partners can access shared analytical tools while remaining isolated from one another’s source methods and national caveats.
Application-aware segmentation: Each mission application — whether it's a planning tool, operational database, or communication system — operates within its own security boundary. Even if an attacker compromises one application, they cannot move laterally to access other mission systems or sensitive data repositories.
Dynamic policy enforcement: As mission requirements evolve, segmentation policies automatically adapt. During crisis operations, emergency protocols can temporarily expand access for critical personnel while maintaining strict controls on sensitive operational data.
Data-centric protection for coalition intelligence
Attribute-based data segmentation: Our solution goes beyond traditional network controls to implement data-centric protection. Intelligence products, operational plans, and mission data are protected based on their attributes — classification level, originator controls, handling caveats, and distribution restrictions — rather than just their network location.
Real-time data loss prevention: As data moves through coalition networks, our platform continuously monitors for unauthorized access attempts, unusual data patterns, and potential exfiltration activities. This includes detecting when classified information is accessed by unauthorized systems or when data movement patterns suggest potential insider threats.
Cross-domain data flow control: In coalition environments in which different partners operate at different classification levels, our solution enables controlled data sharing while maintaining strict separation. Sanitized information can flow to guards and lower classification levels while protecting sources and methods at higher levels.
Preventing lateral movement in mission networks
Isolated mission enclaves: Each mission system operates within its own security enclave, preventing attackers from moving laterally between systems even if they gain initial access. For example, a logistics planning system cannot communicate directly with operational command and control databases unless explicitly authorized by mission-specific policies.
Zero Trust mesh architecture: Our solution creates a security mesh where every connection is authenticated and authorized based on mission requirements. This ensures that even trusted coalition partners can only access the specific resources necessary for their assigned mission roles.
Behavioral analytics for threat detection: Our platform continuously monitors network behavior to detect potential threats or anomalous activities. Unusual data access patterns, unexpected intersystem communications, or deviations from normal operational workflows trigger immediate investigation and potential isolation procedures.
Supporting multidomain coalition operations
Cross-domain bridge security: When mission requirements demand information sharing across classification levels, our solution provides secure bridge capabilities that enforce classification controls, apply necessary sanitization, and maintain audit trails for all cross-domain activities.
Coalition partner isolation: While enabling necessary collaboration, our microsegmentation solution ensures that each coalition partner's national systems remain isolated from others’. Shared mission systems operate in neutral zones with carefully controlled access from all participating nations.
Mission timeline security: As operations evolve from planning through execution to postmission analysis, security policies automatically adapt to changing access requirements while maintaining historical audit trails and preserving both cybersecurity and operational security.
The path forward
As military and interagency operations become increasingly complex and coalition-based, the need for sophisticated segmentation along with identity, credential, and access management solutions will only grow. Akamai's Zero Trust platform provides the foundation for secure collaboration across mission partner environments while maintaining the security, performance, and reliability that military operations demand.
Our commitment to supporting military and national security organizations extends beyond technology to include dedicated support teams, compliance with the most stringent security frameworks, and continuous innovation to address emerging threats and operational requirements.
Enable secure collaboration and information sharing
By implementing Zero Trust principles, using ABACs, and supporting comprehensive identity federation, military organizations can enable secure collaboration across coalition partners while maintaining the security posture necessary to protect sensitive information and critical mission systems.
The same approaches are applicable to harnessing the full benefit of AI and autonomy for military and public safety operations in a coalition or extended task force environment.
The future of military operations depends on our ability to securely share information and coordinate activities across organizational and national boundaries. Akamai's Zero Trust architecture provides the secure foundation that makes a unified network environment that’s extensible for effective collaboration possible.
As a result, military and national security organizations can focus on their core mission while we handle the complexities of secure, scalable infrastructure.
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