What it is
Policy enforcement is the engine that makes governance decisions. For every tool call an agent attempts, the policy engine evaluates the call against a set of rules and produces a decision: allow (let the action through), deny (block the action), or escalate (send to human review).
The policy engine understands threat semantics. It doesn't just look at text patterns — it understands that rm -rf is destructive deletion and should be blocked, while ls -la is a safe read operation.
Why it matters
Without policy enforcement, everything is either fully automated or fully manual. Policy enforcement enables nuance: routine actions run automatically, high-risk actions require approval, and clearly malicious actions are blocked immediately.
Policy is also updatable. You can add a new rule, update severity scores, or shift actions between allowed/denied/escalated categories without redeploying the agent or changing any code. This lets security teams respond quickly to new threat patterns.
How it works
The policy layer maintains a deny list of 78 regex patterns across 16 threat categories. When the proxy intercepts a tool call, it evaluates the call against each pattern. If a match is found, the pattern maps to a severity level (critical, high, medium, low). The severity determines the decision:
- Critical: Auto-terminate the session. This action will not be allowed under any circumstance.
- High: Escalate to human review. The agent pauses and waits for SOC approval.
- Medium: Depend on policy mode. In enforce mode, allow but log. In observe mode, deny but log.
- Low: Allow and log.
The policy is version-controlled and auditable. Every decision is logged with the rule that triggered it and the agent's context at the time.
How Intercis implements it
Intercis provides configurable policy enforcement with 78 regex patterns across 16 threat categories (shell injection, destructive operations, privilege escalation, data exfiltration, API abuse, etc.). Each pattern has a default severity, which you can customize.
You can also enable policy modes: enforce mode (deny high-severity patterns, escalate medium-severity), observe mode (allow everything but log it — useful during rollout), or custom modes. The policy is updated without redeploying agents.
Related terms
- Tool Call Interception — Where policy enforcement decisions are applied.
- Human-in-the-Loop — Implements the escalate decision.
- Agentic AI Threats — The threat model that informs policy decisions.