# Riptides

> Riptides is a kernel-level identity and security platform for modern infrastructure. It delivers SPIFFE-based cryptographic workload identity, secretless credential injection, automatic mTLS, and per-workload egress policy enforcement — all at the Linux kernel level, with no SDKs or code changes required. Covers AI agents, traditional infrastructure, CI/CD, and cloud workloads across any language, framework, or runtime.

## Product

- [Riptides Home](https://riptides.io/): Main product site — overview of the Riptides platform and approach
- [Agentic AI Security](https://riptides.io/product/agentic): Kernel-level security for AI agents — composite identity, secretless credential injection, per-agent egress policies, and identity-aware telemetry
- [Workload IAM](https://riptides.io/product/workload-iam): Secretless infrastructure, automatic mTLS, and cloud federation for traditional workloads
- [Request a Demo](https://riptides.io/request-a-demo): Get a demo of the Riptides platform

## Solutions

- [Visibility](https://riptides.io/solutions/visibility): Log every agent network call with identity and policy decision — make invisible tool calls visible
- [Secretless AI](https://riptides.io/solutions/secretless-ai): Inject credentials at the kernel level so AI agents never touch or store secrets
- [Tool Call Security](https://riptides.io/solutions/tool-call-security): Per-agent egress policies enforced at the kernel; default deny for all agent connections
- [Agent Identity](https://riptides.io/solutions/agent-identity): Composite SPIFFE workload identity that carries both agent context and delegating human's context
- [Secretless Infrastructure](https://riptides.io/solutions/secretless): Eliminate static credentials across all infrastructure using cryptographic workload identity
- [Zero-Touch Secrets](https://riptides.io/solutions/zero-touch): On-the-wire credential injection for cloud APIs — no secrets in config, env, or code
- [Automatic mTLS](https://riptides.io/solutions/mtls): Every connection encrypted and mutually authenticated with no TLS configuration required
- [Federation](https://riptides.io/solutions/federation): SPIFFE identity federation across AWS, GCP, and Azure with runtime policy enforcement

## Events

- [Meet Us at RSAC 2026](https://riptides.io/meet-us-at-rsac-2026): Riptides at RSA Conference 2026

## Blog

Technical blog at [blog.riptides.io](https://blog.riptides.io/) covering secure workload identity, kernel-level security, AI agent infrastructure, and zero-trust architecture.

- [RSS Feed](https://riptides.io/rss.xml): RSS feed for all blog posts

### Vision

- [Zero Trust: From Perimeter to Kernel — How Riptides Pushes the Boundary](https://blog.riptides.io/zero-trust-from-perimeter-to-kernel---how-riptides-pushes-the-boundary): Most zero trust ends at the perimeter; ours begins at the kernel.

