Ephemeral Credentials for AI Agents

Review short-lived agent credentials, least privilege, expiry and revocation.

Ephemeral Credentials for AI Agents is a 4-page PDF field guide. Scoped access, short-lived credentials, expiry and revocation.

• Short life reduces exposure: A stolen credential with a narrow expiry limits the useful attack window.

• Scope binds purpose: Credential permissions should identify resource, action, tenant and sometimes amount.

• Issuance needs identity: The broker must authenticate the requesting agent or controller before minting access.

• Revocation still matters: Compromise response cannot rely only on waiting for expiry.

Action checklist: Inventory every agent secret; Move issuance behind an authenticated broker; Set minimal scopes and TTL; Avoid logging raw credentials; Rotate signing and issuer keys; Correlate issuance with every use.

Credential design must match the actual threat model and identity infrastructure.