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Security Evangelist at Gen

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Gen has a family of trusted consumer brands that for decades have helped people stay safe in the digital world. We pride ourselves in the trust we’ve built with people around the world to navigate the latest technology safely and with confidence. And that’s exactly why we recently launched the Gen Agent Trust Hub – our trust layer for the agentic AI ecosystem.AI agents are no longer theoretical. They are here. They are editing files, installing packages, calling APIs, connecting to MCP servers, spawning sub-agents, persisting memory, and executing real workflows across environments. This shift from passive AI to autonomous execution fundamentally expands the attack surface.The Agent Trust Hub (ATH) exists to meet this moment. It is designed to provide continuous protection across the full lifecycle of an AI agent – from identity and verification to runtime enforcement. But security at this scale cannot rely on proprietary guardrails alone. It requires shared foundations the industry can build on.To help establish that foundation, we created the AI Agent Safety Standards by Gen to serve as a unified framework designed to bring consistency, portability, and accountability to agentic systems. This framework is currently built on two complementary pillars:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e464ce0354d35c1a986c83945bc06b0cd">AI Agent Runtime Safety Standard (AARTS) – an open standard for runtime decision enforcement across agent hosts</li><li data-list-item-id="e4a7d4ceb7039019b7c2554401a8bb1c3">Skill IDs – a deterministic, content-addressable fingerprinting system for AI agent skills</li></ul>Together, they enable the ATH and the broader agentic AI community to enforce trust not just within one environment but across the broader agentic ecosystem. &nbsp;Let’s dig into the details.&nbsp;<h2>Pillar One: Standardizing Runtime Safety for AI Agents</h2><h3>AARTS</h3>AI agents operate across a fragmented ecosystem of IDEs, orchestrators, frameworks, and standalone applications. Each host defines its own lifecycle events, security hooks, and enforcement logic.This fragmentation creates blind spots. A security engine integrated into one host may lack context or control in another, even when the risks are identical.AARTS&nbsp;addresses this gap. It is not a product. It is a vendor-neutral contract that defines:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e226fc797549b56b0ae0a537923fd79f6">Where security decisions can be made (hook points)</li><li data-list-item-id="e7566ceb595a0278da9453bbd84659578">What data is available for evaluation (data model)</li><li data-list-item-id="e637f36bcc4e8dcfac7321ad59230c1c1">How decisions are enforced (verdict semantics)</li></ul>Simply put:&nbsp; AARTS standardizes runtime security decision-making across agent hosts.<h3>The Architecture</h3>AARTS defines three cleanly separated roles:<ol><li data-list-item-id="e7a445b9a896b9b89299afa17ca58c69e">Host Runs the agent, emits lifecycle events, and enforces decisions.</li><li data-list-item-id="e989b722cd161ff069c924d70571cd6b7">Adapter Maps host-native events into a standardized AARTS schema.</li><li data-list-item-id="ed862f4398b4b82c3b52c721801728a9c">Security Engine Evaluates events and returns structured verdicts.</li></ol>This separation prevents superficial “checkbox security” while preserving portability. Hosts provide the right context at the right time. Engines make decisions without depending on host internals.In ATH, this architecture allows enforcement logic to remain portable while enabling hosts to integrate in a predictable way.