Nvidia is blending its BlueField data-processing units with its Morpheus AI security framework to contribute to a Zero Trust architecture. Credit: iStock Nvidia has announced a Zero Trust platform built around its BlueField data-processing units and Nvidia software. Zero Trust is an architecture that verifies every user and device that tries to access the network and enforces strict access control and identity management that limits authorized users to accessing only those resources they need to do their jobs. “You cannot just rely on the firewall on the outside, you have to assume that any application or any user inside your data center is a bad actor,” said Manuvir Das, head of enterprise computing at Nvidia. “Zero Trust basically just refers to the fact that you can’t trust any application or user because there are bad actors.” Nvidia announced a Zero Trust platform that combines its BlueField data processing units (DPU), which it inherited from the Mellanox acquisition, the DOCA software development kits for BlueField, and Nvidia’s Morpheus security AI framework. The DPUs are designed to offload tasks from server CPUs, freeing up the CPUs to do processing work. The DPU can handle tasks such as validating users and isolating apps from infrastructure. DOCA is the SDK to program DPUs to do all those things, while Morpheus is an open application framework for developing AI-optimized pipelines for filtering, processing, and classifying large volumes of data in real time. DOCA and Morpheus work in conjunction for Zero Trust networks. Nvidia is updating DOCA to version 1.2 to support features such as software and hardware authentication, hardware-accelerated line-rate data cryptography, support for distributed firewalls, and policy enforcement. DOCA monitors data to set a normal-traffic baseline in order to spot anomalies that might represent attempted attacks. “So it can learn and build the models of what is good behavior. And then anytime it sees a deviation from that, then it gets flagged as problematic,” Das said. However, “It is not our intention to be a direct provider of cybersecurity solutions. That’s not what we do,” he said. “We have built the platform for cybersecurity companies to integrate into their solutions.” Juniper Networks is the first cybersecurity vendor to announce it plans to adopt BlueField and DOCA. Early access for NVIDIA DOCA 1.2 begins Nov. 30. Morpheus is available now. Related content news AWS and Nvidia partner on Project Ceiba, a GPU-powered AI supercomputer The companies are extending their AI partnership, and one key initiative is a supercomputer that will be integrated with AWS services and used by Nvidia’s own R&D teams. By Andy Patrizio Nov 30, 2023 3 mins CPUs and Processors Generative AI Supercomputers news VMware stung by defections and layoffs after Broadcom close Layoffs and executive departures are expected after an acquisition, but there's also concern about VMware customer retention. By Andy Patrizio Nov 30, 2023 3 mins Virtualization Data Center Industry news AI partly to blame for spike in data center costs Low vacancies and the cost of AI have driven up colocation fees by 15%, DatacenterHawk reports. By Andy Patrizio Nov 27, 2023 4 mins Generative AI Data Center opinion Winners and losers in the Top500 supercomputer ranking Besides Nvidia, who had a great showing on the list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers? Almost everyone. By Andy Patrizio Nov 20, 2023 4 mins CPUs and Processors Data Center Podcasts Videos Resources Events NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe