#United States #San Francisco #Kong Inc. #API Security #Kong Identity

Kong Brings Security and Management Together with Kong Identity

Kong Inc., a prominent player in the cloud API and AI technology space, has made a significant announcement at the API Summit 2025. They introduced Kong Identity, a native capability available within their unified platform, Kong Konnect. This development merges API and identity management, aiming to enhance security and smoothen operations for enterprises as they transition into an era dominated by autonomous systems and AI-driven processes.

As businesses increasingly rely on autonomous AI systems, a substantial portion of API traffic will emerge from digital clients, including Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents operating independently. However, many organizations struggle to effectively secure and manage access for these digital clients. The lack of consistent identity and authorization could expose them to significant risks.

Kong Identity's Solution
To address these challenges, Kong Identity provides every automated client with a distinct, verifiable identity, ensuring precise authentication and authorization right at the gateway level. This new feature integrates machine-to-machine (M2M) access management within the same framework as human identities, enabling teams to scale their operations securely within a zero-trust model designed for the forthcoming AI landscape.

Kong Identity adheres to the OAuth 2.0 standard combined with OpenID Connect, facilitating a more efficient system where authentication and authorization tasks are handled directly by the API gateway and the newly launched Kong Event Gateway. This architecture not only reduces the load on backend services but also sustains a consistent security posture by simplifying service logic and ensuring secure communications for automated clients.

Key Features and Functionality
Kong Identity empowers users with the tools necessary to:

• - Create and manage authorization servers by region, allowing for granular control over API access.
• - Clearly define clients, scopes, and claims through the Konnect API, which establishes the identity and permissions associated with each machine client.
• - Generate dynamic JSON Web Tokens (JWT) claims in real-time using Dynamic Claim Templates, ensuring that all access tokens cater specifically to the requesting client's needs.
• - Enable developer self-service via Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) directly integrated with the Konnect Developer Portal, thereby allowing developers to provision authenticated applications automatically.

This revolutionary feature is specifically designed to integrate smoothly into the broader Kong Konnect ecosystem, which supports diverse elements like APIs, LLMs, event streams, and microservices. Consequently, organizations can effectively manage all API interactions and security policies from a single, unified perspective.

Impact on Businesses
Kong Identity fundamentally transforms how enterprises manage API security and machine identity. Reza Shafii, the Senior Vice President of Product at Kong Inc., remarked, “Kong Identity changes how organizations manage machine identity and API security. By consolidating these critical functions, Kong Konnect empowers teams to take full control of M2M API access, ensuring every API client is authenticated and authorized with precision.”

As enterprises gear up for the agentic AI era, the unified Kong Konnect platform positions them to enhance connectivity and operational efficiency while safeguarding their systems. For more details on Kong Identity and its capabilities, interested parties can visit Kong's official page.

About Kong Inc.
Committed to fostering an API-first culture, Kong Inc. is dedicated to facilitating the growth and success of organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. By focusing on developer productivity, security, and rapid deployment, they are paving the way for businesses to optimize their operations in the AI-driven world. For additional information, visit Kong's website or follow their updates on social media.