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Just as Entra manages human identities, Agent 365 gives every AI agent a first-class identity, lifecycle controls, access policies, and full observability — regardless of where the agent was built. It plugs into the same M365 Admin Center, Entra, Defender, and Purview that your IT and security teams already use.
📑 Table of Contents
What Is Microsoft Agent 365?
The Problem
Agents come from Copilot Studio, Agent Builder, Microsoft Foundry, third-party vendors, and ISVs. Each platform has its own governance story. Without a cross-platform view, IT can’t answer basic questions: How many agents exist? What data do they access? Who owns them? What happens when a creator leaves?
The Solution
Agent 365 is one control plane on top of your existing security stack — connecting M365 Admin, Entra, Defender, and Purview with agent-specific capabilities: unified registry, visual map, first-class agent identities, Conditional Access, threat detection, and governed MCP tool servers — across all four pillars below.
💡 A helpful mental model (inspired by John Savill’s excellent visual overview): Think of agent requirements as a hierarchy — similar to Maslow’s pyramid for humans. At the base, every agent needs an Identity. With identity comes Security (guardrails, least privilege). Then Fit for Purpose (is it productive, not hallucinating?). Then Productivity (M365 integration, Work IQ). And at the top: Enterprise Integration (discoverable by humans and other agents). Agent 365 addresses every level.
Who Benefits — and How
Agent 365 serves four distinct roles. Each gets answers to questions they can’t answer today.
🛡️ IT Admin / Global Admin
„How many agents does our org have? Who owns them? What data can they access?“
- Agent Registry — unified inventory across all platforms
- Agent Map — visual topology of all registered agents
- Detect ownerless agents; reassign on offboarding
- Allow/block Work IQ MCP servers tenant-wide
- Approve or block agents before deployment
🔍 CISO / Security Analyst
„Are any agents being misused? Which ones are high-risk? Can I stop a compromised agent in real time?“
- Defender XDR — risk indicators and severity alerts per agent
- Threat detections: prompt injection, exfiltration, anomalies
- Conditional Access policies targeting agent identities
- Azure AI Content Safety Prompt Shield for runtime defense
- Advanced Hunting via agent-specific action types in CloudAppEvents
📋 Compliance Officer / DPO
„Can I prove we’re compliant? What would I show in an audit? What data are agents touching?“
- Purview Audit — logs all agent↔human, agent↔tool, agent↔agent interactions
- DSPM for AI — data risk signals per agent
- Insider Risk Management for agents (preview)
- eDiscovery & retention on agent interaction data
- Sensitivity label enforcement on accessed content
💻 Developer / Architect
„How do I make my agent enterprise-ready without rewriting everything or asking IT for raw Graph permissions?“
- Agent 365 SDK — onboard any agent into the registry
- Entra Agent ID — first-class identity with 2 auth flows
- Work IQ MCP servers — governed access to M365 + D365 data
- No custom Graph API wiring — governed tooling out of the box
- Foundry agents auto-provision Entra Agent IDs
4 Capability Pillars
Agent 365 extends M365 Admin, Entra, Defender, and Purview with agent-specific capabilities — organized into four pillars.
Pillar 1: Observability → M365 Admin Center
- Agent Registry — unified inventory across all platforms: publisher, owner, data access, security posture, status
- Agent Map — interactive visual topology of all registered agents; clusters: Copilot Studio lite/full, Microsoft Corporation, M365 Agents Toolkit, Others
- Shadow agent detection — surfaces unregistered third-party agents that exist only as app registrations
- Ownerless agents — detect agents with no active owner; flag for reassignment
- Approve / block / deploy agents to specific users or groups
Pillar 2: Governed Access → Entra + M365 Admin Center
- Microsoft Entra Agent ID — 4 Entra object types (agent blueprint, blueprint principal, agent identity, agent user); two authentication flows: agent identity (autonomous/app-only) and on-behalf-of (OBO)
- Why a new identity type? — A regular user account won’t work (agents can’t do MFA or passkeys). A service principal is too limited (no hierarchy, no sponsorship, too long-lived for ephemeral agents). The Entra Agent ID solves both: it provides a first-class, hierarchical identity with built-in lifecycle governance.
