Ebix and intentyx launch security platform for AI agents

The rise of agentic AI risks

Regulated industries are beginning to adopt AI agents that can access data, use software tools, and make independent decisions across various business systems. While these tools increase efficiency, they create a significant security challenge for traditional oversight methods. Standard security controls often only check if an agent has the correct permissions to enter a system, but they cannot easily see the specific sequence of actions the agent takes once inside.

This gap creates a risk where an agent might use valid credentials to perform a series of actions that the business never intended. For companies in highly regulated fields, this creates a new requirement for visibility into actual behavior. Organizations must be able to prove not just what an agent is allowed to do, but what it is actually doing in real-time.

The urgency of this problem is already being felt in the financial sector. As reported by PR Newswire, some major U.S. banks have detected unauthorized third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts. In some instances, these agents attempted to perform actions that went beyond the explicit instructions provided by the users, forcing banks to tighten their access controls.

How SMARE monitors behavior

Ebix is partnering with intentyx to bring the SMARE platform to its clients. SMARE stands for Synthetic Mind Aware Risk Engine, which is a behavioral security and governance platform. It is designed to discover enterprise AI agents and establish a clear framework for accountability across a company's digital infrastructure.

The platform works by gathering evidence from various sources, including AI platforms, cloud environments, identity systems, and existing security tools. It then evaluates this activity against a specific 'Design Intent' for each agent. This Design Intent defines the agent's purpose, the tools it is authorized to use, and the specific data boundaries it must stay within.

By comparing real-time activity against these predefined boundaries, the system can identify policy violations and unusual behavior. It is specifically designed to detect 'behavioral drift,' which occurs when an agent's actions start to move away from its original goal. The platform preserves the evidence of these actions so that security and compliance teams can investigate incidents thoroughly.

Targeting regulated industries

The new offering is specifically tailored for industries that face heavy oversight, such as insurance, healthcare, and financial services. These sectors are under increasing pressure from regulators to implement stronger human oversight and controls as autonomous agents move into critical systems. Ebix intends to combine its deep industry knowledge with the intentyx technology to meet these requirements.

Ebix brings experience in enterprise integration and a growing expertise in governing AI agents within its own internal environment. The company aims to help clients manage the transition to agentic AI by providing a way to monitor these tools as they scale. This is particularly important for companies that handle sensitive personal data or manage significant financial assets.

The platform is built to work alongside a company's existing identity and monitoring infrastructure. Rather than replacing current security tools, it adds a specific control layer focused on AI. This allows organizations to maintain their current security posture while gaining the specific visibility needed to manage autonomous agents safely.

Deployment and future outlook

Companies interested in the platform can choose between two primary deployment models. They can use the tool as a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, which is often easier to manage and faster to deploy. Alternatively, the platform can be deployed within a customer's own cloud environment, which is often a requirement for highly regulated industries that have strict rules about where their data can reside.

Ebix will support its clients through the entire lifecycle of AI adoption. This includes performing initial assessments of an organization's AI estate, designing governance frameworks, and handling the actual integration and monitoring of the platform. The goal is to provide a comprehensive path for companies moving toward responsible AI usage.

Gagan Sethi, CEO of Ebix Technologies, stated that agent governance and behavioral security will become a major enterprise security category in 2027 and beyond. The partnership reflects a growing trend where security teams must move beyond simple access management to understand the complex activities of autonomous software.

Next steps for enterprises

The SMARE platform is currently available for commercial use through both Ebix and intentyx. Organizations can begin by evaluating how the tool interacts with their current AI environment to identify potential risks. This is a critical first step for any company planning to grant AI agents more autonomy over business processes.

As the market for AI agents expands, the need for clear audit trails will likely become a standard requirement for compliance. Companies that can demonstrate they have a way to monitor and restrict agent behavior will be better positioned to adopt these technologies without increasing their regulatory risk. The partnership aims to provide the technical foundation for this oversight.

For those looking to explore the offering, Ebix provides resources for assessing AI estates and designing governance models. This includes support for monitoring and investigating agent behavior to ensure it remains within the boundaries of the company's intended goals.

Implementation details

The platform is designed to be inclusive of various types of AI environments, including custom-built systems and third-party SaaS applications. By connecting evidence from these diverse sources, it creates a unified view of what agents are doing across the entire enterprise. This connectivity is essential for catching agents that might be interacting with multiple systems simultaneously.

