AI Agent Certificates

CyberSecAI operates a purpose-built Certificate Authority for AI agents. Every certificate is free at L0-L2, issued instantly via API, and backed by HSM hardware (FIPS 140-2 Level 3).

What is an AI agent certificate?

An AI agent certificate is a standard X.509v3 digital certificate issued to an autonomous AI agent. Unlike traditional TLS certificates that identify websites, an agent certificate identifies a specific AI agent and carries its operational parameters directly in the certificate extensions.

Each AgentPass certificate contains:

• Agent identity (CN, O, C in the subject, unique agent ID in OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.66339.5)
• Trust level L0-L4 (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.66339.1) defining what the agent can do
• Jurisdiction (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.66339.2.*) binding the agent to a geographic region
• Capabilities (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.66339.3) listing permitted actions
• Protocol binding (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.66339.4) specifying the signing protocol
• CRL distribution point for real-time revocation verification
• Certificate policy OID (1.3.6.1.4.1.66339.6) linking to the CPS

Why not just use API keys?

An API key is a shared secret. It authenticates an account, not an agent. Multiple agents can share the same API key. You cannot revoke one agent without revoking them all. You cannot express trust level, jurisdiction, or capabilities in an API key. You cannot cryptographically sign actions with an API key. And you cannot prove to a regulator which specific agent did what.

A certificate binds identity to a cryptographic key pair. The agent signs every action with its private key. Anyone can verify the signature with the public key in the certificate. The trust level is immutable -- signed by the CA, not stored in a database that an admin can quietly edit.

How it works

POST /api/agents
{
  "name": "payment-processor",
  "capabilities": ["read", "write", "pay"]
}

Response:
{
  "id": "ap_884038706a0a...",
  "certificate": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----...",
  "private_key": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----...",
  "trust_level": 0,
  "issued_by": "AgentPass Intermediate CA (GCP Cloud HSM)"
}

One API call. Certificate issued. Private key returned once, never stored. The agent owns its identity.

The certificate chain

Every agent certificate chains to the AgentPass root CA via an intermediate CA. Both CA keys reside in GCP Cloud KMS HSM (FIPS 140-2 Level 3). The root certificate is self-signed with a 20-year validity. The intermediate has a 5-year validity. Agent certificates are short-lived (24 hours) and auto-rotating.

The full trust bundle is publicly available at /api/ca/chain for any relying party to verify agent certificates independently.

IETF standardised

The certificate profile is defined in draft-sharif-x509-agent-identity-profile, the first IETF Internet-Draft specifying X.509 certificate extensions for AI agent identity. The OID extensions are registered under IANA PEN 66339 (CyberSecAI Ltd).

Free certificates

Agent certificates at L0-L2 are free. No WebTrust overhead. No per-cert fees. No browser trust store required -- agents do not run in browsers. The trust anchor is the AgentPass root CA, verified by any system that trusts it.

260+ agents in production. Full chain verified. Patent protected across 157 countries.

See it in action