- Sponsorship model — every agent has a human sponsor accountable for its lifecycle; auto-transfers to manager on offboarding
- Access Packages — scoped Graph API permissions, group memberships, and Entra roles with built-in expiry
- Conditional Access — risk-based policies targeting agent identities (same Zero Trust framework as users)
- Work IQ MCP servers (preview) — governed, auditable access to Mail, Calendar, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, User, Copilot, Dataverse/D365; admin allows or blocks each server centrally
Pillar 3: Data Protection → Microsoft Purview
- DSPM for AI — data risk signals, agent activity insights, oversharing recommendations
- Audit — all four interaction types logged: agent↔human, human↔agent, agent↔tools, agent↔agent
- Insider Risk Management (preview) — extends insider risk protection to agents; detects risky agent interactions with sensitive data
- Sensitivity Labels — enforced on content agents access; agent-generated content does not automatically inherit labels from source items
- eDiscovery & Retention — search, hold, and export agent interaction data
- Data Lifecycle Management — retention and deletion policies for prompts and agent-generated data
- DLP — policies govern the locations agents operate in (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams)
- Communication Compliance — detect and enable human oversight of risky AI communications
Pillar 4: Threat Defense → Microsoft Defender XDR
- Risk indicators — per-agent severity alerts, governance gap signals
- Advanced Hunting (KQL) — agent-specific action types in CloudAppEvents table (InvokeAgent, InferenceCall, ExecuteToolBySDK, and more)
- Out-of-the-box threat detections — prompt injection, data exfiltration, anomalous behavior (integrated with Purview Insider Risk)
- Azure AI Content Safety Prompt Shield — jailbreak and indirect prompt injection defense, surfaced in Defender
- Agent activity telemetry — Agent 365 SDK traces viewable in Defender for incident investigation
- Agent-specific attack chain — incident view links agent identity, tools called, and data accessed
Work IQ MCP servers — The governed alternative to raw Microsoft Graph access. IT admins allow or block each server (Mail, Calendar, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Dataverse, and more) centrally in M365 Admin Center. When a server is blocked, it is blocked for every agent and every user — no exceptions. Every tool call is logged and auditable. Currently in preview; continues in preview after Agent 365 GA on May 1, 2026.
Admin Experience
Agent 365 doesn’t replace your existing admin centers — it extends each of them with agent-specific capabilities. Here’s how the responsibilities are distributed:
M365 Admin Center — IT Admin / Global Admin
- Agent Registry — see every agent, across all platforms
- Agent Map — visual topology, filter by platform/publisher
- Approve/block agents, deploy to users/groups
- Activate templates, assign licenses
- MCP Tooling — allow/block Work IQ servers centrally
- Ownerless agents — detect and reassign
Entra Admin Center — Identity Admin / Security Admin
- Agent Identities — view/manage all Entra Agent IDs (4 object types: blueprint, blueprint principal, agent identity, agent user)
- Sponsors & owners — assign, transfer, review; auto-transfer to manager on offboarding
- Conditional Access — create policies targeting agent IDs
- ID Protection — risky agent sign-ins, anomalous behavior
- Access Packages — scoped Graph permissions, groups, Entra roles with expiry
- Two auth flows — agent identity (autonomous/app-only) and on-behalf-of (OBO)
Defender XDR — Security Analyst / SOC
- Agent overview — posture, risk, active incidents
- Advanced Hunting (KQL) — agent-specific action types in CloudAppEvents for config, ownership, risk
- Threat detections — prompt injection, exfiltration, anomalies (via Purview Insider Risk integration)
- AI Prompt Shield — Azure AI Content Safety jailbreak/injection defense, surfaced in Defender
- Agent activity logging — traces from Agent 365 SDK telemetry, viewable in Defender
- Incident investigation — agent-specific attack chain
Purview — Compliance Admin / DPO
- DSPM for AI — agent instances, data risks, recommendations
- Audit — all interactions: agent↔human, agent↔tools, agent↔agent
- DLP policies — protect locations where agents operate (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams)
- Sensitivity Labels — enforce on agent content access
- Insider Risk Management — extends insider risk protection to agents
- eDiscovery & Retention — search/hold/export agent data
Key insight: Agent 365 automatically enables audit, data classification, and AI compliance assessments for every agent instance — zero configuration. For Insider Risk and CA, you target agent identities the same way you target users. DLP policies govern the locations agents interact with (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams).