<h3>Hook Points: Where Safety Happens</h3>AARTS v0.1 defines 19 hook points across the agent lifecycle, including:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ec5255705352d810833f77d79b310a42d">PreToolUse — evaluate shell commands, file writes, web requests, package installs</li><li data-list-item-id="ee1ebbdf3e4522a59dedaa55c0305d903">PreLLMRequest — protect prompt integrity and instruction layering</li><li data-list-item-id="e10ef155bfe4c584afd7492da267796be">PreSkillLoad / PrePluginLoad — enforce supply chain controls</li><li data-list-item-id="ee6184f1048dfbf4ee3c0e62c2d3dff16">PreMCPConnect — treat MCP connections as trust boundaries</li><li data-list-item-id="ebc57267bf0e891e01f9daf277ced1a01">PreMemoryRead / PreMemoryWrite — protect persistent memory</li></ul>These hooks enable consistent policy enforcement regardless of whether an agent runs in an IDE, CLI, or orchestrator.Verdict Semantics: Allow, Deny, AskAARTS engines return structured verdicts:<ul type="disc"><li class="ck-list-marker-bold" data-list-item-id="e9615d2d55e251652e73363c052de0bd1">Allow</li><li class="ck-list-marker-bold" data-list-item-id="eb510a0ee27b0a853b90ff01cec91953d">Deny</li><li class="ck-list-marker-bold" data-list-item-id="ed6e8c58ce99af62dddbf6b530bc0c83c">Ask</li></ul>Each verdict includes severity, threat category, optional confidence scoring, and human-readable reasoning.Importantly, AARTS enforces deterministic behavior:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="edfce7cb3a277e1da6e442c971f8cc8e1">If a host cannot support interactive “Ask,” it defaults safely to Deny</li><li data-list-item-id="ec790330b39c695d6cdacf4118e106c1b">If an engine fails, hosts fail-open and log explicitly</li></ul>These operational tradeoffs are intentional. Predictability is essential in security infrastructure.<h3>Why AARTS Matters</h3>Without a shared runtime contract:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e2574817ec2bfc1a1b0233c5fca970994">Security integrations are bespoke and brittle</li><li data-list-item-id="ebbe5c354debe741cc08436719a34032e">Tool taxonomy is inconsistent</li><li data-list-item-id="e2f498a30e5d748e37c3176b169145707">Prompt injection controls vary by host</li><li data-list-item-id="e3aff5387909fd85f523c40998fdb13b0">Supply chain risk is unevenly enforced</li></ul>With AARTS:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="eaa8f402b20b740f0992dd0f9b4f42b44">One engine can operate across multiple hosts</li><li data-list-item-id="e3ddcda4fa65f1abd066be4b0bef0201b">Policies remain portable</li><li data-list-item-id="e5ec3076209374ae5eafb39a00f19adf4">Audit logs become comparable</li><li data-list-item-id="e6f17fa0cc0a6a6e0136b63569cdc58a6">Trust boundaries are explicit</li></ul>AARTS standardizes enforcement in the agentic world.To read the full technical breakdown, see the full AART&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/news/company-news/ai-agent-runtime-security">technical blog post</a>. To comment on the standards, visit our page on&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/gendigitalinc/aarts">GitHub</a>.<h2>Pillar Two: Skill IDs</h2><h3>Fingerprinting AI Agent Skills</h3>AI agents are extended through skills – directory bundles containing a SKILL.md prompt file alongside scripts, templates, configuration, and documentation.These skills function like plugins. Install one, and the agent gains new capabilities.But skills are not single files. They are directory trees.And directory trees are notoriously difficult to fingerprint reliably.<h3>The Identity Problem</h3>A naive SHA-256 hash of a ZIP file does not work:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e6fc83ba16d130bd7d3d62ba2af79f96d">ZIP files are non-deterministic</li><li data-list-item-id="ee7939e0ca570cb480cbdc5b8e5460ece">Timestamps vary</li><li data-list-item-id="e5d398fbba0c41d53d0e3782902bce4c1">Entry order differs</li><li data-list-item-id="e95611c8e95e6ad4f16eccdede99ac42c">Unicode normalization differs across OS platforms</li><li data-list-item-id="ef8771bdef58d5438cc192edc36e89c56">Wrapper directory names vary</li></ul>Two identical skills can produce different ZIP hashes.That is unacceptable for security workflows.<h3>Designing the Skill ID</h3>Skill IDs solve this problem by creating a deterministic, content-addressable identifier for a skill’s logical directory tree.The algorithm:<ol><li data-list-item-id="ebdc8f7c1fc531f4ccbd79f2baf7b6d83">Extract all files and directories</li><li data-list-item-id="e06cf4d178c29a57575a249d22d5cb9b4">Normalize paths (slashes, Unicode NFC, dot components)</li><li data-list-item-id="e69f139d48a1c91815267ffb649c74e07">Strip wrapper directories</li><li data-list-item-id="e07c1da87b4b07a634d73a79ab93f9134">Hash each file individually (SHA-256)</li><li data-list-item-id="ef7cb735107df0cafdbcc921e639c0212">Build sorted tree entries using null-byte delimiters</li><li data-list-item-id="eab8b3782aab3b4dd9b0f4aed3255caf8">Hash the tree to produce the final Skill ID</li></ol>The result is a 64-character SHA-256 digest that changes if and only if meaningful content changes.Same content, different ZIP packaging? Same ID. One byte changed? Different ID.This mirrors git’s tree hashing model and decades of security best practices.