Trustwise, an AI security company, has launched Harmony AI, which it claims is the industry's first runtime trust layer specifically designed to secure autonomous AI systems operating at enterprise scale.

As enterprises rapidly deploy AI agents to automate business processes, a critical security gap has emerged that traditional cybersecurity tools cannot address.

Recent industry data suggests autonomous AI adoption is accelerating dramatically, with Gartner forecasting that one-third of enterprise software applications will incorporate AI agents, and IBM research indicating 99% of developers are already exploring or building such systems.

"AI agents are transformative, but unshielded agents introduce a new class of insider threats," said Manoj Saxena, CEO and founder of Trustwise. "Just like human employees, they require oversight and runtime enforcement."

Unlike traditional software, AI agents can act unpredictably, make autonomous decisions, and interact with multiple systems simultaneously. This creates what security experts describe as an "insider threat" scenario - autonomous systems operating with broad access but limited oversight.

The company's research, conducted with financial and healthcare institutions over two years, found that existing security measures like prompt filtering and observability tools prove insufficient against sophisticated attacks including prompt injections and toolchain exploits that can hijack agent behaviour.

Six-Shield Defense System

Harmony AI addresses these challenges through what Trustwise calls a modular "shield" system. The platform includes six specialized security components:

• MCP Shield blocks unauthorized tool usage and automation misuse
• Prompt Shield prevents injection attacks and policy violations
• Compliance Shield ensures alignment with 17 global standards including ISO 42001, NIST frameworks, and the EU AI Act
• Brand Shield maintains consistent organizational voice and behavior
• Cost Shield controls operational expenses through intelligent routing
• Carbon Shield reduces environmental impact through efficient model selection

Harmony AI embeds “trust as code” directly into AI systems, empowering CISOs, developers, and AI leaders to shield their AI deployments from security risks as they scale.

The company reports that early implementations have achieved 90-100% policy compliance, detected 40% more security violations than baseline systems, and reduced operational costs by 83%.

The platform is currently in production with select financial and healthcare enterprises and integrates with popular AI frameworks including LangGraph, AutoGen, and LangChain, as well as major foundation models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta.

https://trustwise.ai/