### Security

- [The Hidden Cost of Stored Credentials](https://blog.riptides.io/the-hidden-cost-of-stored-credentials): Your applications store AWS credentials in files and environment variables.
- [Why Deep Kernel Security Matters for Enterprises — When eBPF Falls Short](https://blog.riptides.io/why-deep-kernel-security-matters-for-enterprises): eBPF is excellent for visibility.
- [Introducing KeyLedger: Because You Probably Don't Know How Many AI Keys Your Org Has](https://blog.riptides.io/keyledger-ai-api-keys): Most organizations have no idea how many AI API keys they've issued across OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Cloud, and AWS, let alone which ones are stale, orphaned, or exposed.
- [Bearer Token Meets Runtime Enforcement](https://blog.riptides.io/bearer-token-meets-runtime-enforcement): Modern infrastructure got very good at issuing valid credentials, but a valid token alone says surprisingly little about whether the current actor presenting it should actually have access.
- [The Quantum Threat to Workload Identity — And Why It Starts Today](https://blog.riptides.io/the-quantum-threat-to-workload-identity-and-why-it-starts-today): Harvest-now, decrypt-later attacks mean your TLS traffic is a permanent record.
- [Upgrading Riptides to TLS 1.3: Forward Secrecy and a Path to Post-Quantum mTLS](https://blog.riptides.io/tls-13-for-internal-connections): We replaced the TLS library in the Riptides kernel module to enforce TLS 1.3 on all internal mTLS connections.
- [The 200-Day TLS Era Has Begun — Is Your Infrastructure Ready?](https://blog.riptides.io/the-200-day-tls-era): As of March 15, 2026, the maximum TLS certificate validity dropped to 200 days — with 100 and 47-day limits on the horizon.
- [When Remote Code Execution Isn’t the End — Designing for Containment](https://blog.riptides.io/when-remote-code-execution-isnt-the-end---designing-for-containment): Remote Code Execution is inevitable in complex systems — what matters is whether it leads to lateral movement.
- [Supercharge Kafka security with Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/supercharge-kafka-security-with-riptides): Riptides brings identity-first, zero-trust security to Kafka with no application changes, eliminating secrets, automating mTLS, and removing the operational burden of managing keystores and…
- [Introducing Riptides Conditional Access: Fine-Grained, Time-Aware Security Policies](https://blog.riptides.io/introducing-riptides-conditional-access-fine-grained-time-aware-security-policies): Riptides Conditional Access extends workload identity with time-based, HTTP-aware, and usage-based policoes.
- [Shai-Hulud 2.0: A Technical Breakdown and Why Secrets Need to Die](https://blog.riptides.io/shai-hulud-2-0-a-technical-breakdown-and-why-secrets-need-to-die): Shai-Hulud 2.0 showed how easily long-lived tokens and static secrets can be harvested and weaponized to hijack supply chains at scale (again).
- [When eBPF Isn’t Enough: Why We Went with a Kernel Module](https://blog.riptides.io/when-ebpf-isnt-enough-why-we-went-with-a-kernel-module): Riptides chose a kernel module over eBPF for secure workload identity and credential management.
- [Shai-Hulud and the Secret Hunters: How npm Installs Turn into Intrusions](https://blog.riptides.io/shai-halud-and-the-secret-hunters-how-npm-installs-turn-into-intrusions): Static secrets are a supply-chain’s Achilles’ heel.
- [From Keys to Handshakes: How Cryptography Powers Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/from-keys-to-handshakes-how-cryptography-powers-riptides): In this blog post, we take a closer look at the cryptography that powers Riptides, the non-human identity fabric for workloads and AI agents.
- [The Hidden Risk in Service Mesh mTLS: When Your Sidecar Becomes a Trojan Horse](https://blog.riptides.io/the-hidden-risk-in-service-mesh-mtls-when-your-sidecar-becomes-a-trojan-horse): Even in a service mesh, mTLS can't protect you if any process can hijack your identity.
- [SharePoint Under Siege: Lateral Movement Is Still Security’s Blind Spot](https://blog.riptides.io/sharepoint-under-siege-lateral-movement-is-still-securitys-blind-spot): The ToolShell SharePoint 0-day shows how easily attackers move laterally once inside - even without escalated priviledges.
- [The API Key Leaks Keep Coming](https://blog.riptides.io/api-key-leaks-keep-coming): From x.AI to Docker Hub, API keys keep leaking.
- [X.509 Certificates in the Age of SPIFFE and Zero Trust](https://blog.riptides.io/x-509-certificates-in-the-age-of-spiffe-and-zero-trust): X.509 certificates remain a core building block for establishing trust between services, even in today’s dynamic, machine-driven environments.

### SPIFFE

- [Adopting SPIFFE Should Not Require an Engineering Team](https://blog.riptides.io/adopting-spiffe-should-not-require-an-engineering-team): SPIFFE is the right identity standard, most engineers who've tried to run SPIRE in production will tell you that.
- [SPIFFE Is What AI Agents Need for Identity, The Question Is How to Deliver It](https://blog.riptides.io/how-to-deliver-spiffe-identity-to-ai-agents): SPIFFE gives AI agents the cryptographic, ephemeral identity they need but SPIRE was never designed to deliver it at the agent layer.
- [Federation is easy. Runtime enforcement is hard.](https://blog.riptides.io/federation-is-easy-runtime-enforcement-is-hard): SPIFFE based identity federation is the easy part; operating the resulting distributed system is the challenge.
- [Bringing SPIFFE to OAuth for MCP: Secure Identity for Agentic Workloads](https://blog.riptides.io/bringing-spiffe-to-oauth-for-mcp-secure-identity-for-agentic-workloads): Built on emerging OAuth RFC drafts and using SPIFFE based identities, workloads in an MCP environment can authenticate and obtain tokens without client secrets.
- [SPIFFE Meets OAuth2: Current landspace for Secure Workload Identity in the Agentic AI Era](https://blog.riptides.io/spiffe-meets-oauth2-current-landscape-for-secure-workload-identity-in-the-agentic-ai-era): OAuth2 is evolving beyond human consent into a universal model for secure workload identity.

