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Devices Randomly Falling Out of Compliance With No Clear Cause

Devices Randomly Falling Out of Compliance With No Clear CauseSolved

Participant

1 week ago

We are seeing a strange pattern across some of our managed endpoints. Devices periodically drift out of compliance, exhibit unusual network behavior, and then appear clean again when rescanned. Traditional malware checks and policy reviews haven’t surfaced anything concrete.

After deeper investigation, we suspect some form of unauthorized automation or AI driven tools running locally, possibly deployed by teams experimenting on their own. I am not trying to point fingers, but I want to understand what these things actually are, how they operate, and more importantly how we can control or mitigate them before they become a bigger risk.

Replies (1)

Marked SolutionPending Review

pepijn

Participant

7 days ago

Marked SolutionPending Review

Hey man. What you are describing closely matches what the industry is starting to call “Shadow Agents.”

Unlike traditional Shadow IT, which involves unauthorized apps or services, Shadow Agents are AI driven or agentic workflows that can run locally or semi autonomously. They often chain scripts, local models, browser automations, or background services to make decisions and take actions without constant user input. Because they don’t always rely on exposed APIs or known cloud endpoints, they can slip past traditional network perimeter controls and create visibility gaps.

From a mitigation standpoint, platforms like Hexnode help by enforcing strict application control, script execution policies, and device compliance baselines. Blocking unauthorized binaries, restricting background services, controlling browser extensions, and continuously evaluating device posture makes it much harder for these agents to persist unnoticed. While Hexnode won’t analyze AI intent, it does limit the execution surface these tools depend on, which is often the most effective first line of defense.

The key shift is treating these agents not as apps, but as behavior patterns. Tight endpoint governance and least privilege enforcement go a long way in containing them before they disrupt compliance or security.