A computer-implemented method comprises posting, by a broker computing device, identity awareness data for a plurality of client computing devices to a distributed data repository (DDP); receiving, by a networking hardware device, the identity awareness data from the DDP; using, by the networking hardware device, the identity awareness data from the DDP to authenticate a client computing device requesting access to at least one Internet of Things (IoT) computing device; in response to authenticating the client computing device, creating, by the networking hardware device, a session for the client computing device to communicate with the at least one IoT computing device, wherein creating a session comprises: opening a port on the networking hardware device, wherein communication between the client computing device and the at least one IoT computing device is through the port; posting information relating to the session as authentication session information to the DDP.