Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the Agentic Trust Framework
What is the Agentic Trust Framework (ATF)?
The Agentic Trust Framework is an open governance specification that applies Zero Trust principles to autonomous AI agents. It defines five core elements: Identity, Behavior, Data Governance, Segmentation, and Incident Response. It includes a four-level maturity model (Intern, Junior, Senior, Principal) for progressively granting agents autonomy based on demonstrated trustworthiness.
What are the five pillars of the Agentic Trust Framework?
ATF's five core elements are: (1) Identity: verifying who an agent is through cryptographic credentials; (2) Behavior: continuously monitoring what an agent is doing via observability and anomaly detection; (3) Data Governance: controlling what data agents consume and produce; (4) Segmentation: defining where agents can go through least-privilege access controls; and (5) Incident Response: defining what happens if an agent goes rogue, including kill switches and circuit breakers.
How does ATF relate to Zero Trust architecture?
ATF applies NIST 800-207 Zero Trust principles (never trust, always verify) to the specific challenges of autonomous AI agents. Traditional Zero Trust governs human users and static systems; ATF extends this to non-deterministic, autonomous agents that can take real actions at machine speed.
What are ATF's four maturity levels?
ATF defines four agent maturity levels: Level 1 (Intern): read-only, fully supervised; Level 2 (Junior): recommends actions for human approval; Level 3 (Senior): acts autonomously with post-action notification; Level 4 (Principal): fully autonomous within defined boundaries. Agents earn progression through demonstrated trustworthy behavior, not by default.
Is the Agentic Trust Framework free to use?
Yes. ATF is published as an open specification under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You can freely use, adapt, and build upon the framework with appropriate attribution. The canonical specification is maintained on GitHub.
How does ATF compare to MAESTRO?
MAESTRO and ATF are complementary frameworks. MAESTRO is a threat modeling framework for multi-agent systems with 7 layers, identifying what to worry about. ATF tells you what to build by providing governance controls. They interlock: MAESTRO's Agent Ecosystem layer maps to ATF's Identity Management; MAESTRO's Data Operations maps to ATF's Data Governance. Use MAESTRO to identify risks, use ATF to mitigate them.
How does ATF compare to the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications?
OWASP identifies the top 10 risks for agentic applications (ASI-01 through ASI-10). ATF provides the governance controls to mitigate each of those risks. Every OWASP agentic risk maps to one or more ATF core elements. OWASP provides the risk vocabulary; ATF provides the governance response.
How does ATF compare to NIST for AI agent security?
ATF is complementary to NIST. NIST 800-207 defines Zero Trust architecture principles; ATF applies those principles specifically to AI agents. NIST AI RMF defines risk management functions (GOVERN, MAP, MEASURE, MANAGE); ATF implements those functions with agent-specific controls, maturity levels, and promotion criteria.
Who is implementing ATF?
ATF has been independently implemented by Microsoft's Agent Governance Toolkit (MIT-licensed Python middleware covering all 5 pillars) and Berlin AI Labs (12-service reference implementation). ATF is also aligned with the AWS Agentic AI Security Scoping Matrix, with formal CSA contribution proposals pending.
How do I assess my organization's readiness?
ATF includes a 30-question self-assessment questionnaire covering all five core elements. Each question scores 1-5, giving you an element-by-element maturity score and an overall readiness level. The assessment takes 10-15 minutes and provides a prioritized improvement roadmap.
How do ATF maturity levels align with AWS scopes?
ATF maturity levels map 1:1 to the AWS Agentic AI Security Scoping Matrix: Intern = Scope 1 (No Agency), Junior = Scope 2 (Prescribed Agency), Senior = Scope 3 (Supervised Agency), Principal = Scope 4 (Full Agency). Both frameworks recognize that agent autonomy must be classified and governed progressively.
Can agents be demoted in ATF?
Yes. Demotion is a key differentiator of ATF. Agents can be demoted at any time if they fail to maintain standards. A critical incident triggers immediate demotion to Intern, a security vulnerability triggers demotion pending remediation, and repeated minor incidents trigger a one-level demotion. This ensures continuous trust verification.
Still have questions?
Reach out at info@massivescale.ai or open an issue on GitHub.