When I moved from consulting and delivery into the secure data space, I didn’t expect my experience with complex, interdependent systems to be quite so relevant. But as NATO sets its sights on becoming a truly data-centric alliance, it’s clear that hands-on delivery experience – understanding how systems are integrated, how people work around policy, and how trust is built into infrastructure – has never been more essential.
Two recent NATO documents lay out this transformation in detail: the Digital Backbone Reference Architecture (DBRA) and the Data Strategy for the Alliance (DSA). Together, they describe not just a future state for NATO’s digital ecosystem, but a fundamental shift in how military and political power is enabled through secure, scalable and federated data sharing.
These are not abstract ambitions. They’re engineering challenges… and they require action now.
From federated ambition to operational interoperability
The NATO Digital Backbone (NDBB) aims to unify communications and data services across all operational domains – land, sea, air, space and cyber. But this isn’t just about building new networks. It’s about securely federating existing ones across nations, commands and missions. This also includes enabling data to move safely from tactical edge devices all the way to political decision-makers.
And that raises a critical challenge: how do you connect systems while respecting national sovereignty, compartmentalisation and different security standards?
From my time delivering complex programmes, I’ve seen how often strong strategies stumble in execution. Policy is rarely the blocker, implementation is. That’s why NATO’s focus on Cross Domain Solutions (CDS), data-centric security and zero trust architectures is not only welcome, but vital.
This is exactly where we focus at 4Secure.
Secure data sharing is the backbone of the backbone
At 4Secure, we help defence and public sector organisations securely transfer data between domains; whether that’s between networks with different classification levels, across national boundaries or into mission-specific operational environments.
Our TrustedFilter® technology is already used in scenarios where failure isn’t an option and where auditability, resilience and speed can’t be compromised.
The DBRA explicitly calls for:
- data streaming from the edge (including full motion video and GMTI)
- dynamic federation of networks and services
- attribute-based access control and cryptographic protection of data in transit
- interoperability built on standardised APIs and reusable architectural components
It is worth highlighting that these are real-world requirements, not technical aspirations. Excitingly for 4Secure, they’re exactly the kind of deployments we deliver.
Why this work matters now
The Data Strategy for the Alliance puts data at the heart of NATO’s future. By 2030, the goal is to operate a federated, secure and interoperable data-sharing ecosystem underpinned by the NDBB. This includes trusted AI models, curated metadata and real-time operational insight.
But to get there, we must solve the challenge of secure, dynamic interconnection.
From my perspective – having spent years translating between technical, operational and security stakeholders – this challenge is often underestimated. It’s not just about pipes, throughput or bandwidth. It’s about ensuring that decision-makers can access the data they need, when they need it without compromising trust, sovereignty or mission success.
That’s why I believe our work at 4Secure of building practical, deployable cross-domain systems, is more than a specialist capability. It’s a critical enabler of NATO’s transformation.
By Benjamin Joseph-Franks, 4Secure
