The Tool Desk
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What an AI agent account is—and why access must be designed differently
An AI agent account is the identity under which an agent authenticates to models, APIs, cloud services, files, databases or other agents. Treat that identity as a separately owned security principal. It may have its own instructions, model, tools, permissions, credentials and data repositories, so the security boundary is larger than a chat window.
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Agents generally operate in two ways:
- User-directed: the agent acts explicitly for a named person or session.
- Autonomous: a schedule, event, alarm or another agent triggers work without a person approving each action.
The distinction affects accountability and response. A user-directed action should be traceable to both the human requester and the agent identity. An autonomous action must be attributable to the trigger, the agent, the tools it called and the resources it changed.
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Permission to invoke a model is not permission to administer an account, create credentials or read stored files. A prompt-processing role, a billing role and a credential-management role are different capabilities and should not be bundled merely because one agent can technically use them.
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Start with an inventory and an accountable owner
A register is an operational control, not paperwork. Without a current inventory, an organisation cannot reliably enforce minimum permissions or reconstruct an incident. The Australian Signals Directorate’s September 2026 access guidance recommends maintaining an inventory of AI accounts, service identities and credentials, assigning an accountable owner, granting only required access and promptly removing access that is no longer necessary.
Record one entry for every production, test and development agent. Include the following fields, consistent with the Australian Information Security Manual (ISM) guidance updated in September 2026:
| Register field | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Unique identifier | A stable agent ID that is not reused after retirement | Separates historical activity and prevents identity confusion |
| Owner | A named team or person accountable for operation and review | Provides a decision-maker for changes and incidents |
| Business purpose | The task the agent is authorised to perform and its operating environment | Defines the boundary against which permissions are checked |
| Assigned identities | Workload identities, service principals, certificates or other authenticators | Shows which credentials can actually authorise actions |
| User accounts and credentials | Human delegates, API keys, tokens, secrets and their expiry or rotation information | Supports revocation and rotation during an incident |
| Tools and APIs | Connected model providers, SaaS applications, cloud services and agent-to-agent links | Reveals the possible blast radius |
| Permissions and repositories | Roles, scopes, datasets, file stores, databases and environments the agent can reach | Enables least-privilege review and downstream investigation |
Keep the register aligned with deployment changes. An entry that lists an old key or omits a newly connected repository creates false confidence and slows emergency action.
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Use a dedicated identity instead of a shared service account
Shared accounts make agent actions difficult to attribute. A dedicated identity lets logs distinguish one agent from another and allows you to disable a single workload without interrupting unrelated services. Separate identities also make ownership, rotation schedules and post-incident review clearer.
Do not let an agent inherit a broad human administrator role simply because a developer used that role during setup. Create an agent-specific principal and grant only the operations required for its documented purpose.
Authenticate every connection with a verifiable mechanism
AWS guidance calls for every agent-to-agent and agent-to-service communication to authenticate through verifiable mechanisms, such as certificate-based mutual TLS, signed OAuth tokens or a platform-managed workload identity. The mechanism should identify the calling agent and allow the receiving service to validate that identity, rather than trusting an unverified name supplied in a prompt or header.
Google Cloud policy prohibits stolen or unauthorised credentials and unauthorised access. Delegated access therefore needs an explicit grant, a defined scope and a revocation path. Keep secrets out of prompts, source code and shared documents; store them in the identity or secret-management system approved for your environment.
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Apply least privilege to each task
Begin with the smallest set of actions that completes the job, then add access only when a real requirement is documented. Scope permissions by operation, resource, environment and time where the platform supports it. A reporting agent may need read access to a particular dataset but not write access, credential creation or access to production administration APIs.
- Separate read, write, delete, deploy and administrative actions.
- Limit repository, tenant, project or account scope instead of granting an organisation-wide role.
- Keep development and production identities separate.
- Use approval or time-bounded elevation for exceptional tasks rather than permanent broad access.
- Remove unused grants promptly when a workflow, tool or repository changes.
Separate human and agent permissions
A human approving an action does not make the agent’s identity equivalent to the human’s. Record the human request and execute the approved operation through the agent’s bounded role. Conversely, do not allow an agent to silently assume a human administrator’s permissions. AWS specifically recommends separating agent and human permissions so each action remains attributable and enforceable.