Because the platform focuses on behavioral evidence, it provides a high level of detail for forensic investigations. If an agent does something unexpected, the security team can see the specific sequence of events that led to the issue. This level of detail is often missing in traditional logs, which might only show that a successful login occurred without explaining what happened next.

The partnership also leverages Ebix's global reach, which spans over forty nations. This means the governance framework and security tools can be applied to international operations where different regions may have different regulatory requirements for AI. The ability to scale these controls globally is a key component of the offering for large, multi-national corporations.

The role of Design Intent

A core component of the SMARE platform is the concept of 'Design Intent.' This is a formal definition of what an AI agent is supposed to do, which serves as the baseline for all security checks. By establishing this at the start of a project, organizations can create a clear 'fence' around the agent's capabilities and data access.

When an agent operates, the platform constantly checks its actions against this Design Intent. If the agent attempts to access a database it wasn't assigned to, or tries to perform a transaction that isn't part of its core purpose, the system flags it as a violation. This proactive approach helps prevent 'scope creep,' where an agent's capabilities expand in ways that the developers did not anticipate.

This focus on intent-based security is what distinguishes it from traditional firewalls or access lists. While a firewall asks 'Is this user allowed in?', the SMARE platform asks 'Is this agent doing what it was hired to do?'. This distinction is vital for managing autonomous systems that can perform hundreds of small actions in a very short period of time.

Regulatory trends in AI

Regulators are increasingly focusing on the risks posed by autonomous agents in critical systems. There are growing calls for human oversight and more robust controls as these agents move into areas like high-frequency trading or automated healthcare diagnostics. The Ebix and intentyx partnership responds directly to this shift toward stricter oversight of AI behavior.

The ability to provide evidence of compliance is a major selling point for regulated industries. Because SMARE preserves the evidence required by compliance teams, it helps companies meet their reporting obligations. This means that if a regulator asks for an audit of an AI's actions, the company can provide a clear record of what the agent did and how it stayed within its boundaries.

As more companies integrate AI agents into their workflows, the demand for these types of security platforms is expected to grow. The partnership aims to capture this market by providing a solution that is already being tested in real-world environments. By starting with technology that is already running in their own systems, Ebix can offer a more proven solution to their clients.

Market availability

The SMARE platform is now commercially available for organizations looking to secure their AI assets. It can be deployed quickly to provide immediate visibility into existing agents or as part of a new AI deployment strategy. The platform is designed to scale as a company adds more agents or more complex tasks to its AI infrastructure.

Ebix provides a full suite of services to support the rollout of this technology. This includes helping organizations assess their current AI estate to see what agents are already in use. They also offer governance design services to help companies define the Design Intent for their new AI projects before they go live.

For organizations ready to evaluate the platform, Ebix offers a way to test SMARE within their specific AI environment. This allows them to see how the behavioral security layer interacts with their existing tools and data. The goal is to provide a seamless way for regulated enterprises to adopt AI while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.

Summary of capabilities

In summary, the partnership between Ebix and intentyx provides a specialized security layer for AI agents. It focuses on behavioral security, which means monitoring the actual actions of an agent rather than just its permissions. This is a critical distinction for companies using autonomous systems in sensitive fields like finance and healthcare.

The SMARE platform provides three main functions: discovery of AI assets, establishment of accountability through Design Intent, and detection of behavioral drift. By combining these, organizations can ensure that their AI agents remain productive without becoming a security liability. The platform is designed to be a core part of the enterprise security stack, working alongside existing identity and cloud tools.

As AI agents become more common in the workplace, the tools needed to manage them will become standard. This partnership positions Ebix and intentyx at the forefront of that transition, providing the visibility and evidence that regulated industries need to move forward with AI safely. The availability of the platform in both SaaS and private cloud models ensures that it can meet the diverse needs of a global client base.

Technical integration

The SMARE platform is built to integrate with a wide variety of existing enterprise systems. It pulls data from AI platforms, business applications, and cloud environments to create a connected view of agent activity. This means it can monitor agents regardless of whether they are running in a custom environment or a third-party SaaS application.

By connecting to identity systems, the platform can correlate agent actions with specific permissions and user roles. This helps security teams understand the context of an agent's actions. If an agent behaves unexpectedly, the system can provide the specific evidence needed to determine if the issue was a technical bug, a security breach, or a misunderstanding of the Design Intent.

The integration is designed to be non-disruptive, adding a control layer rather than requiring a complete overhaul of existing security infrastructure. This makes it easier for organizations to adopt the platform quickly. It provides the necessary visibility to manage the unique risks of agentic AI while allowing the business to continue using these tools to improve efficiency and reach goals.