### Identity

- [Your Coding Agent Should Never Hold a Token: Riptides Approach to Credential Brokering](https://blog.riptides.io/how-riptides-solves-your-credential-brokering-problem): A credential the agent can read is a credential the agent can leak.
- [Riptides is now open to everyone](https://blog.riptides.io/riptides-is-now-open-to-everyone): Moving agents into production stalls on three questions: what can this agent touch, who actually did what, and how do we keep its credentials from leaking?
- [Growing Threat of npm Supply Chain Attacks and the Runtime Fix That Stops It](https://blog.riptides.io/growing-threat-of-npm-supply-chain-attacks): Open-source dependency chains make development fast, but npm supply-chain compromises can turn a single install into a full cloud breach.
- [Non-Human Identity Done Right: Why AI Agents Need SPIFFE and Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/non-human-identity-done-right-why-ai-agents-need-spiffe-and-riptides): AI agents are autonomous, but their security shouldn’t be an afterthought.
- [The Critical Role of Unique Workload Identity in Modern Infrastructure](https://blog.riptides.io/the-critical-role-of-unique-workload-identity-in-modern-infrastructure): As modern infrastructure becomes more dynamic and distributed, securing service-to-service communication requires moving beyond static credentials to cryptographically verifiable workload…
- [The Riptides Vision: Identity-First Infrastructure](https://blog.riptides.io/the-riptides-vision-identity-first-infrastructure): 
- [Introduction to SPIFFE: Secure Identity for Workloads](https://blog.riptides.io/introduction-to-spiffe-secure-identity-for-workloads): The Riptides Platform is a comprehensive solution for securing workload-to-workload communication, built on a foundation of identity.

### Non-Human Identity

- [AI Agents Have an Identity Crisis And It's a Familiar One](https://blog.riptides.io/ai-agent-identity): Organizations spent a decade eliminating static secrets and enforcing least privilege.
- [Your GitHub Actions Job Deserves a Real Identity](https://blog.riptides.io/your-github-actions-job-deserves-a-real-identity): GitHub secrets are shared, static, and opaque.
- [Miasma Hit Microsoft. It Came for Credentials. Riptides Has None.](https://blog.riptides.io/miasma-hit-microsoft): Miasma compromised 70+ Microsoft repos to plant credential stealers in AI coding tools like Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and VS Code.

### Federation

- [Anthropic Workload Identity Federation with Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/anthropic-workload-identity-federation-support): Anthropic’s new workload identity federation support for Claude fits naturally into Riptides’ runtime identity model.
- [SPIFFE Identity Federation: Extending Trust Across Boundaries](https://blog.riptides.io/spiffe-identity-federation-extending-trust-across-boundaries): SPIFFE identity federation allows independent trust domains to verify each other’s workload identities without sharing private keys or centralizing control.
- [Zero-Touch Secrets: On-The-Wire Injection of Vault-Sourced Credentials](https://blog.riptides.io/vault-credentials-on-the-wire-riptides): Riptides now enables full secretless access by injecting Vault/OpenBao credentials directly into outbound requests from kernel space.
- [Secretless OCI Authentication with SPIFFE-based workload identity](https://blog.riptides.io/secretless-oci-authentication-with-spiffe-based-workload-identity): Riptides brings secretless, on-the-wire credential injection to non-human clients.
- [“On demand credentials - Secretless AI assistant example on GCP”](https://blog.riptides.io/on-demand-credentials-secretless-ai-assistant-example-on-gcp): Let us to demonstrate how Riptides eliminates the need for static credentials on Google Cloud by leveraging SPIFFE-based workload identities, kernel-level enforcement, and identity federation into…
- [On-the-Wire Credential Injection: Secretless AWS Bedrock Access example](https://blog.riptides.io/on-the-wire-credential-injection-secretless-aws-bedrock-access-example): Riptides brings secretless, on-the-wire credential injection to non-human clients.
- [Why Cloud-Native Federation Isn’t Enough for Non-Human Identities in AWS, GCP, and Azure](https://blog.riptides.io/why-cloud-native-federation-isnt-enough-for-non-human-identities-in-aws-gcp-and-azure): Cloud-native federation isn’t enough for secure, per-workload identity.
- [Non-human identity federation with external IDPs: a guide for AWS, GCP, and Azure](https://blog.riptides.io/federating-non-human-identities-with-external-idps-using-id-tokens-in-aws-gcp-and-azure): Learn how to securely manage and federate non-human identities across AWS, GCP, and Azure using external OIDC-compliant identity providers.

