Governance for Agentic AI - Implementation Guide

Security Framework Analysis

Framework	Organization	Agentic Coverage	Status	Last Update
OWASP GenAI Security	OWASP Foundation	Most Comprehensive	Extensive agentic threats coverage	April 2025
MITRE ATLAS	MITRE Corporation	Strong	Excellent LLM coverage, limited MCP	April 2025
ISO/IEC 42001:2023	ISO/IEC	Limited	General AI governance focus	December 2023
NIST AI RMF	NIST (US)	Limited	Traditional AI risk management	July 2024
CIS Controls	Center for Internet Security	Minimal	General cybersecurity focus	May 2024

Critical Gaps

MCP Security

Model Context Protocol vulnerabilities largely unaddressed across frameworks. E.g. Rug pull attacks are a major concern.

Multi-Agent Threats

Agent-to-agent attack patterns, trust exploitation, and coordination failures have limited coverage in existing frameworks.

Temporal Behaviors

Agent drift, behavioral evolution over time, and "sleeper agent" patterns are largely unaddressed.

Immediate Actions

Implement Tool Validation

Consider implementing protection against tool poisoning vulnerabilities in MCP implementations.

# Basic MCP scanning
uvx mcp-scan@latest

# Validate all tool descriptions before agent execution

Review Security Frameworks

Evaluate available frameworks for agentic AI security guidance. Consider starting with OWASP GenAI Security for comprehensive threat coverage, supplemented by MITRE ATLAS for LLM-specific patterns.

Create Agent Registry

Track capabilities and interaction permissions for all agents. Focus on autonomy levels and decision rights rather than just identities.

Monitor Temporal Behavior

Implement session limits and behavioral baseline monitoring to prevent behavioral drift and detect unusual patterns over time.

Agent Card System

When you can't predict behavior, you must track capabilities. The Agent Card system provides essential governance information for every AI agent.

Essential Agent Information

Risk Level Critical / High / Medium / Low

Autonomy Level 0-5 scale of independence

Memory Type Session / Working / Persistent

Decision Rights Boundaries and permissions

Owner Accountable team/individual

Review Date Next governance review

Interaction Permissions Which agents can coordinate

Monitoring Behavioral indicators and alerts

# Agent Card Template
Agent Name: [Descriptive name]
Agent ID: [Unique identifier]
Version: [Semantic versioning]
Owner: [Responsible team/person]
Review Date: [Next review]

Risk Level: CRITICAL | HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW
Autonomy Level: 0-5 (0=human performs all, 5=irreversible decisions)

Decision Rights:
  - Max Transaction: [Dollar amount]
  - Data Access: [Scope limitations]
  - System Changes: [What can be modified]

Memory Type: SESSION | WORKING | PERSISTENT
Can Coordinate With: [List of agent IDs]
Forbidden Interactions: [Restricted agents]

Behavioral Indicators:
  - Normal patterns: [Expected behavior]
  - Warning signs: [Drift indicators]
  - Critical alerts: [Immediate escalation]

Important Disclaimer

This governance guidance is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal, compliance, or security advice. Framework evaluations are based on publicly available information and may not reflect the most current versions. Organizations should conduct their own security assessments and consult with qualified cybersecurity and legal professionals before implementing any agentic AI systems. Regulatory requirements vary by jurisdiction and industry.