Agent blast radius is shaped by identity, permissions, credentials, reachable tools, action limits, persistence, delegation, shared infrastructure, and the ability to affect third parties. Broad reused access can turn one mistake into a large incident.
Reduction strategies include narrow scope, short-lived identities, isolated environments, quotas, approval gates, reversible actions, immutable logs, rapid shutdown, credential revocation, and service-side authorization at every change boundary.
ELI5
An agent blast radius is the largest amount of data, systems, or people that one incorrect AI agent action could affect. Broad permissions, fast action, shared credentials, and irreversible changes increase that possible reach.
For example, an agent allowed to edit one project has a smaller blast radius than an agent allowed to change every repository in a company. Scoped access, limits, approvals, tripwires, and recovery reduce the damage a mistake can cause.
