Cequence Security recently unveiled Cequence Platform 9.0, a new AI-driven solution designed to reshape API security handling for enterprises.
This latest release introduces several innovative features such as an AI Assistant, a comprehensive open Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, a risk rules library aligned with global compliance standards, and an advanced API security engine built for large-scale enterprise environments without affecting performance.
Embracing AI Agents
As enterprises increasingly adopt agentic AI to enhance customer interactions, internal IT teams are rapidly integrating AI agents into their workflows.
Unlike other vendors that merely incorporate chatbots, Cequence's entire platform is AI-native, allowing users to either utilize Cequence’s built-in AI model or choose their own. Platform 9.0 enables users to engage directly with its capabilities using plain language, eliminating the need for interface familiarity. The platform also supports sophisticated AI workflows via its open MCP architecture, requiring no custom integrations.
High-Traffic Enterprise Solutions
Cequence CEO and Co-Founder Ameya Talwalkar commented, “Most vendors looked at the agentic era and added a chatbot. We looked at it and rebuilt the architecture. Cequence Platform 9.0 exposes the entire Cequence platform through an open MCP architecture so any agent can operate it directly, whether through our built-in AI Assistant, or a customer’s own agent. That is what AI-native actually means: the UI becomes optional. We are building for the way the agentic enterprise already works, while ensuring a human approves every change along the way.”
The AI Assistant in Cequence Platform 9.0 answers questions such as “What is my biggest risk right now?” by pulling ranked, evidence-supported findings from live data. This tool is suitable for practitioners at all skill levels, offering a streamlined experience from the outset.
Integrating Wider Workflows
Platform 9.0’s capabilities include driving actions through simple conversations
Platform 9.0’s capabilities include driving actions through simple conversations, with tasks like API classification and risk identification managed in plain English. Its open MCP server allows seamless interaction with MCP-compatible agents, SOAR platforms, and automation workflows through open API contracts, while incorporating API security into broader operational frameworks.
Human oversight is incorporated into the system, as every action in discovery mode is run automatically, but writes need explicit human approval. Additionally, the AI Assistant offers transparency by sharing its reasoning and revealing the underlying tool calls.
Evidence-Backed and Transparent
Shreyans Mehta, CTO and Co-Founder at Cequence, noted: “Most security chatbots are only as useful as the person asking the questions, meaning they fall flat in the hands of anyone who is not already an expert.” He further explained that Platform 9.0 is distinctive because it completes an agentic loop, deciding which tools to use for inquiries and offering evidence-supported recommendations with full transparency.
Platform 9.0 simplifies compliance processes, a common challenge for API security initiatives
Platform 9.0 simplifies compliance processes, a common challenge for API security initiatives. It provides ready-to-use rules and frameworks, eliminating the need for custom development or professional services.
The platform offers over 250 pre-built risk rules mapped to various global compliance standards, such as PCI DSS, GDPR, and HIPAA, among others. Reports can be generated quickly, offering comprehensive insights and remediation guidance.
Enhanced API Security Performance
Given the rapid increase in API endpoint growth driven by agentic AI, Platform 9.0 includes a revamped engine aimed at discovering, cataloging, and assessing risks more efficiently.
This advancement supports a larger number of API endpoints while reducing CPU usage, subsequently minimizing infrastructure costs for on-premise setups. Cequence Platform 9.0 is now accessible to new customers, ensuring ready adoption for improved enterprise security.
Cequence Security, the pioneer in application, API, and agentic AI protection, announces general availability of Cequence Platform 9.0, an AI-native release that fundamentally changes how users interact with API security tools.
Platform 9.0 ships with a built-in AI Assistant, an open Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes every platform capability to an organization’s agents or automation workflows, a compliance-ready risk rules library mapped to 25 global regulatory frameworks, and a re-architected API security engine built to handle the largest enterprise API estates without performance degradation.
Adopting AI agents
Agentic AI is transforming how enterprises interact with their customers, and internal IT teams are adopting AI agents faster than their security tools can keep up. Unlike vendors that add a simple chatbot to their existing product, Cequence took the opposite approach; the entire platform is AI-native and open, enabling customers to use Cequence's built-in model or one of their choosing.
