The Shift Nobody Can Ignore
AI is no longer just answering questions or generating content. We are entering the agentic AI era, where autonomous systems can plan, decide and act across enterprise environments with little to no human intervention. These agents can create tickets, reset passwords, query data stores, deploy resources and even remediate security incidents (Microsoft Tech Community).
That capability is transformative. It is also dangerous if left unmanaged.
This risk is not theoretical. According to a Securing Autonomous AI Agents survey (Strata), 40% of organisations already have AI agents running in production today, with a further 31% piloting or testing agents. Nearly one in five (19%) plan to deploy agents within the next year.
While most organisations estimate they currently run between 1–100 agents (58%), expectations are shifting fast. By this time next year, over 70% expect to be managing dozens to hundreds of agents, with 39% anticipating 1–100 agents and 31% expecting between 101–500.
At the same time, AI adoption is increasingly happening outside formal controls. The Microsoft Data Security Index 2026 (Microsoft) reports that over 70% of global knowledge workers are bringing their own AI tools into the workplace, often without security or identity oversight.
Security teams are already feeling the pressure. Non-human identities are growing faster than any other identity type, yet most organisations still manage them with legacy service accounts, shared secrets and minimal governance. Industry analysts warn that by 2026, security teams and MSSPs will be wrestling with agent sprawl, identity blind spots and a sharp increase in machine-driven attack paths (MSSP Alert).
The uncomfortable truth is simple: if AI can act, it needs an identity (Microsoft Tech Community). And if it has an identity, it must be governed as rigorously as a human one.
“Most organisations are deploying AI agents faster than they are redesigning their identity strategy. That creates a dangerous gap. If an autonomous system can access data, trigger workflows or make changes in production, it must have a unique, governed identity from day one. Anything less is an unmanaged attack surface.”
-Luke Elston, Microsoft Practice Director, CyberOne
What Is Agentic AI
Agentic AI refers to AI systems that operate with a degree of autonomy. Unlike traditional applications, agents are goal-driven and persistent. They can:
- Make decisions without step-by-step human input
- Call APIs and services dynamically
- Interact with other agents and systems
- Perform sequences of actions over time
From a security perspective, this blurs long-standing boundaries. Agents are not people, but they behave like privileged users. They are not simple applications either, because they can adapt, chain actions and operate across environments.
Treating these agents as generic service accounts is a recipe for over-privilege, poor visibility and an uncontainable blast radius.
Why Identity Is Now the Security Perimeter
For years, security leaders have said that identity is the new perimeter. Agentic AI makes that statement literal.
Every autonomous agent needs to:
- Authenticate itself
- Be authorised to access resources
- Be constrained by policy
- Be accountable for its actions
Without a first-class identity, agents end up sharing credentials, bypassing conditional access and operating outside normal governance controls. That is exactly the scenario attackers look for.
Despite this reality, confidence in existing identity controls is dangerously low. Strata’s survey found that only 18% of respondents are “highly confident” that their current IAM tools and processes can effectively manage AI agent identities.
This lack of confidence is amplified by growing data exposure risks. The Microsoft Data Security Index 2026 found that 58% of employees use personal credentials to access GenAI tools for work, often outside sanctioned environments and in violation of identity policies.
In the agentic era, identity becomes the control plane that determines what AI can do, where it can act and how damage is limited when something goes wrong (Microsoft Entra Blog).
Microsoft Entra Agent ID
Microsoft Entra Agent ID is designed specifically to solve the identity problem created by agentic AI (Microsoft Learn).
Rather than forcing agents into human or application identity models, Entra introduces agent identities as a distinct, purpose-built construct. These identities allow AI agents to authenticate, receive tokens and access resources securely within the Microsoft ecosystem (Microsoft Learn – Agent Identity concepts).
This platform-led approach aligns directly with how organisations want to manage complexity. According to the Microsoft Data Security Index 2026, 86% of surveyed leaders prefer integrated security platforms over fragmented tools, citing better visibility, fewer alerts and improved operational efficiency.
Key characteristics of Entra agent identities include:
- Unique identities per agent rather than shared accounts
- Support for autonomous access and delegated access
- Native integration with Entra Conditional Access, logging and monitoring
- Compatibility with Zero Trust principles
This shifts AI security from ad-hoc controls to a structured, identity-first model.
Core Concepts You Need to Understand
Agent Identity Blueprints
Blueprints define how agent identities should be created and governed. They act as templates that specify:
- Allowed permissions and roles
- Access boundaries
- Governance and lifecycle requirements
This enables consistent deployment of secure agents at scale, without reinventing controls each time.
Agent Identities
An agent identity is the actual identity assigned to an AI agent. It exists in Entra and can be managed like any other identity, including access reviews, auditing and policy enforcement.
Crucially, each agent gets its own identity. That single decision dramatically improves visibility and containment.
Agent Identity Governance
Microsoft Entra Identity Governance extends to agent identities. This includes (Microsoft Learn – Agent ID governance):
- Access packages for agents
- Expiry and renewal controls
- Human sponsors responsible for agent behaviour
- Review cycles to prevent privilege creep
This creates accountability in a world where autonomous systems are doing real work.
Security Benefits in Plain Terms
Adopting agent identities delivers immediate, practical wins:
- Reduced blast radius: agents only have the permissions they need
- Clear accountability: every action is tied to a specific identity
- Stronger Zero Trust: agents are subject to the same access policies as humans
- Operational scale: thousands of agents can be governed without manual chaos
This is not theoretical security. It is the difference between controlled automation and uncontrolled sprawl.
Why This Matters Now, Not Later
Many organisations are experimenting with AI agents today without realising they are creating long-lived, privileged identities with no governance model (MSSP Alert).
The Microsoft Data Security Index 2026 highlights why this matters now. Preventing sensitive data from being uploaded to GenAI tools is already the top concern for 42% of organisations, yet agents and unsanctioned AI tools are being deployed faster than identity and data controls can keep up with.
Agentic AI is not coming. It is already here. The organisations that succeed will be the ones that treat identity as foundational, not an afterthought.
Microsoft Entra Agent ID provides a practical, enterprise-ready way to secure AI systems without slowing innovation. It gives security teams the control they need and gives the business the confidence to scale AI safely.
The AI era will be defined by autonomy. The winners will be defined by who controls it.