Technical Setup — Agent Onboarding
Onboarding effort depends entirely on where an agent was built. Copilot Studio, Agent Builder, and Foundry agents published to Copilot Chat auto-register. Pro-code backend agents and external-org agents require deliberate steps from IT.
Prerequisite (today — Frontier preview): Sign in to Microsoft 365 admin center → Copilot → Settings → User access → Copilot Frontier → enable for users or groups. Requires at least one M365 Copilot license in the tenant. After enabling, an Agents entry appears in the M365 Admin Center left nav — this is your control plane. Source: Agent 365 Overview — Prerequisites
Copilot Studio — Maker submits, Admin approves
- Maker: Copilot Studio → Channels → select Microsoft 365 Copilot & Microsoft Teams → confirm „Make agent available in Microsoft 365 Copilot“ → Save (submits for admin review)
- Admin: M365 Admin Center → Agents → All Agents → Requests → select agent → activate, choose governance template (default or custom), review permissions, grant admin consent
- Agent goes live in M365 Copilot Agent Store under Built by your org; users install from store, then access in Copilot Chat
Registry category: Published by your org. Agent 365 enrollment is automatic — Copilot Studio is natively integrated with Agent Registry. Agent receives a Microsoft Entra Agent ID and appears in Agent Map without extra steps. Source
Agent Builder — Auto-visible, no maker submission
- End user opens Copilot Chat at microsoft365.com/chat → creates agent in Agent Builder — no IT involvement, no submission required
- Agent auto-appears in Agent Registry under Shared by creator — immediately visible to admins in M365 Admin Center → Agents
- Admin (recommended): deploy to specific groups, apply governance template, assign a sponsor, or block the agent from the Registry
Registry category: Shared by creator. ⚠ Agent Builder agents shared via link are accessible in Copilot Chat only — three sharing options: specific users (up to 98 named users/groups), anyone in your organization, or only you. No formal approval flow, but admins can restrict sharing at org level (all users / specific groups / no users). To deploy in Teams or Outlook, the agent must be published via Copilot Studio (requires admin approval) or sideloaded via ZIP package. This is the primary source of shadow-agent sprawl. Source
Azure AI Foundry — Published to Copilot Chat / Teams
- Developer: build custom engine agent in Foundry, publish to the Microsoft 365 Copilot channel — generates a Teams / M365 app package
- Admin: M365 Admin Center → Agents → Requests → approve, assign users or groups, apply governance template, grant consent
- Agent available in Copilot Chat agent list and Teams app store under Built for your org
Registry category: Published by your org. Azure AI Foundry is natively integrated with Agent Registry — publishing to an M365 channel auto-registers the agent instance and agent card. No extra CLI steps. Source
Foundry / Pro-Code — Backend service, Agent 365 CLI required
- Prerequisites: Azure Contributor access · Global Admin (for consent grants) · .NET 8+ · Azure CLI
- Install CLI:
dotnet tool install --global Microsoft.Agents.A365.DevTools.Cli --prerelease - Configure: create
a365.config.json(tenant, subscription, messaging endpoint) — via AI-guided setup or manually - Provision:
a365 setup all→ creates agent blueprint, Microsoft Entra Agent ID, MCP permission grants - Deploy:
a365 deploy→ builds and pushes code to Azure - Publish:
a365 publish→ uploads manifest; admin activates in M365 Admin Center → Agents → Requests
Registry category: Agents registered by your org. Shortcut: use GitHub Copilot in agent mode with a365-setup-instructions.md to automate steps 1–6. AI-guided setup docs
External / Third-Party / Other Organization
Path A — Agent is in the Microsoft Store (AppSource / Teams Store):
- User finds agent in M365 Copilot Agent Store or Teams App Store and requests it
- Admin: M365 Admin Center → Agents → Requests → activate, apply governance template (default or custom), review and grant admin consent
- Agent deployed to assigned users; appears in Copilot Chat agent list
Registry category: External partner-built agents
Path B — Agent is not in any store (custom ISV, partner org, self-built external):
- Prerequisites: Entra Agent Registry Administrator role · access token with
AgentInstance.ReadWrite.Allscope - Register agent instance via Graph API:
POST /beta/agentRegistry/agentInstances(endpoint URL, owner, originating platform) - Register agent card manifest:
POST /beta/agentRegistry/agentInstances/{id}/agentCardManifest(name, skills, capabilities) - Admin assigns sponsor, applies CA + governance policies in Entra Admin Center / M365 Admin Center
Registry category: Agents registered by your org. Shadow agents (Entra app registrations that were never formally registered) are surfaced automatically in the Registry — but remain ungoverned until an admin claims and sponsors them. Source: Self-serve registration
6 Real-World Scenarios
Each starts with a real pain point — what triggered the agent, what goes wrong today, and exactly what Agent 365 changes.
