Confluent Cloud now supports Azure Private Link for secure network connectivity, allowing one-way secure connection access from an Azure Virtual Network (VNet) to both Azure and third-party services like Confluent's platform. This feature enables enterprises to address network attack vectors exposed to the public internet by blocking internet access to key resources like Kafka clusters. Unlike VNet peering, which requires coordination on a unique IP address block and can be challenging, Private Link provides network-level security without these downsides. Confluent has adapted its networking stack to run on Azure and integrated it with Azure Standard Load Balancers and Azure Private Link Service, allowing users to spin up Dedicated clusters in minutes directly through the Confluent UI. This feature provides enhanced user experience with secure and hassle-free connectivity, making it ideal for security-conscious companies and highly-regulated organizations.