Akamai’s API Security Wins Microsoft’s Toughest Azure Badge

Akamai earned Microsoft’s Solutions Partner with certified software designation for API Security on June 10, joining a short list of vendors carrying that exact badge. The certification covers how Akamai’s product secures application programming interfaces, or APIs, the connective code that lets one piece of software talk to another, specifically inside Microsoft Azure.

Five months earlier, on January 1, Microsoft quietly made this same designation mandatory for its highest partner incentives. Its own fine print also says the badge rests on the vendor’s self-attestation, not an independent Microsoft audit.

Akamai Clears Microsoft’s Highest Bar for API Security

Akamai Technologies, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, cybersecurity and cloud computing company that trades as NASDAQ: AKAM, earned the certified software designation for API Security within the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, the company confirmed through its investor relations site. Microsoft describes the credential plainly.

“This designation recognizes software that demonstrates interoperability with the Microsoft Cloud and meets program requirements,” the companies said in the joint announcement.

APIs are the foundation of almost every digital interaction today. As AI adoption accelerates, the need for wide-scale protection has become a critical business requirement. We built Akamai API Security to give organizations the visibility and protection they need across the entire API landscape.

Paul Joseph, Akamai’s executive vice president of global sales and services, said that in the announcement. He added that earning the designation “validates our technical approach and helps ensure our customers can extend Akamai’s protection to their cloud-native applications natively within the Azure ecosystem.”

Andrew Smith, Microsoft’s general manager of Partner Programs & Experiences, framed it from the program side, calling it “an important way for partners to stand out in the market and demonstrate their proven capabilities in areas of high customer demand.” The product itself is built to discover shadow, zombie, and AI-related APIs that security teams don’t know exist, part of what Akamai pitched to Microsoft’s reviewers.

The Self-Attestation Clause Buried in the Fine Print

Microsoft’s own footnote on the release spells out what the badge actually checks. A certification, it says, is specific to a solution’s interoperability with Microsoft products and is based on self-attestation by the solution owner, not an outside audit.

Solutions are certified only as of the date they’re reviewed. Whatever Akamai ships next month is technically outside the scope of what got checked in June.

Nothing in that structure is unusual for the industry. But it means the badge functions more like a passed technical interview than a lab report, useful for cutting through procurement red tape, less useful as an independent verdict on how well the software performs against a live attacker.

Why January’s Rule Change Made This Badge Worth Chasing

Context explains why Akamai pursued this now rather than treating it as routine marketing. Partner advisory firm Alif Consulting reported that Microsoft made the certified software designation mandatory for partner-reported Azure revenue eligibility starting January 1, 2026, alongside prioritized sales engagement and other go-to-market benefits.

That single change reshaped what the badge is worth. A logo that once sat quietly on a partner’s website now gates access to Microsoft’s co-sell machine and the revenue credit that comes with it.

Each of those moves points the same direction. Microsoft is trading loosely policed partner badges for a system it can measure, and API Security is one of the first products to clear the new bar in its category.

What Do Azure Customers Actually Get From This?

Customers get a vendor that Microsoft says it has reviewed for Azure interoperability, a listing that’s easier to find and buy, and a shorter path through internal security sign-off. None of that is a performance guarantee, but all of it changes how a purchase actually gets approved.

• Marketplace standing – the product becomes a transactable, searchable listing inside Akamai’s listing in Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource.
• Native Azure extension – protection extends to cloud-native applications running on Azure, per the companies’ announcement.
• A shortcut past vendor vetting – security teams can point to Microsoft’s own technical review instead of running a fresh procurement cycle from scratch.
• Co-sell pairing – Akamai’s sales team can now be matched with Microsoft’s own account teams under the program’s incentive structure.

None of that requires a customer to trust Akamai’s marketing on faith. It requires trusting Microsoft’s review process, which is exactly the trade the designation is built to offer.

APIs Have Become the Favorite Target of the AI Boom

The badge lands inside a threat picture that keeps getting worse. Akamai’s fourth annual API Security Impact Survey, based on 1,840 security professionals across six industries and ten countries, found API incidents climbing sharply as AI systems multiply the number of APIs in production.

• 87% of organizations reported an API-related incident in the past year, up from 76% in 2022.
• $700,000 is the average cost per incident across that same survey population.
• 53% of organizations have dedicated API security staff, even though nearly 80% rank the discipline among their top three cybersecurity priorities.
• 108 billion API attacks were recorded across Akamai’s own network between January 2023 and June 2024, the company reported separately.

Microsoft’s own customers have already watched this play out in other corners of the ecosystem. Attackers have turned a Teams helpdesk call into a credential theft vector, forcing investigators to reconstruct the intrusion from audit logs after the fact rather than stopping it at the door. APIs sit behind the same kind of blind spot, quietly connecting AI models, mobile apps, and internal tools that traditional firewalls were never built to inspect.

A Crowded Field Now Chases the Same Stamp

Akamai didn’t build this position overnight. The company entered API security by acquiring Neosec in 2023, launched its stand-alone product that August, and then closed its $450 million acquisition of Noname Security in mid-2024 to broaden the platform. Customer demand for the combined offering rose more than 200% in the two years after launch, according to Akamai’s own figures.

Rival vendors in the API security category now face a choice: chase the same Microsoft review or watch deals route toward whichever competitor already cleared it. Microsoft, meanwhile, keeps tightening the skilling underneath every designation. Several partner certifications are retiring between June and August as the company rebuilds its skilling paths around AI-era requirements.

Microsoft’s next certification deadline lands August 31, when AZ-500 disappears in favor of its successor exam, one more marker of a partner program now grading on proof rather than paperwork.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Microsoft Solutions Partner With Certified Software Designation?

It’s a credential inside the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program confirming a partner’s software interoperates with Microsoft Cloud products in a specific solution area, Security in Akamai’s case. Per Microsoft’s own definition, the review rests on self-attestation by the solution’s owner and reflects the product only as of the date it was reviewed, not an ongoing guarantee.

Why Do APIs Need Dedicated Security Tools?

APIs sit behind nearly every mobile app, banking transaction, and AI model in production today, and a single exposed one can leak data without ever tripping a traditional firewall. Standard perimeter defenses don’t inspect API-level logic, which is why a separate discipline grew up around discovering, testing, and monitoring them specifically.

How Big Is the API Security Market Right Now?

The market was valued at $1.32 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $4.60 billion by 2030, a 28.5% compound annual growth rate, according to Mordor Intelligence data. That growth tracks a reported industry-wide surge in API attack volume over the same stretch.

What Happened to Microsoft’s Old Gold and Silver Partner Tiers?

Microsoft replaced its legacy Gold and Silver competency system with Solutions Partner designations tied to specific solution areas, including Security, Azure, Data and AI, and Modern Work. The newer structure grades partners against measurable customer outcomes and technical review rather than the older points-based competency model.

Does the Badge Mean Microsoft Guarantees Akamai’s Software Works?

No. Microsoft’s own program language says the designation should not be interpreted as an offer, endorsement, guarantee, proof of effectiveness or functionality, a commitment, or any other type of representation or warranty on Microsoft’s part. Responsibility for vetting the software for a specific environment still sits with the customer.