diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/network/INetworkSecurityConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/network/INetworkSecurityConfig.java
index e581c5a..2e00e4d 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/network/INetworkSecurityConfig.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/network/INetworkSecurityConfig.java
@@ -36,6 +36,13 @@
     boolean isSslEnabled();
 
     /**
+     * Indicates if any authentication being performed should mutual (e.g. mTLS, SCRAM-SHA)
+     *
+     * @return true if mutual auth should be used. Otherwise false.
+     */
+    boolean useMutualAuth();
+
+    /**
      * Indicates how to handle client authentication when ssl is enabled
      */
     ClientAuth getClientAuth();
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/security/NetworkSecurityConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/security/NetworkSecurityConfig.java
index a8bd087..03cdbe9 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/security/NetworkSecurityConfig.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/security/NetworkSecurityConfig.java
@@ -70,6 +70,11 @@
     }
 
     @Override
+    public boolean useMutualAuth() {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
     public ClientAuth getClientAuth() {
         return ClientAuth.NONE;
     }