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Shadow Agent

Reviewed 19 July 2026Canonical definitionPart of: Agent Evaluation Terms →

An AI agent deployed within an organization without the knowledge or approval of security or IT teams. Shadow agents create ungoverned access paths to sensitive systems and data, similar to shadow IT. Discovering, evaluating, and monitoring shadow agents is the first step to governing every agent in your estate.

§01 / QUESTIONSterm: Shadow Agent
Questions

Common questions.

What is Shadow Agent?

An AI agent deployed within an organization without the knowledge or approval of security or IT teams.

How does Shadow Agent work?

Shadow agents create ungoverned access paths to sensitive systems and data, similar to shadow IT. Discovering, evaluating, and monitoring shadow agents is the first step to governing every agent in your estate.

Which terms are related to Shadow Agent?

Closely related concepts include Continuous Integration Agent, Agent Marketplace, Evaluation Harness (Agent), MLOps Engineer. Each is defined in the Prefactor glossary.

§02 / RELATEDnext: where this fits

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