Agentic AI Security
Glossary
Plain-language definitions for the vocabulary of AI security: agent and workload identity, MCP security, AI threats, and governance.
Non-Human Identity
A non-human identity (NHI) is a unique descriptor assigned to a technological system, such as a machine, application or AI agent, for authentication and authorization.
Glossary categories
Six clusters spanning AI threats, agent & workload identity, MCP security, and governance.
AI Threats
Security
Agent Identity
Workload Identity
MCPs
Governance & Compliance
Featured terms
Explore the glossary
Agent Authorization
AI agent authorization is the security process that determines what an AI agent may do after authentication. It decides which tools the agent can call, which data it may read or write and which services it has access to. These decisions are enforced by policies operating independently of the agent and apply to every agent action.
Agent Observability
AI agent observability is the capture and analysis of every decision made, and every action taken, by agentic AI. This comprehensive practice offers complete visibility into agent reasoning, tool calls, data retrieval and model outputs. Agent observability matters because it reveals whether agents have made logical, safe choices within authorized bounds. If misbehavior occurs, organizations can detect it, take corrective action and determine the reasoning to prevent recurrence.
AI Agent Identity
Agent identity, or AI agent identity, is a digital identity assigned to an AI agent. The identity is unique, verifiable, and distinct from human users or static service accounts.
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Identity and access management (IAM) comprises the protocols and tools that determine whether specific users, devices, and services can use certain systems — and how.
MCP Authentication
Model Context Protocol (MCP) authentication is the process that verifies the identity of clients requesting access to a server’s tools, resources or data. It requires new validation with every request.
mTLS for AI Agents
Mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS) for AI agents is a security protocol where both the agent and the connecting service verify each other with X.509 digital certificates.
Non-Human Identity
A non-human identity (NHI) is a unique descriptor assigned to a technological system, such as a machine, application or AI agent, for authentication and authorization.
Phishing-Resistant MFA
Phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an advanced verification method that combines public key cryptography (protects credentials) and origin binding (links logins to specific domains).
Prompt Injection Attacks
Prompt injection attacks manipulate large language model (LLM) inputs with malicious instructions to override intended behaviors or trigger unauthorized actions. It’s like command injection or SQL injection, but for AI.
Shadow AI
Shadow AI is the unsanctioned use of artificial intelligence models, tools or embedded AI-powered features by employees. It occurs without the knowledge, approval or oversight of an organization’s IT or security team, which leads to data exposure and compliance violations. Few organizations are capable of reliably detecting or mitigating shadow AI in practice.
SPIFFE
Secure Production Identity Framework for Everyone (SPIFFE) is an open-source standard for establishing cryptographic identities for software workloads, microservices and containers.
SPIRE Server
A SPIRE Server is the control plane for SPIFFE environments. It acts as the central certificate authority and trust anchor for assigning cryptographic identities (known as SPIFFE Verifiable Identity Documents or SVIDs) to workloads, AI agents and containers.
SVIDs
A SPIFFE Verifiable Identity Document (SVID) is a credential that establishes identity for a workload, service or container to a resource or another service. The credential is cryptographically signed and encodes a unique SPIFFE ID issued in either X.509 or JWT format.
Workload Identity
Workload identity is a unique, cryptographically verifiable identity assigned to a non-human software workload such as a microservice, application, container, serverless function or scripts.
X.509 Certificate
An X.509 certificate is a standardized digital file which cryptographically binds a public key to an identity such as a person, device, server, workload or AI agent.