Governance Coverage by Agent Source
If all your agents are in Copilot Studio and you never plan to use Foundry, third-party, or ISV agents — Power Platform governance covers a lot. As soon as you cross into other platforms, Agent 365 becomes the only unified layer.
Licensing & Getting Started
| Option | Includes | Price | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 E7 | M365 E5 + Entra Suite + M365 Copilot + Agent 365 | $99/user/mo | GA May 1, 2026 |
| Agent 365 Standalone | Registry + Agent Map + Entra Agent ID + CA + Work IQ MCP | $15/user/mo | GA May 1, 2026 |
| Frontier Preview | 25 licenses with any M365 Copilot license | Included | Now |
Licensing model (GA): Per user — all agents acting on behalf of (OBO) a licensed user are covered. Agents acting on behalf of a licensed user do not need their own license. However, Agent Users with their own Exchange, Teams, or SharePoint access require the Agent 365 license.
Important: Agent 365 Standalone ($15/user) includes the control plane: Observability (Registry + Map), Governed Access (Entra Agent ID + CA + Work IQ MCP). The Defender (Threat Defense) and Purview (Data Protection) capabilities activate if those licenses are already present. Microsoft 365 E7 ($99/user) bundles everything — Defender + Purview + Entra Suite + Copilot + Agent 365 — in one SKU.
CSP Promos (May–Dec 2026)
- 10% off E7 annual (10–9,999 seats)
- 15% off E7 annual (100–9,999 seats)
- 15% off E7 triennial (300–9,999 seats)
Get Started
- ≥1 M365 Copilot license
- Admin Center → Copilot → Frontier
- Agents → Accept Terms
- Explore Registry & Map
Sources
📺 Recommended visual deep-dive: Agent 365 and Agent ID Overview by John Savill (48 min). Savill walks through the full identity hierarchy (Blueprint → Service Principal → Agent ID → Agent User) on a whiteboard, explains the token exchange flow, and draws an illuminating parallel between the human employee security stack and the agent equivalent. Some concepts in this post — particularly the Maslow-style hierarchy and the „why not a user account / service principal“ reasoning — are inspired by his presentation.
- Overview of Microsoft Agent 365
- Secure AI Agents at Scale — Microsoft Security
- Agent 365 — M365 Admin Center
- Agent Registry — M365 Admin Center
- Agent Map — M365 Admin Center
- Microsoft Entra Agent ID Platform
- What Are Agent Identities — Entra
- Governing Agent Identities
- Work IQ MCP Overview
- Observability — Defender
- Threat Protection — Defender
- Data Security — Purview & Agent 365
- Purview for Agent 365
- Entra Capabilities for Agent 365
- Agent 365 SDK
- Discover, Create, Onboard an Agent
- Publish Foundry Agents to Teams/M365
- Security Blog — Frontier (Mar 9)
- Partner Center — E7 Announcement
- Partner Center — CSP SKUs

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