Why it matters:Â As “citizen developers” across enterprises build AI agents without security training, organizations face new vulnerabilities that traditional tools can’t address. We talked with Zenity about their end-to-end platform that secures AI agents from build time through runtime. Connected agents create both value and risk, Zenity balances innovation with protection for your organization.
Walking through the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, one thing became immediately clear: AI security isn’t just another checkbox on the compliance list—it’s the defining challenge of our time. Among the dozens of innovative approaches showcased at the summit, Zenity’s comprehensive take on AI agent security stands out as both practical and forward-thinking.
The excitement at the summit was palpable. Security professionals are no longer asking if AI agents will transform their organizations, but how to secure them without stifling innovation. It’s refreshing to see so many different approaches to solving this puzzle, from traditional security vendors expanding their portfolios to entirely new players like Zenity who are purpose-built for the AI-first era.
The Citizen Developer Phenomenon
Perhaps the most striking, or perhaps most valuable aspect of today’s AI landscape is the real emergence of “citizen developers”—everyday employees who are building and deploying AI agents without traditional coding or security backgrounds. Marketing managers are creating chatbots that connect to customer databases, HR professionals are automating onboarding workflows with AI, and sales teams are building agents that integrate with CRM systems.
This democratization of AI development is both powerful and perilous. While it accelerates innovation and puts AI capabilities directly into the hands of domain experts, it also creates a security blind spot that traditional IT governance wasn’t designed to handle.
The Zenity Advantage: Comprehensive AI Agent Management
Zenity’s approach to this challenge is notably comprehensive, addressing AI agent security across the entire lifecycle—from build time to runtime. Their platform tackles three critical areas that most organizations struggle with:
Build Time Visibility: Before AI agents ever interact with production data, Zenity provides visibility into their configuration and potential vulnerabilities. This proactive approach helps organizations identify and remediate security issues before they become active threats.
Runtime Protection: Once agents are deployed, Zenity’s platform continuously monitors for two particularly dangerous scenarios: data leakage and indirect prompt injection attacks. These runtime protections are crucial because AI agents, by their very nature, are designed to access and manipulate sensitive information.
Governance at Scale: Perhaps most importantly, Zenity enables organizations to answer fundamental questions about their AI agent ecosystem: Who built which agents? What permissions do they have? How are they interacting with users and systems? Which sensitive data sources are they connected to?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI Agent Value
Zenity’s team makes an important observation: an AI agent’s value to the organization increases dramatically when it’s connected to sensitive data and can automate complex workflows. However, this same connectivity makes the agent a high-value target for attackers and a potential source of data breaches.
This creates a delicate balance that security teams must navigate. Lock down AI agents too tightly, and you stifle the innovation and productivity gains that make them valuable. Provide too much freedom, and you open the organization to new vectors of attack that traditional security tools weren’t designed to handle.
Beyond Traditional Security Approaches
What sets Zenity apart from the crowd at the summit is their recognition that AI agents require fundamentally different security approaches. Traditional security solutions focus on protecting systems from external threats or managing access to known applications. AI agents, however, think, act, and evolve on their own, making decisions in real-time that can have significant business and security implications.
Zenity’s platform unifies AI Observability, AI Security Posture Management (AISPM), and AI Detection & Response (AIDR) into a single solution. This integration is crucial because AI agent security isn’t just about preventing attacks—it’s about understanding how these autonomous systems behave and ensuring they align with organizational policies and risk tolerance.
The Path Forward
As we look toward the future of enterprise AI, the organizations that succeed will be those that can balance innovation with security. The approaches showcased at the Gartner summit demonstrate that the security industry is rising to meet this challenge, with solutions that enable rather than restrict AI adoption.
Zenity’s comprehensive approach to AI agent security represents a mature understanding of this balance. By providing visibility, protection, and governance without requiring organizations to slow down their AI initiatives, they’re helping enterprises navigate the transition from AI experimentation to AI-powered operations.
The conversations at the summit made one thing clear: AI agent security isn’t a problem we can solve later. It’s a foundation we need to build now, as we’re constructing the AI-powered future of work. Companies like Zenity are showing us that it’s possible to secure AI agents without sacrificing the innovation that makes them valuable in the first place.
Check out Zenity and secure your AI usage today.
As AI agents become more prevalent across enterprises, the security approaches developed today will determine whether organizations can safely harness their transformative potential. The diversity of solutions presented at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit suggests that the industry is well-positioned to meet this challenge—and companies like Zenity are leading the way.
