Who Approved This Agent? Rethinking Access, Accountability, and Risk in the Age of AI Agents

"AI agents are accelerating how work gets done. They schedule meetings, access data, trigger workflows, write code, and take action in real time, pushing productivity beyond human speed across the enterprise. Then comes the moment every security team eventually hits: "Wait... who approved this?" Unlike users or applications, AI agents are often deployed quickly, shared broadly, and granted wide access permissions, making ownership, approval, and accountability difficult to trace. What was once a straightforward question is now surprisingly hard to answer."

"AI agents are not just another type of user. They fundamentally differ from both humans and traditional service accounts, and those differences are what break existing access and approval models. Human access is built around clear intent. Permissions are tied to a role, reviewed periodically, and constrained by time and context. Service accounts, while non-human, are typically purpose-built, narrowly scoped, and tied to a specific application or function."

AI agents accelerate enterprise work by scheduling meetings, accessing data, triggering workflows, writing code, and acting in real time, greatly increasing productivity. Security teams struggle to trace ownership, approval, and accountability when agents act across systems. AI agents differ fundamentally from human users and service accounts, undermining standard access and approval models. Human access relies on clear intent, role-based permissions, periodic review, and contextual constraints, while service accounts are purpose-built and narrowly scoped. AI agents operate with delegated authority, can act for multiple users without ongoing human involvement, and often receive broader permissions that enable actions beyond a user's authorization, creating exposure.

Read at The Hacker News