On November 24 and 25, 2025, the third NATO Cloud Conference took place in Brussels. The event was organized by the NATO Digital Policy Committee and brought together representatives from NATO member states, several non-NATO countries, industry and academia. The aim of the conference was to exchange expertise on the further development and secure use of cloud technologies in the defense-related environment.
In terms of content, the focus was on zero trust and data-centric security, fog and edge computing, innovation and accreditation. In presentations and demonstrations, solutions were discussed on how modern cloud technologies can be made interoperable, secure and operationally usable more quickly.
We were also represented.
Kai Rehnelt presented the challenges of accreditation from an interoperability perspective. Using a cross-domain scenario, he showed how a modular approach – including existing, reusable components such as non-visible data (NVD) technology – can help to speed up accreditation processes while keeping risks manageable.
As a result, it became clear that modular accreditations, the reusability of already evaluated modules and standardized descriptions of components can make an important contribution to faster operational use. At the same time, such approaches support standardization and improve interoperability between systems and domains.
Overall, the conference underlined the need for even closer collaboration between NATO, industry and academia to further accelerate the adoption of cloud technologies and continuously optimize secure solutions for seamless data exchange.
We would like to thank NATO for the invitation and the opportunity for international exchange.
A cross-domain scenario was used to demonstrate how a modular approach can be used to speed up accreditation processes while keeping risks manageable.
