Keyfactor, a leader in digital trust for modern enterprises, has introduced a new capability that applies its advanced PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solutions to secure Agentic AI systems. This innovation enables organizations to extend Zero Trust principles to autonomous AI agents, establishing cryptographic identity and governance at scale across enterprise environments. As businesses increasingly deploy AI agents to automate workflows, the need for robust identity and access controls has become critical. Unlike traditional software, agentic AI systems can operate autonomously across APIs, cloud platforms, and internal systems—making them potential vectors for security breaches if not properly authenticated. Even short-lived agents designed to perform a single task require a unique, secure identity to prevent misuse or unauthorized access. Keyfactor’s solution addresses this challenge by issuing each AI agent a unique X.509 certificate, providing a cryptographically verifiable identity that is tamper-proof and non-repudiable. This ensures every agent—and every system it interacts with—can be authenticated with confidence. The approach integrates seamlessly into modern enterprise architectures through several key mechanisms: Cryptographic Identity: Each AI agent receives a distinct X.509 certificate, establishing a trusted, auditable identity tied to its actions. Certificate-Based OAuth Flows: OAuth tokens are anchored to client certificates, eliminating reliance on static secrets like API keys or client secrets, which are prone to exposure and lack accountability. Mutual Authentication: Communications between AI agents and services, as well as between agents themselves, are secured using mutual TLS, ensuring both parties verify each other’s identity before data exchange. Automation at Scale: For containerized or ephemeral agents, Keyfactor integrates with SPIFFE to automatically issue, rotate, and revoke certificates with no manual intervention. Policy-Driven Control: Certificate extensions define access rights, operational permissions, and lifetimes, enabling fine-grained governance and compliance. This layered security model ensures that AI agents operate within defined boundaries, with full visibility and auditability—critical for meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining trust. “Organizations are eager to scale AI agents, but they face a new identity crisis—where static credentials simply don’t provide accountability or security,” said Ellen Boehm, SVP of IoT and AI Identity Innovation at Keyfactor. “With Keyfactor’s PKI foundation, AI agents gain the same strong, auditable identity as humans and devices, enabling enterprises to embrace AI safely and in line with Zero Trust principles.” The new capability is detailed in Keyfactor’s whitepaper, Securing Agentic AI with Zero Trust, which offers practical guidance on classifying AI agents, implementing certificate-based access controls, automating enrollment, and scaling securely using Keyfactor’s PKI platform. For those attending KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America, the Keyfactor team will be on hand at booth #642 in Exhibit Hall B3 to demonstrate the solution and discuss its real-world applications. Keyfactor empowers organizations to build and maintain secure, trusted connections across devices, workloads, and machines. By simplifying PKI, automating certificate management, and enabling crypto-agility, Keyfactor helps enterprises manage growing certificate volumes, eliminate manual processes, and prepare for future challenges—including the transition to post-quantum cryptography. Learn more at keyfactor.com.