<h3>What Skill IDs Enable</h3>A stable identity primitive unlocks established security workflows:Allowlisting Approved skills can bypass repeated analysis.Content-addressable storage Deduplicate identical submissions automatically.Per-file caching Reuse expensive AI analysis on unchanged files.Detection flagging Connect file hashes to reputation systems.Version tracking Content becomes the version boundary.Skill IDs provide identity before verdict.<h3>From Identity to Authenticity: Signing Skills</h3>Identity answers “what is this?”Authenticity answers “who published this?”We are exploring a signing model inspired by Authenticode:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e2103c63753a0f24a87fa144d75611c7a">A skill.sig file embedded inside the directory</li><li data-list-item-id="e28e6643465e0cabeea54eb4bc5302028">Excluded from the Skill ID calculation</li><li data-list-item-id="e700fd96bf7f3d0db4aa70df0a92d57ec">Contains a signature over the Skill ID</li><li data-list-item-id="ea2483e766cae2defa9d2dd19707d9302">Verifiable against the author’s public key</li></ul>This enables:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="eddf73c0b79d7d482c030736b4f449be8">Author signing</li><li data-list-item-id="e3d708097518f6e38a31a73aaf27ecb49">Marketplace attestation</li><li data-list-item-id="e81ca5157252eece76405ff632c0d6722">Certificate chains</li><li data-list-item-id="efe336aa9f477f99f141fc5a81f887d9b">Revocation workflows</li></ul>Self-verifiable skills create accountability without external lookups.To read the full technical breakdown, see the full <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/insights/research/ai-agent-skill-fingerprinting" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SkillsID technical blog post</a>. To comment on the standards, visit our page on <a href="https://github.com/gendigitalinc/skill-id-standard">GitHub</a>.&nbsp;<h2>The AI Agent Safety Standards by Gen: Identity + Enforcement</h2>AARTS governs runtime enforcement. Skill IDs govern artifact identity.Together, they form the foundation of the AI Agent Safety Standards.<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ea3ef208939f34e4fcfaf98bd8e26b2d6">Skills can be uniquely identified, versioned, and signed.</li><li data-list-item-id="e30dceebd279e7a291dc71a82c7168ab2">Runtime actions can be evaluated consistently across hosts.</li><li data-list-item-id="e1a7b0d4259c4abb5e6ba2f38dffd6aaa">Supply chain trust and runtime enforcement operate under shared semantics.</li></ul>This is the same model that matured endpoint security over decades:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ebacb70fb4a6565c103650a6c6ee67532">File hashes</li><li data-list-item-id="ed254dd1eec0c62e2aea6bce82e871995">Content signatures</li><li data-list-item-id="e37a3133a17b4a1adca017b868990baa6">Runtime enforcement</li><li data-list-item-id="eeeb5f5d7a84badb31f60600269d24edf">Portable policy engines</li></ul>We are applying those proven patterns to a new artifact type and a new execution model.<h2>Looking Ahead</h2>These standards are early. AARTS v0.1 is a draft. Skill ID signing is an evolving proposal. Adapter conformance testing, enterprise fail-open profiles, and cross-marketplace reputation sharing remain active areas of collaboration.But the direction is clear.AI agents are moving from experimentation to infrastructure. Security must do the same.The Gen Agent Trust Hub is our contribution to building a predictable, interoperable trust layer for the agentic ecosystem.&nbsp;We invite host builders, marketplace operators, enterprise security teams, and fellow security vendors to review, adopt, and challenge.Because in the agentic era, safety cannot be bespoke. It must be foundational.&nbsp;

Shaping the standards for a safer, freer Agentic Era 

Leading the Way for AI Agent Safety 

Director of Threat Research & Applied AI

