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Security of Internet of Agents: Attacks and Countermeasures

Yuntao Wang, Yanghe Pan, Shaolong Guo, Zhou Su

TL;DR

This survey analyzes the security and privacy landscape of the Internet of Agents (IoA), an agent-centric fabric enabling autonomous, decentralized A2A interactions across virtual and physical domains. It systemsizes four threat dimensions—identity authentication, cross-agent trust, embodied security, and privacy—along with defenses such as dynamic access control, audit, grounding via external knowledge, and privacy-by-design strategies. Key contributions include a taxonomy of IoA threats and defenses, identification of open challenges (e.g., real-time adaptation, end-to-end security), and a roadmap with future directions spanning cloud–edge networking, security-by-design, governance, privacy-aware architectures, and ethical frameworks. The findings aim to guide robust, scalable, and privacy-preserving IoA deployments with practical impact for secure, trustworthy autonomous ecosystems.

Abstract

With the rise of large language and vision-language models, AI agents have evolved into autonomous, interactive systems capable of perception, reasoning, and decision-making. As they proliferate across virtual and physical domains, the Internet of Agents (IoA) has emerged as a key infrastructure for enabling scalable and secure coordination among heterogeneous agents. This survey offers a comprehensive examination of the security and privacy landscape in IoA systems. We begin by outlining the IoA architecture and its distinct vulnerabilities compared to traditional networks, focusing on four critical aspects: identity authentication threats, cross-agent trust issues, embodied security, and privacy risks. We then review existing and emerging defense mechanisms and highlight persistent challenges. Finally, we identify open research directions to advance the development of resilient and privacy-preserving IoA ecosystems.

Security of Internet of Agents: Attacks and Countermeasures

TL;DR

This survey analyzes the security and privacy landscape of the Internet of Agents (IoA), an agent-centric fabric enabling autonomous, decentralized A2A interactions across virtual and physical domains. It systemsizes four threat dimensions—identity authentication, cross-agent trust, embodied security, and privacy—along with defenses such as dynamic access control, audit, grounding via external knowledge, and privacy-by-design strategies. Key contributions include a taxonomy of IoA threats and defenses, identification of open challenges (e.g., real-time adaptation, end-to-end security), and a roadmap with future directions spanning cloud–edge networking, security-by-design, governance, privacy-aware architectures, and ethical frameworks. The findings aim to guide robust, scalable, and privacy-preserving IoA deployments with practical impact for secure, trustworthy autonomous ecosystems.

Abstract

With the rise of large language and vision-language models, AI agents have evolved into autonomous, interactive systems capable of perception, reasoning, and decision-making. As they proliferate across virtual and physical domains, the Internet of Agents (IoA) has emerged as a key infrastructure for enabling scalable and secure coordination among heterogeneous agents. This survey offers a comprehensive examination of the security and privacy landscape in IoA systems. We begin by outlining the IoA architecture and its distinct vulnerabilities compared to traditional networks, focusing on four critical aspects: identity authentication threats, cross-agent trust issues, embodied security, and privacy risks. We then review existing and emerging defense mechanisms and highlight persistent challenges. Finally, we identify open research directions to advance the development of resilient and privacy-preserving IoA ecosystems.
Paper Structure (18 sections, 5 figures, 3 tables)

This paper contains 18 sections, 5 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Paper Organization
  3. Overview of Internet of Agents and Its Security and Privacy Landscape
  4. Overview of IoA
  5. Representative Agent Communication Protocols
  6. Key Characteristics of IoA Security Landscape
  7. Agent Identity Authentication Threats in IoA
  8. Cross-Agent Trust Issues in IoA
  9. Embodied Security in IoA
  10. Privacy Threats in IoA
  11. Summary and Lessons Learned
  12. Future Research Directions
  13. Cloud–Edge Cooperative Large-Scale Agent Networking
  14. Security-by-Design IoA
  15. Trustworthy Regulation in IoA
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: The taxonomy of security and privacy threats in IoA.
  • Figure 2: Illustration of agent identity authentication threats in IoA: (a) identity forgery, (b) Sybil attack, and (c) intent deception.
  • Figure 3: Illustration of cross-agent trust issues within IoA: (a) hallucination cascade, (b) knowledge poisoning, and (c) jailbreak.
  • Figure 4: Illustration of security threats to embodied agents in IoA: (a) contextual backdoor, and (b) cross-domain safety misalignment.
  • Figure 5: Illustration of privacy threats in IoA: (a) RAG privacy leakage, and (b) agent memorization.