At Microsoft Ignite 2025, Microsoft made a decisive statement: AI agents are no longer experimental tools — they are enterprise actors that require identity, governance, and security controls.
With major announcements across Agent 365, Entra Agent ID, expanded Microsoft Purview, and AI-assisted security operations, Microsoft is building a strong native control plane for AI agents embedded across Microsoft 365, Copilot, Fabric, and Foundry.
This is a meaningful and necessary evolution — but it is not sufficient on its own.
Native, vendor-scoped controls alone are not sufficient for enterprise-wide AI trust, risk, and security management.
Agent 365 introduces a centralized control plane designed to manage AI agents throughout their lifecycle. Agents are treated as digital employees, enabling:
Embedding governance directly into the same environment where agents are built is a strong architectural decision.
Entra Agent ID extends Zero Trust identity concepts to AI agents by enabling:
Identity is foundational — without it, governance cannot scale.
Microsoft Purview continues to be a core pillar of AI data governance, now offering:
This creates blind spots in large, decentralized environments.
Until these controls reach GA, sophisticated insiders can still bypass protections.
GSA is Microsoft’s endpoint enforcement layer for Zero Trust access.
Risk: Disabling or bypassing GSA allows agents to operate outside inspection.
Rogue agents may exfiltrate data via TLS-encrypted connections to trusted AI providers.
Prompt manipulation in transit can cause unintended agent behavior.
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management currently provides the strongest protection against insider-driven AI abuse through behavioral detection and risk scoring.
Agent 365 primarily serves engineering teams, while AI governance is often owned by risk, compliance, and GRC functions — leading to fragmented oversight.
Advanced AI governance capabilities often require E5 licensing, increasing both cost and vendor dependency.
Key takeaway:
Agent 365 is a strong first step — but enterprise AI governance requires independent, cross-cloud AI TRiSM layers.
Microsoft is building powerful first-party AI controls.
Enterprises that augment Purview and Agent 365 with independent AI TRiSM platforms will be best positioned to scale AI securely, compliantly, and with confidence.