We built a security engine that protects AI agents across several major platforms. The hardest part wasn't building the protection. It was discovering that each platform exposes different security-relevant events, provides different context about what the agent is doing and why, and enforces security decisions differently. The same agent action we can catch and block in one platform is invisible in another, not because our detection failed, but because the platform never told us it happened. There are now over a dozen agent platforms, from IDE assistants like Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot, to agentic frameworks like LangChain, CrewAI, and OpenAI Agents SDK, to orchestrators like n8n, and each one handles this differently, if at all.Today, Gen is releasing AI Agent Runtime Safety Standard (AARTS) as part of its Agent Trust Hub initiative, which aimsto address this fragmentation. This is not a security product, but rather a set of vendor-neutral standards that connects agent hosts (IDEs, orchestrators, frameworks, standalone agent apps), security engines (components that evaluate agent actions), and adapters (thin mappings that translate host-native events into a common schema). For those building or operating agents, AARTS enables portable, consistent security decisions across hosts, eliminating the need to rebuild security integrations from scratch.&nbsp;The standard is open and vendor-neutral, and any host or security vendor can implement or contribute to it.<h2 class="text-align-justify">The Problem AARTS Addresses</h2>Agentic systems fail in ways that are familiar but occur more rapidly and with greater reach. Examples include sequences evolving from helpful actions to dangerous activities like&nbsp;"download and execute," prompt injection steering tool use, supply chain issues affecting skills and plugins, sensitive data exposure by agents, and permission confusion resulting from sub-agents and external tool providers creating additional trust boundaries. Although these risks are not new, they now manifest within a rapidly diversifying set of hosts and tool APIs.Without a shared contract, security becomes a collection of one-off integrations, each missing context and offering inconsistent enforcement. This leads either to weak coverage, due to incomplete integrations and context, or to overly blunt blocking when trust is undermined by limited interpretation. AARTS targets the root cause: the lack of shared semantics and hook points.In our previous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/news/company-news/ai-agent-detection-and-response" target="_blank">post on Agent Detection and Response</a>, we described how attackers register AI-hallucinated package names on npm and PyPI, preloaded with infostealers. Catching that requires seeing the package install action with enough context — the package name, the source, whether the agent hallucinated it or the user requested it. One platform gives us all of that. Another gives us the command string with no structured metadata. A third doesn't emit the event at all. Same attack, three different levels of visibility.Simply put, AARTS standardizes where security decisions can be made (hook points), what data is available for decision-making (data model), and how decisions are enforced (verdict semantics), ensuring consistent protections across different agent hosts.<h2 class="text-align-justify">Architecture and Roles</h2>AARTS defines three distinct roles:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ef43f78807d68ed5d7cafc41e43ed6a77">Host: The environment that runs the agent. The host emits lifecycle events at defined hook points and enforces decisions.</li><li data-list-item-id="ea8ecfedda9151e1e4ff45954fc0bd003">Adapter: A minimal translation layer that maps host-specific events into AARTS events, normalizing tool names, lifecycle phases, and context.</li><li data-list-item-id="ec84e412023baa1359b60a4c189c0ce73">Security Engine: The evaluator that receives AARTS events, applies detection strategies, and returns structured verdicts.</li></ul>This separation matters. Embedding security logic in hosts results in superficial security ("checkbox security"), while engines depending on host internals compromise portability. AARTS keeps the boundary clean: hosts provide the right moments and context, and engines make decisions. AARTS also supports various integration models (in-process, subprocess, remote), accommodating different latency, isolation, and operational requirements.