Give your workforce fast, secure access with Zero Trust Network Access.
Akamai Enterprise Application Access is a Zero Trust Network Access solution that provides fast, secure, identity-based access to private applications. It uses real-time data such as user location, time, and device security to grant access only to necessary apps, eliminating network-level access. Delivered via Akamai Connected Cloud, it ensures responsive performance for all applications.
Help secure clientless access to web applications and secure client-based access for non-web applications.
One-click seamless integrations with your existing identity provider and other security tools, such as SIEMs.
Easily scale and deploy across any infrastructure with high availability, load balancing, and automatic app performance.
Real-time adaptive access management decisions based on device posture, delivering complete Zero Trust Network Access.
Download this guide to explore the benefits and compare solutions for your Zero Trust Network Access project.
VPNs have simple allow/deny non-intelligent capabilities that give users corporate network–level access. If your VPN is compromised by an attacker, they can use that initial foothold to move laterally and deploy malware, ransomware, or exfiltrate data. Enterprise Application Access delivers Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to provide least-privilege application access to deny or restrict access based on identity, context, and security posture. This eliminates network-level access and ensures that users only have access to the applications and application features that they need for their role.
Most Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions create tunnels and have a reverse proxy to allow user access, but they do not have inspection and service creation policies. They only protect the integrity of the transfer. Enterprise Application Access wants to know what the contents of that communication path are in addition to ensuring the integrity of the transfer, thereby increasing secure access. For apps that need an additional layer of protection, Akamai App & API Protector can be utilized to further harden your security posture.
When the Akamai IdP capability is used, Enterprise Application Access integrates directly with Akamai MFA to provide phish-proof multi-factor authentication. It also integrates with Cisco Duo. If a third-party IdP is used, Enterprise Application Access will use the MFA service deployed in the IdP.
Enterprise Application Access device posture is a key feature for allowing, denying, or limiting user access to applications. It operates alongside authentication authorization and access control rules, and gathers information about the status of the device (e.g., if the device firewall is enabled, if it has the most up-to-date operating system, or if anti-malware is installed). It also gathers external threat signals from Akamai Secure Internet Access, Carbon Black, and CrowdStrike. You can create risk tiers that allow you to deny or limit application features based on the risk profile of the device. Device posture helps to ensure that the devices accessing applications satisfy the necessary security requirements.
Enterprise Application Access integrates with most existing identity providers (IdPs), such as Akamai, Google, Ping, Okta, Microsoft Azure AD, or any other SAML-based IdPs.
This is done by deploying the Akamai connector virtual machine in the same location as the applications you want to make available. The connector can be installed in on-premises data centers and private and public clouds. Once deployed, the connector establishes a connection with the application, then makes an outbound connection to the Enterprise Application Access reverse proxy. When an authorized user connects to the application, the proxy connects the user to the application. Connectors are available for VMware, VirtualBox, Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2/VPC, OpenStack/KVM, Microsoft Hyper-V, Docker, Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine (GCE).
Enterprise Application Access is delivered from Akamai Connected Cloud, the world’s most distributed cloud security platform. This ensures that ZTNA infrastructure is deployed close to where your users are located and applications are hosted. Application traffic is automatically routed over Akamai Connected Cloud between the user and application to ensure that applications are fast and responsive and deliver a delightful end-user experience.
Enterprise Application Access allows you to enforce consistent application access policies, irrespective of where your users are working from. For the scenario where applications are hosted on-premises and users are working in the office, the local PoP capability enforces the access policy and connects directly to the application to eliminate the performance impact of hairpinning traffic to the cloud PoP.
Learn more about a few common ways Enterprise Application Access is used.
Providing secure access to applications and resources is a key step for any organization moving to a Zero Trust Architecture. Enterprise Application Access is a complete Zero Trust Network Access solution based on Zero Trust principles of “never trust, always verify” and provides dynamic application access based on identity, context, and device posture. It eliminates implicit trust and enforces strict identity verification and least-privilege access policies for every user identity, device, or application regardless of where they are located, and supports all cloud environments. Enterprise Application Access reduces an enterprise’s attack surface, prevents lateral movement, and simplifies administrator experiences through centralized policy management.
VPNs provide employees remote access to corporate resources and applications located in on-premises data centers. But as organizations move to the cloud, applications can be hosted everywhere, and hybrid working means employees are working from anywhere using managed and unmanaged devices. VPNs also require inbound access through the firewall, which exposes your applications and can lead to threat actors gaining unbridled access to your network. Enterprise Application Access eliminates network-level access and replaces it with granular access to specific applications hosted anywhere and employees working everywhere.
Hybrid work environments, which include both in-office and remote users, can increase your organization’s attack surface. Enterprise Application Access offers a more secure solution by providing access to private applications on a per-app basis, eliminating the need for network-wide access. This approach reduces your attack surface and prevents lateral movement in the event of a security breach. It ensures a secure, seamless, and low-latency experience for all users, regardless of their location, while maintaining a strong security posture for your hybrid work program.
Providing secure application access for partners, suppliers, and contractors limits your cybersecurity risk. Enterprise Application Access is a ZTNA solution that provides application access at a per-app level without the need for network access, which limits your attack surface should a third-party endpoint or user identity become compromised. Simplify onboarding by using the Enterprise Application Access cloud IdP to quickly add third-party users.
We were impressed with the breadth of functionality in Enterprise Application Access. It supports auditing and logging, and multiple authentication methods, and works as a seamless part of our larger branded solution.
Mike Harris, Partner, Digital Risk, Grant Thornton
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