Overview

Alter is a specialized security platform that provides robust identity and access management for AI agent workflows. It ensures that every tool call made by an agent is verified with strong authentication and fine-grained authorization. By implementing real-time guardrails and parameter-level RBAC, Alter prevents unsafe agent actions and provides comprehensive audit logs, allowing teams to deploy AI agents safely in production environments.

Founder story

Alter was founded in 2025 by Srikar Dandamuraju and Kevan Dodhia, both Y Combinator S25 batch participants. Leveraging their previous experience in high-performance computing and enterprise software sales, the founders created Alter to solve the critical security gaps that prevent organizations from safely deploying AI agents in regulated production environments.

What it does

• Wraps every agent tool call in strong authentication and fine-grained authorization policies to ensure security
• Applies parameter-level RBAC and ABAC to reject dangerous commands or unauthorized requests in real time
• Manages ephemeral, scope-narrowed credentials for agents, eliminating the need for long-lived, high-risk API keys
• Provides a CISO-ready dashboard for real-time visibility, compliance tracking, and detailed audit logging of every agent interaction
• Supports integration with various toolsets and platforms to enable secure AI agent deployment while maintaining SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance.

Who it's for

• Enterprise Security Teams
• AI Engineering Teams
• Compliance Officers
• DevSecOps Engineers

Why it works

• Zero-trust architecture ensures that every agent action is explicitly verified against strict organizational policies
• Parameter-level authorization prevents rogue agent behaviors, such as unauthorized database drops or excessive financial transactions
• Ephemeral credential management significantly reduces the attack surface compared to static, long-lived API keys
• Comprehensive audit trails and compliance-ready controls simplify the process of meeting stringent enterprise security requirements.

Growth strategies

• Partnering with major AI agent framework providers to embed security directly into agent workflows.
• Expanding support for additional tool ecosystems and enterprise- grade infrastructure integrations.
• Leveraging red- teaming partnerships to continuously update guardrails against evolving prompt-injection and exfiltration threats.
• Focusing on the enterprise market segment where compliance and security are primary barriers to AI adoption.

Alternatives

• Palo Alto Networks Prisma
• Okta
• Auth0
• StrongDM

Comparison overview

• Alter is specifically purpose-built for the unique security challenges of autonomous AI agents, whereas traditional IAM platforms like Okta or Auth0 focus on human-centric identity management and generic enterprise application access.