Authorization, once granted at login, often outlasts its conditions when applied to AI agents, leading to "authorization gaps." When agents inherit delegated authority without clear scope or expiration, accountability breaks down, making it difficult to trace actions across complex systems. This is why a new approach is essential.
"Non-human identities — service accounts, API keys, AI agents, and IoT devices — are rising significantly," explains Dave Lewis, global advisory CISO at 1Password, as CSO Online reports. He emphasizes that the lack of controls for these identities creates leverage points for attackers and auditors. Companies like Oasis Security have also recognized this need, raising $120 million in Series B funding to develop platforms for managing non-human access, underscoring the urgent market demand, per ynetnews.
Endpoint AI discovery is a core feature, identifying unmanaged AI tools and agents running on developer devices. This capability helps surface unmanaged risks before they can propagate to shared systems. It also detects unsecured credentials in local files and developer environments, guiding teams to remediate these exposures before they reach critical CI/CD pipelines and production systems.
Centralized secure vaulting stores every credential type in an encrypted vault, establishing a single system of record for humans, agents, and machine identities. A key differentiator is "runtime credential brokering," which delivers credentials to agents, automation, and CI/CD at the exact moment they are needed. This significantly reduces long-lived secrets and limits standing access.
The platform also provides unified audit logs. These logs offer clear attribution for every action, detailing who or what used which credential, when, and under whose authority across all identity types. "As AI agents proliferate, organizations need a fundamentally new approach to managing non-human identities and agentic access," stated Danny Robinson, CEO of Oasis Security, highlighting the industry's shift away from static permissions.
1Password Unified Access is a new platform designed to manage credentials for both human users and AI agents. It addresses the growing challenge of securing non-human identities, which often outnumber human users in enterprises. The platform offers features like AI tool discovery, secure vaulting, and time-of-use access controls.
Securing AI agent credentials is now critical because these non-human entities often operate in less-controlled environments, creating security gaps. Traditional identity and access management (IAM) focuses on human logins, but AI agents, automated scripts, and machine identities require a different approach to prevent credential exposure and maintain accountability.
1Password Unified Access offers several key features, including discovery of AI tools and local agents, secure centralized vaulting for all credential types, time-of-use authorization controls, and comprehensive auditing capabilities. The platform's "Unified AI insights" help organizations understand AI tool adoption, assess access risks, and identify potential exposure points.
1Password Unified Access helps with endpoint security by identifying unmanaged AI tools and agents running on developer devices. It also detects unsecured credentials in local files and developer environments, guiding teams to remediate these exposures before they reach critical systems. This helps prevent unmanaged risks from propagating to shared systems.
Unified Access solves the problem of managing and securing the growing number of non-human identities, such as AI agents and API keys, within organizations. These identities often lack proper controls, creating vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. Unified Access provides a centralized system for managing these credentials, improving security and accountability.
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