The agent gateway is becoming the standard control point
Security teams are converging on a gateway between the agent and its tools, intercepting every invocation before execution. It works because it sits where the damage happens rather than where the intent is declared.
The control pattern gaining ground across enterprise deployments this month is an agent gateway: a layer between the agent and its connected tools that intercepts every tool invocation request before execution.
Why this placement and not another
Most proposed agent controls sit at the wrong end. Prompt filtering guards the input, which an attacker can rephrase. Output review guards the response, which is after the action. Policy documents guard intent, which nothing enforces. A gateway guards the moment of action — the only point where a decision has consequences and can still be refused.
It also happens to be the only layer that is complete. An agent that cannot invoke a tool cannot affect the world, whatever it has concluded internally.
What it pairs with
Least privilege, and the reason is stated bluntly in the guidance: an over-privileged agent turns a single prompt injection into a full environment compromise. The gateway decides whether an invocation is permitted; least privilege decides how much damage the permitted set can do. Neither is sufficient alone.
The uncomfortable corollary
A gateway is a log of everything an agent tried to do, including everything it was stopped from doing — which is the most useful security telemetry available and also a record most organisations have not thought about retaining, protecting or reviewing. Given that only 14.4% ship agents with full security approval, the gateway is likely to be the first place anyone discovers what their agents have actually been doing.
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