<h2 class="text-align-justify">How the Standard Works</h2>AARTS defines hook points, moments in an agent's lifecycle where a security engine can intercept, evaluate, and act. Version 0.1 specifies 19 of them across session management, prompt lifecycle, tool execution, plugin and skill loading, sub-agent behavior, memory operations, and output delivery.Not all hooks carry equal weight. Three illustrate the design logic:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e9e499b9374a4cd1f71378518f359c0d6">PreToolUse is the primary checkpoint. Before an agent runs a shell command, writes a file, makes a network request, or installs a package, the security engine sees the action, its arguments, and the context that led to it, then returns a verdict: allow, deny, or ask the user. This is where most real-world threats get caught.</li><li data-list-item-id="ebd37c3ab71aca6ef9cddd1080d793f75">PreLLMRequest operates earlier in the loop, before the prompt reaches the model. It lets engines inspect prompt integrity: whether safety instructions survived context compaction, whether untrusted content was injected into the conversation, whether the instruction layering is intact. If PreToolUse is the checkpoint at the door, PreLLMRequest watches for problems before the agent even decides what to do.</li><li data-list-item-id="ecce291342cb701e4290928d827faf930">PreSkillLoad addresses supply chain risk. When an agent installs a plugin or skill from a marketplace, the engine can evaluate the trust source (where it came from, whether it's signed, whether it was modified) before it gets loaded. AARTS can also direct the host to strip hooks from skills, preventing plugins from disabling the security layer that's supposed to govern them.</li></ul>The remaining 16 hooks follow the same pattern: they sit at the moment where risk becomes real and provide the engine with enough context to make a decision.For those decisions to be portable across hosts, the inputs have to be consistent. AARTS standardizes the event structure: every event carries a mandatory envelope (hook point, session ID, timestamp, host identity) plus standard extensions, reusable field groups for conversation context, tool details, trust source metadata, modification tracking, and provenance. A canonical tool taxonomy maps host-specific tool names (Cursor's "terminal" vs. Claude Code's "bash") to common categories (shell, file_write, web_request, package_install), so detection logic written once works everywhere.Verdicts are structured: a decision (allow, deny, or ask), a threat category, a severity level, confidence, and a human-readable explanation for the user. Two design choices are worth noting. If the host can't prompt the user, ask falls back to deny, safe but a real constraint for headless orchestrators. If the engine crashes or times out, the host treats it as allow and logs the failure. Fail-open is the right default for developer tools where latency matters, but enterprise deployments will want to revisit this per environment.<h2 class="text-align-justify">Conformance Levels: Gradual Adoption</h2>AARTS defines three conformance levels:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e18c7418214ef4f97b683f20402deb227">Level 1 (Basic): Requires SessionStart and PreToolUse hooks, minimum tool coverage (shell, file_write, web_request), enforcement of allow and deny (ask may be treated as deny).</li><li data-list-item-id="e0369d9837c299bdfd5a5c490fb899318">Level 2 (Standard): Adds plugin and skill load hooks, prompt lifecycle protection, broader tool coverage, additional hooks (PrePluginLoad, PreSkillLoad, PostInputProcessing, PreLLMRequest, PostToolUse), and requires provenance on PreToolUse.</li><li data-list-item-id="e31f70f735daa583aec2ef8c2d180686d">Level 3 (Comprehensive): Provides full lifecycle coverage including user input, prompt response cycle, tool modification, sub-agents, MCP connect, memory read/write, output delivery, and session end. Clarifies sub-agent inheritance and memory protection.</li></ul>This tiered approach offers a realistic adoption path: Level 1 addresses basic failures, Level 2 tackles prompt integrity and supply chain issues, and Level 3 supports persistent and autonomous agents.