Illumio & NVIDIA team up to boost Zero Trust for infrastructure

Illumio has announced a new integration with NVIDIA BlueField Data Processing Units (DPUs) aimed at strengthening Zero Trust security in critical infrastructure environments.

The collaboration brings together the Illumio breach containment platform with the NVIDIA BlueField networking platform, designed to provide security and operational efficiency across both Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) environments. This integration allows critical infrastructure organisations to deploy Illumio directly on NVIDIA BlueField, giving security teams a holistic view of network dependencies and permitting security controls at both host and network levels.

Through this solution, organisations gain visibility into traffic, protect vital assets, and are able to use NVIDIA BlueField DPUs as Zero Trust enforcement points. The architecture is intended to simplify breach containment for critical systems and help maintain operational continuity while meeting increasingly strict compliance requirements.

In addition to current features, future capabilities are planned, including the use of Illumio's AI-driven insights to identify risks and attacker patterns. This will aim to enable rapid detection of threats within Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and OT settings.

The integration comes in the context of escalating threats and higher regulatory demands worldwide for improving cyber resilience and reducing risks in OT infrastructure. Organisations are facing challenges from sophisticated cyber threats and the need for solutions that can bridge IT and OT security requirements.

One of the key advantages of the integration is expanded visibility and policy enforcement for traffic within and between IT and OT layers. Using Illumio's labelling architecture, teams can view all traffic to and from OT systems equipped with NVIDIA BlueField, enabling a greater understanding of cross-infrastructure communications.

The integration is positioned to help organisations rapidly deploy Zero Trust security strategies within critical infrastructure. By extending segmentation to OT and ICS environments, organisations are able to decrease deployment complexity, accelerate the implementation process, and contain breaches by limiting lateral movement risks.

Illumio also highlights the compliance and resilience benefits of this integration. Organisations can identify assets, monitor traffic, identify threats, and enforce security policies across integrated IT and OT environments without compromising system performance or requiring significant architectural changes. The microsegmentation provided is designed to be consistent and reliable, supporting diverse environments and maintaining uptime and resilience.

Todd Palmer, Senior Vice President of Global Partner Sales and Alliances at Illumio, commented: "The integration between Illumio and NVIDIA will significantly strengthen security for cyber-physical systems and bring us closer to achieving our vision of a world without cyber disasters. Critical infrastructure is under threat like never before. Together with NVIDIA, we're making it easier for organisations to protect critical systems, ensure operational continuity, and meet stringent compliance requirements in an increasingly complex landscape."

Ofir Arkin, Senior Distinguished Architect for Cybersecurity at NVIDIA, added: "Cyber risks against critical infrastructure are more sophisticated and disruptive than ever, and lateral movement remains a key factor in successful attacks. Integrating the Illumio and NVIDIA BlueField platforms enables organisations to enhance visibility and control across IT and OT networks, reduce risk, contain attacks, and strengthen operational resilience."

Illumio is recognised as a vendor within the NVIDIA partner ecosystem and was named a leader in The Forrester Wave: Microsegmentation Solutions, Q3 2024. Its AI-powered security graph underpins the breach containment platform, which comprises Illumio Insights for AI cloud detection and response, and Illumio Segmentation for Zero Trust segmentation. The objective is to enable organisations to promptly identify risks and contain threats for a Zero Trust security posture.