Identity is the New Perimeter

In the world of autonomous agents, traditional network-based security is obsolete. A strong, verifiable, and lifecycle-aware identity is the essential foundation for Zero Trust security and the only way to safely govern your digital workforce.

Agent Identity Security

Pragmatic Zero Trust: Meeting You Where You Are

The industry best practice is clear: a Zero Trust architecture built on the principle of Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) is the most secure posture. However, we recognize that large enterprises have existing, complex security models.

Our platform is designed to be pragmatic. While we enable a true Just-in-Time (JIT) and ZSP model, we also integrate with your existing systems—including traditional RBAC and reused service roles. Our goal is not to force a disruptive rip-and-replace, but to provide immediate value by making the risk of your current model visible. We quantify the static and dynamic blast radius of every approach, allowing you to track, manage, and systematically minimize your risk surface over time.

Zero Trust Architecture

From Birth Certificate to Audit Trail: A Complete Lifecycle

An agent's identity is not a static credential; it's a living record that evolves throughout its lifecycle. We provide the tools to manage and audit this entire journey.

1. The Digital "Birth Certificate" & Verifiable Origin

When an agent is first registered in our platform, it creates its verifiable origin. This initial registration captures its intended purpose, owner, and a cryptographically secure identity based on the SPIFFE standard, giving you a tamper-evident starting point for the agent’s lifecycle.

2. Cryptographic Identity Attestation

We use industry standards like SPIFFE to issue verifiable identity documents (SVIDs) without pre-shared secrets. This process is explicitly bound to governance, ensuring that only registered and authorized agents obtain credentials, and that those credentials always reflect the configuration currently sanctioned by governance.

3. Runtime Use, Non-Repudiation, and Auditability

The verifiable identity is used by downstream systems to authenticate the requesting agent and to attribute actions to the correct, approved software version. Significant actions may be signed by the agent using its private key, creating immutable, verifiable proofs of origin for non-repudiation and deterministic audit.

4. Key Rotation and Controlled Renewal

Identity material is short-lived and renewed under governance control. Rotation policies define maximum lifetimes, renewal intervals, and mandatory re-attestation on lifecycle transitions, ensuring that credentials remain fresh and aligned with current governance policies.

5. Immediate Revocation and Teardown

When identity is no longer needed, the control plane coordinates immediate teardown: private key material is zeroized, certificate status is updated, and affected caches are purged. Revocation can target a single agent, a cohort, or an entire governance partition.

6. Multi-Environment Interoperability

The system supports diverse execution environments including virtual machines, containers, and serverless platforms. Where native workload tokens are unavailable, alternative verifiable attestations are accepted under policy while maintaining the same provenance guarantees.

Technical Implementation: How Identity Works

Corvair implements cryptographic agent identity using industry standards and best practices, ensuring security without sacrificing interoperability.

SPIFFE Standard Implementation

We employ the Secure Production Identity Framework for Everyone (SPIFFE) standard to issue verifiable identity documents without pre-shared secrets. When an agent instantiates in any compute environment, it obtains a platform-provided attestation token that conveys verifiable facts about its environment.

  • No Pre-Shared Secrets: Identity is established through platform attestation
  • SPIFFE Verifiable Identity Documents (SVIDs): Short-lived credentials with unique key pairs
  • Mutually Authenticated Channels: Secure delivery directly to authorized workloads
  • Automatic Renewal: Time-bounded credentials that renew under governance control
SPIFFE Identity Flow

Governance-Driven Identity Establishment

Identity issuance is bound to and gated by governance approval tied to the agent's lifecycle state and mission. The registry records steward approvals, acceptable-risk thresholds, and the specific policy versions under which issuance is authorized.

  • Steward Approval Required: Human accountability for every identity
  • Lifecycle State Gating: No identity for suspended or revoked agents
  • Version-Controlled Baseline: Identity reflects current approved configuration
  • Causal Audit Trail: Every issuance linked to approving steward and policy version
Governance Identity Gate

Security Benefits of Cryptographic Agent Identity

Eliminates Static Secrets

No more long-lived API keys, service account passwords, or shared secrets. Dynamic, short-lived credentials reduce the attack surface and eliminate credential theft risks.

Enables Non-Repudiation

Every action can be cryptographically attributed to a specific agent identity and version, providing forensic-grade evidence for audit and compliance purposes.

Supports Rapid Response

Immediate, scoped revocation capabilities allow instant response to security incidents, with granular control from individual agents to entire governance partitions.

Ensures Portability

Works across diverse environments and cloud providers while maintaining consistent security posture and governance controls regardless of infrastructure.

Related Platform Components

Agent identity works seamlessly with other Corvair platform components to provide comprehensive governance.

Comprehensive Agent Profile

Identity is the foundation layer of the comprehensive agent profile that captures mission, capabilities, and governance constraints.

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Just-In-Time Privilege Broker

Cryptographic identity enables the JIT broker to issue minimal, ephemeral privileges with full attribution and auditability.

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Forensic-Grade Auditing

Verifiable identity creates the cryptographic foundation for forensic-grade audit trails with non-repudiation guarantees.

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Ready to Secure Your AI Agents with Verifiable Identity?

See how Corvair's cryptographic identity system eliminates static secrets and enables true Zero Trust AI governance.