### MCP

- [Securing Agentic OAuth Flows with Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/mcp-riptides-oauth): Remote MCP servers use OAuth2 to protect user resources, but that means agents end up storing sensitive access tokens.
- [Our AI Is Helpful. Also Slightly Overprivileged.](https://blog.riptides.io/out-ai-is-helpful-also-slightly-overprivileged): MCP makes AI assistants genuinely useful by connecting them to real systems.
- [Securing MCP Communication with Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/securing-mcp-communication-with-riptides): Agentic workload security is becoming increasingly important in today’s AI-driven world.
- [MCP: A Quickstart Guide](https://blog.riptides.io/mcp-a-quickstart-guide): MCP (Model Context Protocol)** is quickly becoming a foundational standard for enabling tool-augmented LLMs to interact with external systems.

### Credentials

- [Secretless Azure access with tokenex: Federated Identity via User-Assigned Managed Identity](https://blog.riptides.io/secretless-az-access-with-tokenex): Why manage secrets when you can exchange identities?
- [Supplying short-lived OpenAI API keys to AI agents with Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/ritptides-openai-apikeys): As AI agents become embedded in business-critical systems, long-lived static OpenAI API keys turn into a systemic security and compliance risk.
- [tokenex adds Vault & OpenBao support: Exchanging ID tokens (JWTs) for secrets without static credentials](https://blog.riptides.io/tokenex-adds-vault-openbao-support-exchanging-id-tokens-jwts-for-secrets-without-static-credentials): Vault and OpenBao become first-class citizens in tokenex’s identity-driven workflow, unifying access to cloud credentials and application secrets, without static Vault tokens, long-lived…
- [Introducing tokenex: an open source Go library for fetching and refreshing credentials](https://blog.riptides.io/introducing-tokenex-an-open-source-go-library-for-fetching-and-refreshing-cloud-credentials): Managing short-lived cloud credentials across AWS, GCP, Azure, and OCI is messy.

