[ildar]

The NIST focus on "agent registration/tracking" is the right instinct but the wrong abstraction. Registration is a compliance checkbox — it tells you an agent exists, not what it's doing.

What we actually need is runtime behavioral monitoring: what files is the agent accessing? What network calls is it making? What credentials can it reach? That's where the real threat surface lives.

We've been building exactly this with ClawMoat (open source, MIT) — host-level security that monitors agent behavior in real-time. Permission tiers, forbidden zones, credential isolation, network egress monitoring. Think AppArmor for AI agents.

The gap in NIST's framing: they're treating agents like software to be certified, but agents are more like employees to be supervised. You don't just background-check an employee once — you give them appropriate access levels and monitor for anomalies.

Anyone planning to submit comments to NIST, the deadline is March 9. Would love to see the community push for runtime monitoring requirements, not just pre-deployment certification.