MCP & AI Agent Security Glossary
Everything you need to understand about securing AI agents, the Model Context Protocol, and the tools that govern agent access to external services.
MCP Gateway
An MCP gateway is an intermediary layer that sits between AI agents and MCP servers, providing centralized authentication, permission enforcement, rate limiting, and audit logging for every tool call an agent makes.
MCP Security
MCP security covers the practices and tools needed to protect AI agent connections from threats like tool poisoning, prompt injection via tool descriptions, token theft, and excessive permissions. With 43% of popular MCP servers containing unsafe patterns, securing MCP is not optional.
MCP Authentication
MCP authentication is the process of verifying the identity of AI agents and users before allowing tool calls through the Model Context Protocol. It typically uses OAuth 2.0, bearer tokens, or session-based auth to ensure only authorized agents access external services.
MCP Proxy
An MCP proxy is a reverse proxy layer that intercepts traffic between AI agents and MCP servers. It transparently adds authentication, permission enforcement, rate limiting, and audit logging without requiring changes to the agent or the MCP server.
Agentic AI Security
Agentic AI security is the discipline of protecting organizations from the risks created by autonomous AI agents that can take actions, access data, and interact with external systems without continuous human oversight. With 88% of organizations reporting AI-related security incidents, this is the defining security challenge of the next decade.
AI Agent Permissions
AI agent permissions define exactly which tools, data sources, and actions a specific AI agent is authorized to use. Unlike traditional OAuth scopes that grant blanket access to a user's account, agent permissions are granular, per-agent, and can be adjusted or revoked instantly.
MCP OAuth
MCP OAuth refers to the implementation of OAuth 2.0 (specifically OAuth 2.1) as the authentication and authorization mechanism for AI agents connecting to external services through the Model Context Protocol. It enables scoped, revocable, time-limited access without exposing raw credentials to agents.
AI Agent Audit Trail
An AI agent audit trail is a complete, immutable record of every action an AI agent takes -- every tool call, data access, decision, and outcome. It is essential for security forensics, regulatory compliance (SOC 2, HIPAA, EU AI Act), and understanding what your agents are actually doing.
Secure your AI agents today
ScopeGate gives you per-agent permissions, real-time audit trails, and instant credential revocation for every MCP connection.
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