### Kernel

- [When the Sandbox Fails, the Kernel Shouldn't](https://blog.riptides.io/when-the-sandbox-fails-the-kernel-shouldnot): AI agents will escape their boxes.
- [On-Demand Driver Builds: How We Replaced Speculative Kernel Builds with a Demand-Driven Pipeline](https://blog.riptides.io/on-demand-driver-builds-demand-driven-kernel-build-pipeline): Instead of speculatively pre-building drivers for every kernel that exists, we built an on-demand service that compiles exactly what the fleet needs — and automatically feeds those kernels back…
- [From Build to Root Cause: How Riptides Debugs Its Kernel Module in Real Clusters](https://blog.riptides.io/from-build-to-root-cause-how-riptides-debugs-its-kernel-module-in-real-clusters): At Riptides, SPIFFE-based identities and encrypted communication start in the kernel.
- [Announcing oci-req-signer-c: A Lightweight C Library for Oracle Cloud Request Signing](https://blog.riptides.io/announcing-oci-req-signer-c-a-lightweight-c-library-for-oracle-cloud-request-signing): We’ve released oci-req-signer-c, a lightweight and portable C implementation of Oracle Cloud request signatures, built for kernel-based and embedded environments.
- [Why Riptides Embraces SPIFFE But Not SPIRE](https://blog.riptides.io/why-riptides-embraces-spiffe-but-not-spire): The SPIFFE standard provides the foundation we rely on for non-human workload identity, but we’ve extended it beyond user-space implementations like SPIRE, offering transparent certificate…
- [Beyond the Limits: Scaling Our Kernel Module Build Pipeline Even Further](https://blog.riptides.io/beyond-the-limits-scaling-our-kernel-module-build-pipeline-even-further): For Riptides, secure SPIFFE-based workload identities and encrypted communication begin in the kernel.
- [Workload Attestation and Metadata Gathering: Building Trust from the Ground Up](https://blog.riptides.io/workload-attestation-and-metadata-gathering-building-trust-from-the-ground-up): Every SPIFFE ID, certificate, and mTLS handshake at Riptides originates in the Linux kernel and begins with a single question: can we prove who this workload really is?
- [From Kernel WASM to User-Space Policy Evaluation: Lessons Learned at Riptides](https://blog.riptides.io/from-kernel-wasm-to-user-space-policy-evaluation-lessons-learned-at-riptides): At Riptides, we issue identities directly to workloads in the kernel and use OPA policies to secure and orchestrate their communication.
- [Workload Identity Without Secrets: a Blueprint for the Post-Credential Era](https://blog.riptides.io/workload-identity-without-secrets-a-blueprint-for-the-post-credential-era): Static secrets are a liability and credentials are breached every day.
- [Introducing libsigv4: AWS SigV4 Signatures in Portable C with Kernel Compatibility](https://blog.riptides.io/introducing-libsigv4-aws-sigv4-signatures-in-portable-c-with-kernel-compatibility): We’ve released libsigv4, a lightweight and portable C implementation of AWS SigV4 signatures, built for kernel-based and embedded environments.
- [Practical Linux Kernel Debugging: From pr_debug() to KASAN/KFENCE](https://blog.riptides.io/practical-linux-kernel-debugging-from-pr-debug-to-kasan-kfence): Debugging kernel-space memory bugs is one of the most challenging tasks in systems programming.
- [Securing Workloads with Kernel Telemetry and Metrics](https://blog.riptides.io/securing-workloads-with-kernel-telemetry-and-metrics): Deep dive into how we turn low-level kernel signals to trust, using Linux kernel telemetry to secure non-human identities with real-time, behavioral context.
- [Building Linux Driver at Scale: Our Automated Multi-Distro, Multi-Arch Build Pipeline](https://blog.riptides.io/building-linux-driver-at-scale-our-automated-multi-distro-multi-arch-build-pipeline): Managing driver builds for every major Linux distribution, kernel version, and architecture can be challengeing.
- [From Tracepoints to Prometheus: The journey of a kernel event to observability.](https://blog.riptides.io/from-tracepoints-to-prometheus-the-journey-of-a-kernel-event-to-observability): This blog post illustrates how to build a complete end-to-end telemetry pipeline—from kernel space to Prometheus, using Linux tracepoints, eBPF, and OpenTelemetry (OTEL).
- [Rethinking Workload Identity at the Kernel Level](https://blog.riptides.io/rethinking-workload-identity-at-the-kernel-level): Today’s workload identity systems are overengineered, inefficient, and fundamentally misplaced.
- [Seamless Kernel-Based Non-Human Identity with kTLS and SPIFFE](https://blog.riptides.io/seamless-kernel-based-non-human-identity-with-ktls-and-spiffe): At Riptides, we believe that the future of secure, scalable computing starts in the kernel.
- [From Tracepoints to Metrics: A journey from kernel to user-space](https://blog.riptides.io/from-tracepoints-to-metrics-a-journey-from-kernel-to-user-space): In our previous post, we’ve explored how to define tracepoints inside the kernel to gain deep visibility into system behavior.
- [From Breakpoints to Tracepoints: An Introduction to Linux Kernel Tracing](https://blog.riptides.io/from-breakpoints-to-tracepoints-an-introduction-to-linux-kernel-tracing): We can all agree that in today’s modern infrastructure, the significance of non-human identities has grown dramatically.
- [Riptides: Kernel-Level Identity and Security Reinvented](https://blog.riptides.io/riptides-kernel-level-identity-and-security-reinvented): Reinventing Non-Human Identities with Kernel TLS: How Riptides is Shaping the Future of Secure, Dynamic Applications

### Telemetry

- [Linux kernel module telemetry: beyond the usual suspects](https://blog.riptides.io/linux-kernel-module-telemetry-beyond-the-usual-suspects): Why settle for surface-level metrics?

### Development

- [Secretless AI-Powered Development: Secure AWS Credentials for GitHub Copilot in Lima](https://blog.riptides.io/secretless-ai-development-github-copilot-lima): Riptides brings secretless, on-the-wire credential injection to AI-powered development environments.

### Testing

- [Testing Linux Kernel Modules with Bats](https://blog.riptides.io/behind-the-scenes-how-we-test-at-riptides): Riptides tests kernel-level code the same way we build it: with precision and discipline.

### Conference

- [Reflections from Identiverse: Why Security Needs Operational Efficiency](https://blog.riptides.io/reflections-from-identiverse-why-security-needs-operational-efficiency): Insights from Identiverse 2025: why workload identity, SPIFFE, and in-kernel enforcement are key to securing modern infrastructure, without compromising operational efficiency.

### Identiverse

- [Riptides is heading to Identiverse 2025!](https://blog.riptides.io/riptides-is-heading-to-identiverse-2025): We're excited to join the identity community this June to showcase how we’re rethinking non-human identity from the ground up.

## Community

- [GitHub](https://github.com/riptideslabs): Open source projects and libraries
- [X / Twitter](https://x.com/riptidesio): @riptidesio
- [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/company/riptidesio): Company LinkedIn page