The rapid deployment of AI agents in enterprises creates an identity problem: OAuth access tokens (RFC 9068) lack standardized fields to represent agent instance identity, the user on whose behalf an agent acts, and the delegation relationship between them. This gap can lead to coarse-grained authorization, over-privileged access, and the confused deputy problem in transitive agent call chains. The article calls for industry standardization of this identity context within or adjacent to OAuth tokens.
Identity Management
2 posts
The Identity Problem Hiding in AI Agent Deployments Agentic Governance: Why It Matters Now Autonomous AI agents introduce significant security risks by operating within trust boundaries using delegated credentials, effectively bypassing traditional perimeter defenses. Effective security requires "agentic governance," focusing on strict identity management, granular action-level permissions, approval gates for high-risk operations, and comprehensive logging to mitigate threats like prompt injection and scope creep.
