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Identity Management for Agentic AI [pdf] (2025)

82 points · 28 comments · cgeier

  1. x401throaway · · focus · HN ↗
    I work at Proof, and we're working on x401 as a means for agentic authorization

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;x401.proof.com&#x2F;spec&#x2F;latest&#x2F;#abstract" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;x401.proof.com&#x2F;spec&#x2F;latest&#x2F;#abstract

    in a nutshell:

    * a website that wants to authorize who you are (say, to book a flight or sign a waiver for go kart rental)

    * the endpoint returns 401 and defines in a header what info it needs about you (over 18? you&#x27;re actually John Doe? etc.)

    on the proof side specifically, we&#x27;re putting IAL2 verification in front of this <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pages.nist.gov&#x2F;800-63-3-Implementation-Resources&#x2F;63A&#x2F;ial2remote&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pages.nist.gov&#x2F;800-63-3-Implementation-Resources&#x2F;63A...

    pretty cool stuff, its early days but its a strong way to ensure there&#x27;s a human authorizing sensitive actions an agent is taking on your behalf

    1. 0xWTF · · focus · HN ↗
      Uh, not sure I agree with your terminology - one does not authorize who you are. You authenticate yourself, certain tokens authenticate your identity with varying levels of strength (e.g. within a corporate enclave, you may have elevated authorizations if you are authenticating from a corporate device).

      Authorizations are what are granted to an authenticated identity, typically with a specified scope and duration.

      1. Knufferlbert · · focus · HN ↗
        Maybe related. I was always confused with the authorization header and 401 status code (unauthorized).

        I&#x27;ve only ever seen authorization header containing credentials (i.e. authentication, who you are) instead of authorization (what you can do).

        Also everyone returns 401 when unauthorized (i.e. can&#x27;t do a thing), instead of 403 (forbidden, i.e. can&#x27;t do the thing). When 401 should probably be &quot;unauthenticated&quot; (we don&#x27;t know who you are, so we can&#x27;t authorize you).

        Always messes with my head a bit.

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