With Platform 9.0, any practitioner can open a conversation and start asking the questions they actually care about, without knowing the interface, navigating menus, or understanding how the product works. The platform finds the answers. Teams with sophisticated AI workflows can use their own agents to directly drive these same capabilities through the open MCP architecture, with no custom integration required.
High-traffic enterprise environments
Ameya Talwalkar, CEO and Co-Founder at Cequence, said: “Most vendors looked at the agentic era and added a chatbot. We looked at it and rebuilt the architecture. Cequence Platform 9.0 exposes the entire Cequence platform through an open MCP architecture so any agent can operate it directly, whether through our built-in AI Assistant, or a customer’s own agent. That is what AI-native actually means: the UI becomes optional. We are building for the way the agentic enterprise already works, while making sure a human approves every change along the way.”
Cequence Platform 9.0 ships with a built-in AI Assistant that answers plain-language questions such as “What is my biggest risk right now?” with ranked, evidence-backed findings drawn from live platform data. Unlike most security chatbots that only deliver value in the hands of experienced practitioners, the Cequence AI Assistant arrives with skills built on years of application, API, and data protection work in high-traffic enterprise environments, able to guide practitioners of all skill levels from day 1.
Broader agentic workflows
Agent capabilities in Platform 9.0 include:
- Drive valuable actions from simple conversation: use plain-English to easily and quickly drive results. The possibilities are endless. Have the AI Assistant classify APIs, identify risks, draft rules, and create reports, all without navigating the UI.
- Open MCP server: any MCP-capable agent, SOAR platform, or automation workflow can interact with, configure, and pull insights from the platform through an open API contract, with no custom integration, incorporating API security into broader agentic workflows.
- Human in the loop: read actions run freely; every proposed write shows the exact change and requires explicit human approval before anything happens.
- Full transparency: every answer exposes the AI Assistant’s reasoning and the underlying tool calls; when it lacks a tool for a task, it says so rather than guessing.
Evidence-backed recommendations
Shreyans Mehta, CTO and Co-Founder at Cequence, said: “Most security chatbots are only as useful as the person asking the questions, which means they fall flat in the hands of anyone who is not already an expert.”
“We built the Platform 9.0 agent differently. It runs a full agentic loop, planning which tools answer the question, calling them, and synthesising ranked, evidence-backed recommendations while showing you exactly how it got there. When it does not have the tool to do something, it tells you instead of guessing. That governance-first design is not an afterthought. It is the same conviction behind the Cequence AI Gateway, and it is what makes this safe to put in front of any practitioner on Day 1.”
Custom rule development
Compliance is the most common forcing function for an API security purchase, and the most common place programs stall. Platform 9.0 ships the rules, frameworks, and reports to make customers audit-ready immediately, with no professional services and no custom rule development required.
Compliance capabilities in Platform 9.0 include:
- 250+ pre-built risk rules: more than four times the previous version, mapped to 25 global compliance frameworks including OWASP API Security Top 10 (all versions), PCI DSS, GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, DORA, NIS2, LGPD, SAMA, MAS TRM, and additional regional frameworks across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC
- One-click audit-ready reports: each report builds from live data, maps findings to the framework’s specific controls, scores risk by control area, and provides remediation guidance for every gap; reports can be company or partner branded
- Observe mode: see how proposed rules perform for testing purposes without raising formal issues, allowing teams can add frameworks without a flood of unreviewed findings
- Test panel: validates any rule against sample request and response data before activation
Delivering higher performance
Agentic AI is accelerating API endpoint growth faster than any prior technology wave. Platform 9.0 includes a complete rebuild of the engine that discovers, catalogues, and scores risk across an organization’s API estate, delivering higher performance at a smaller CPU footprint.
API security engine improvements in Platform 9.0 include:
- 50x increase in API endpoints supported: with sub-five-second page load times across every view regardless of endpoint count
- Reduced compute costs: dramatic CPU footprint improvements translate directly into lower infrastructure costs, especially for on-premise deployments
- Availability - Cequence Platform 9.0 is immediately available for new customers.
