Agentic AI Security: Risks, Governance, and Architectural Defences

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of security challenges posed by agentic AI systems that autonomously execute multi-step workflows in enterprise environments. It covers the qualitative shift from traditional AI to autonomous agents, expanding attack surfaces including memory poisoning, tool use vulnerabilities, and multi-agent coordination risks. The guide integrates best practices from OWASP, NIST, CSA, and the Five Eyes alliance's 2026 guidance, offering practical architectural controls and governance frameworks for security architects and cloud engineers to mitigate threats like privilege escalation and data exfiltration.