A practical permission map
Before deployment, write down what the agent can do and what it must never do. The following map illustrates the distinction; adapt the resource names and roles to your identity platform.
| Capability | Typical treatment | Review question |
|---|---|---|
| Model invocation | Allow only the approved model or endpoint and required request limits | Can the agent call a different provider or bypass usage controls? |
| Application data | Grant access to named datasets or records, preferably read-only | Does the task require every record, or only a filtered subset? |
| File repositories | Allow specific folders, buckets or document collections | Could a prompt or tool call expose unrelated files? |
| Write operations | Permit only the tables, queues, tickets or resources it must update | Is deletion or bulk modification genuinely required? |
| Credential management | Deny by default; separate approval for tightly controlled rotation workflows | Could the agent create or alter credentials that expand its own access? |
| Account administration | Keep outside ordinary agent roles | What independent control prevents the agent changing its owner or grants? |
| Agent-to-agent calls | Allow named counterparties with authenticated, bounded interfaces | Can an unregistered agent invoke this one or receive sensitive output? |
Document denied capabilities as well as allowed ones. A clear “must not create credentials” or “must not access production” rule gives reviewers and incident responders a testable boundary.
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What to monitor every day
Prompt transcripts alone are not an audit trail. Monitor the identity and the resources around it. The Australian advisory recommends monitoring model access, credential creation, permission changes and unusual usage patterns, while protecting audit logs from tampering. Configure tested spending, rate and consumption limits so a runaway workflow cannot consume unlimited resources.
Events that should generate visibility
| Signal | Examples | Why it deserves attention |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | Sign-ins, failed sign-ins, new locations, unfamiliar IP ranges or device changes | May indicate stolen credentials or an unexpected deployment |
| Credential activity | New API keys, certificates, tokens, secret reads or rotation events | Credentials can extend access beyond the original task |
| Permission changes | Role assignments, consent, scope changes or policy edits | A configuration change may be the actual compromise |
| Tool and API use | Unexpected APIs, new repositories, unusual data volumes or access to downstream systems | Shows what the agent did after authentication |
| Consumption | Sudden token-request spikes, rate-limit pressure, spending or job-volume increases | Can reveal abuse, loops or an unplanned workload |
| Configuration pipeline | Changes outside the normal deployment or approval path | Separates authorised releases from unauthorised tampering |
Microsoft recommends alerts for sudden token-request spikes, unexpected APIs, unfamiliar IP ranges, credential additions, permission grants and role assignments outside the normal deployment pipeline. Include agent activity in incident-response plans and post-mortems rather than treating it as an isolated application issue.
Use Entra logs for Microsoft environments
Microsoft Entra audit logs record agent-related operations, and sign-in logs show agent sign-in behaviour. Administrators can inspect those events in the Entra admin center or retrieve them through Microsoft Graph. Correlate sign-ins with audit events, credential changes and resource access so an investigator can answer who or what initiated an action, when it occurred and which systems were reached.
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Protect logs against deletion or alteration, restrict who can read them, and retain them long enough for your incident-response and regulatory needs. Test that alerts fire and that responders can retrieve the underlying events; an alert that nobody can investigate is not an effective control.
Test the controls before production
- Walk the register. Confirm the owner, purpose, identities, credentials, tools, permissions and repositories for the agent.
- Exercise normal work. Verify that the agent can complete its documented task and that each action is attributed to its dedicated identity.
- Probe denied actions safely. Confirm that attempts to reach an unapproved API, repository or administrative function are blocked and logged.
- Test limits. Trigger approved rate, spending or consumption thresholds in a controlled environment and verify enforcement.
- Run the shutdown drill. Disable the identity, revoke keys, sessions and tokens, and confirm that previously issued credentials no longer authorise access.
- Review evidence. Ensure responders can find sign-in, credential, configuration and downstream-access records without relying on the agent’s own output.
Repeat the exercise after material changes to the model, tools, identity platform or deployment pipeline. Feature names, licensing, API endpoints and retention periods change, so verify current console behaviour in the platform you operate.
Emergency procedure when an agent may be compromised
Stopping a user interface is not a shutdown. The credentials and tokens that authorise access must be invalidated. Follow a written runbook in this order, adjusting the exact controls to your identity platform.
1. Contain the identity and its sessions
- Disable the affected agent identity or block agent authentication.
- Revoke affected API keys, sessions and tokens, including credentials issued to connected tools.
- Isolate any compromised host or device used to run the agent.
The Australian Signals Directorate explicitly advises revoking affected API keys, sessions and tokens and isolating compromised devices. Microsoft describes disablement as preventing all sign-ins across Microsoft Entra ID and connected applications.
2. Preserve evidence before cleanup
Protect and retain audit, sign-in, credential and configuration-change logs before deleting resources or rebuilding the agent. Record the time of containment, identities disabled, tokens revoked and people who approved each action. Preserve relevant deployment records and tool logs as well. Avoid changing evidence merely to make the environment look tidy.