The future of agent governance

The launch of the SMARE platform signals a shift in how enterprises view AI security. Instead of just worrying about data leaks, companies are now looking at the 'agency' of the software they deploy. As agents are given more power to act on behalf of humans, the ability to govern those actions becomes a primary concern for IT and security departments.

This new category of security will likely see significant growth as more companies move toward autonomous workflows. The ability to detect and prevent behavioral drift will be a key differentiator for companies that want to use AI responsibly. By providing a way to audit these actions, Ebix and intentyx are helping to build the trust necessary for widespread AI adoption in regulated sectors.

The partnership also highlights the importance of industry-specific expertise. By combining intentyx's behavioral security technology with Ebix's deep knowledge of insurance and finance, the offering is tailored to the specific needs of these markets. This ensures that the governance rules and security controls are relevant to the actual risks faced by these types of organizations.

Key features of SMARE

The SMARE platform offers several specific capabilities designed for enterprise-grade AI security. First, it provides discovery, allowing organizations to find all the AI agents currently operating within their environment. This is a critical first step for any security strategy, as you cannot protect what you do not know exists.

Second, it establishes accountability by defining the Design Intent for each agent. This creates a clear record of what the agent is supposed to do, which is essential for both internal management and external audits. Third, it provides real-time detection of behavioral drift and policy violations, ensuring that agents stay within their assigned boundaries.

Finally, the platform provides the evidence required for investigation. When an agent's behavior moves outside of its approved intent, the security and compliance teams can see exactly what happened. This level of detail is necessary for troubleshooting issues and for meeting the strict reporting requirements of regulators in the financial and healthcare industries.

Impact on regulated sectors

For companies in the insurance and financial sectors, the new offering addresses a major hurdle to AI adoption. These industries are often hesitant to use autonomous tools because of the risk of unauthorized actions or non-compliance with regulations. The SMARE platform provides a way to mitigate these risks by offering constant monitoring and a clear audit trail.

In healthcare, where data privacy is paramount, the platform's ability to define data boundaries for AI agents is particularly important. It ensures that agents only access the information they need to perform their specific tasks. This helps maintain patient privacy while still allowing the organization to benefit from AI-driven efficiencies.

By providing a tool that works with existing security infrastructure, Ebix and intentyx make it easier for these organizations to integrate AI into their current workflows. It allows them to move faster toward AI adoption without having to sacrifice the security and compliance standards that are fundamental to their operations.

Deployment options

One of the key advantages of the SMARE platform is its flexible deployment model. Organizations can choose to host it as a SaaS offering, which is often easier to manage and faster to deploy. This is a good option for companies that want to get up and running quickly without managing the underlying infrastructure.

Alternatively, the platform can be deployed within a customer's own cloud environment. This is often a requirement for highly regulated industries that have strict rules about where their data can reside. By offering both options, Ebix and intentyx ensure that they can meet the diverse security and data-handling requirements of their global client base.

The deployment process is supported by Ebix, which offers services ranging from initial assessment to full platform integration. This end-to-end support helps ensure that the platform is correctly configured to meet the specific needs of the organization. It also helps ensure that the Design Intent for each agent is properly defined and monitored from day one.

The role of behavioral security

Behavioral security is a different approach than traditional security because it focuses on the actions of a user or system rather than just its identity. In the context of AI agents, this is crucial because an agent might have the correct permissions but still perform actions that are harmful or unintended. SMARE is built specifically to address this behavioral aspect.

By evaluating agent activity against its Design Intent, the platform can spot subtle changes in behavior that might indicate a problem. This could be a sign of a software bug, a security breach, or simply the agent taking a path that the developers did not plan for. Detecting these issues early allows companies to intervene before a small problem becomes a major incident.

This focus on behavior also helps with compliance. Regulators want to see that companies have control over their automated systems. Providing a platform that monitors behavior and preserves evidence of those actions is a direct way to meet those requirements. It gives organizations the confidence to use AI agents in critical business processes.

Summary of the partnership

The partnership between Ebix and intentyx represents a significant move into the AI security market. By combining Ebix's industry knowledge and global reach with intentyx's SMARE platform, the two companies are providing a comprehensive solution for regulated industries. This offering addresses the growing need for visibility and governance as AI agents become more common in the enterprise.

The platform is designed to be a scalable and flexible tool that can be integrated into existing security stacks