Microsoft says AI agents are like insider threats
New security features aim to monitor agents that companies already deploy.
Labs#04
60
agent types Defender can detect
Image: TechCrunch
60agent types Defender can detect
The short version
- Microsoft introduced new security features on Monday to protect enterprises from AI agents.
- The most notable addition is Guardian Agents, which monitors the AI agents a company uses. It is part of Project Perception, introduced in June.
- Microsoft added agent detection to Defender that can find up to 60 types of agents, including Claude Code, Codex, and OpenClaw.
- Microsoft was an inaugural member of Nvidia's Open Agent Safety Platform, which has more than 100 other tech companies.
Why it matters
Microsoft argues that model providers cannot be trusted to police their own agents. Satya Nadella says enterprises need separate systems, not controlled by AI labs, to watch and control agents. For developers, this points to agent permissions, monitoring and human approval as part of the stack.
“Unfortunately, frontier models, regardless of their origin, cannot be trusted”