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Review risk detections, sign-in history, audit events, connected tools, data repositories and every downstream system the agent could reach. Determine whether the agent created credentials, changed permissions, exported data, modified records or invoked another agent. Search for the same indicators across other identities and deployments; a shared secret or compromised build process may affect more than one agent.
4. Remediate the cause and rotate credentials
Remove unauthorised grants, fix the exposed configuration or code path, and rotate credentials before re-enabling anything. Microsoft’s documented response sequence is detect, respond, investigate and recover; confirmed compromise should trigger disablement and credential rotation. If a token was exposed, replacement alone is insufficient until the old token is revoked and any copied secrets are located.
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5. Restore only after review
Re-enable the agent only when the cause is addressed, evidence is preserved and permissions have been checked against the documented business purpose. Start with the minimum required scope, observe activity closely and record the recovery decision. Update the register, runbook and post-incident actions so the same failure is less likely to recur.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How major guidance differs—and what to compare
| Source or platform | Relevant control emphasis | Practical use |
|---|---|---|
| AWS guidance | Verifiable authentication for agent-to-agent and agent-to-service communication; separation of human and agent permissions; least privilege | Use when defining workload identities and trust between services |
| Australian Signals Directorate advisory | Inventory, accountable ownership, prompt access removal, monitoring, limits, evidence preservation and revocation | Use as an operational checklist and incident runbook baseline |
| Australian ISM (updated September 2026) | Register each agent’s identifier, owner, purpose, identities, credentials, tools, permissions and repositories | Use to structure governance records and access reviews |
| Microsoft Entra | Audit logs for agent-related operations, sign-in logs, disablement across Entra ID and connected apps, Microsoft Graph access | Use for detection, investigation and containment in Microsoft environments |
| Google Cloud policy | Prohibits stolen or unauthorised credentials and unauthorised access | Use as a boundary for explicit, delegated access design |
When comparing identity platforms or agent frameworks, assess the same control questions rather than choosing by feature count:
- Can each agent have a dedicated principal instead of a shared account?
- Are permissions granular, reviewable and capable of time-bounded elevation?
- Are sign-in, credential, configuration and downstream-access events captured with useful retention?
- Can the platform detect anomalies such as unusual APIs, IP ranges or token spikes?
- Can responders disable the identity and revoke the credentials that actually authorise access?
- Does the platform support ownership, inventory and integration with existing incident-response workflows?
No vendor-wide, universal kill switch should be assumed. The effective emergency control is the concrete disablement and revocation mechanism in the identity platform that issued the agent’s credentials.
Common mistakes and their fixes
“It only uses a model, so a normal user account is fine.”
Why it fails: the agent may also reach files, APIs, queues or other agents, and its autonomous actions are hard to attribute to a person.
Fix: issue a dedicated identity, document the purpose and separate human approval from agent execution.
“We stopped the agent application.”
Why it fails: already issued tokens, sessions or keys may remain valid, and another process may still use them.
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Fix: disable authentication and revoke the affected keys, sessions and tokens, then verify that access fails.
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“The prompt log is our audit trail.”
Why it fails: prompts do not show all credential events, role assignments, API calls or downstream resource changes.
Fix: collect protected identity, audit, credential, configuration and resource-access logs.
“The agent needs administrator rights temporarily.”
Why it fails: temporary broad access often becomes permanent and lets a compromised agent create further credentials or alter controls.
Fix: use a separate, approved elevation path with narrow scope and automatic expiry where supported; otherwise perform the administrative step through a human-controlled process.
“The register is maintained once a year.”
Why it fails: agent tools, repositories and credentials can change between reviews.
Fix: update the register as part of deployment and access-change workflows, and remove unnecessary access promptly.
Operational checklist
- Every agent has a unique identifier, named owner and documented business purpose.
- Every agent uses a dedicated identity rather than a shared human or service account.
- Agent-to-service and agent-to-agent connections use verifiable authentication.
- Human permissions and agent permissions are separate and attributable.
- Access is limited to required tools, repositories, operations and environments.
- Credential creation and account administration are denied unless explicitly required and controlled.
- The register lists identities, keys, tokens, tools, permissions and repositories.
- Sign-ins, credential events, permission changes, role assignments and downstream access are logged.
- Alerts cover unusual APIs, IP ranges, token spikes and changes outside the deployment pipeline.
- Audit logs are protected from tampering and are retrievable by responders.
- Spending, rate and consumption limits have been tested.
- The shutdown drill disables authentication and revokes keys, sessions and tokens.
- The incident runbook preserves evidence, scopes impact, rotates credentials and requires review before restoration.
The safest default is straightforward: an AI agent should be as identifiable, constrained and revocable as any other production workload, with additional scrutiny for autonomous behaviour and delegated access.
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