<h2 class="text-align-justify">Open&nbsp;Considerations</h2>As we move AARTS beyond a draft specification,&nbsp;the following are being considered:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ef56e3529222a5671c75f8e80fbc5c2c9">Enterprise fail-open story: The spec mandates fail-open behavior. Deployment profiles may be needed to reflect the realities of different environments.</li><li data-list-item-id="e5e2beee0ceee16ba315173c83dcc4596">Adapter integrity: Ensuring adapters correctly map tool types and extract artifacts is vital. A conformance test suite for adapters is as important as the specification itself is a next-step priority.</li><li data-list-item-id="eea2912c8ee60ab64a8339e4d3c2b5748">Consent for privacy: Explicit consent is required for external transmission of prompts and tool data. Operational guidance or recommended patterns are needed to avoid incompatible implementations.</li><li data-list-item-id="e7dbd49139e599330dbad43c59209bc82">Ask semantics in headless environments: Treating ask as deny by default is safe but may discourage engines from using ask. A standard way for deployment policy to handle ask in these scenarios is needed.</li></ul>AARTS aims to translate&nbsp;these considerations into predictable operational behavior.<h2 class="text-align-justify">Call for Feedback</h2>AARTS v0.1 is a draft intended for early review by host builders, security vendors, and enterprise operators.&nbsp;The full specification is available <a href="https://github.com/gendigitalinc/aarts" target="_blank">here</a>. If you build agent hosts, consider whether you want every security integration to remain one-off. If you develop security engines, ask yourself whether you want to rewrite the same logic for each host and still miss critical context. AARTS aims to make the answer “no”.&nbsp;We welcome contributions — open an issue or submit a pull request.

AARTS standardizes how AI agent platforms expose security events, enabling portable runtime protection across the growing agent ecosystem

Introducing AARTS: An Open Standard for AI Agent Runtime Safety

You gave an AI agent access to your computer. Maybe it's writing code for you, managing your emails, or handling your finances. It's working with your credentials, acting on your behalf, and making decisions you used to make yourself. Fast, confidently, and largely unsupervised. That's the deal: you trade safety and oversight for productivity. That changes the security model.But who's watching what it actually does?That is why we built the Gen Agent Trust Hub (ATH), our trust layer for the agentic AI ecosystem, designed to secure agents across their lifecycle from skill to runtime to enforcement.Agent Detection and Response (ADR) is the runtime pillar — the layer that governs what agents actually do.<h2 class="text-align-justify">What is ADR?</h2>ADR intercepts agent actions at the moment of execution, before they land, and evaluates whether they're safe. It allows, asks the user, or denies. That's the core.Verification tells you what an agent is. ADR tells you what it's doing. These are complementary. Verification is necessary, but it can't govern what happens at runtime. A verified skill can still hallucinate a malicious package name. A signed plugin can still be exploited through prompt injection. A trusted agent can still lose its safety instructions mid-session and go off the rails. The moment of action is where risk becomes real.The principle isn't new. Every major computing paradigm has developed its own detection and response layer. Endpoints got EDR. Distributed infrastructure got XDR. Not replacements for what came before, but purpose-built layers for new execution surfaces with new threat models. AI agents are the next such surface, and ADR is the layer built for it.Within the Agent Trust Hub, ADR is the enforcement engine that turns trust signals into real-world protection.<h2>Why Now?</h2>The threats targeting AI agents are already here. What follows is a small sample of the agentic threats we’re seeing. The actual attack surface spans everything an agent can do, and agents can do a lot.Your agent installs malware for you. AI agents hallucinate. When they hallucinate a package name during installation, that's not just an error, it's an opportunity. Attackers monitor AI-suggested package names and register them on npm and PyPI, pre-loaded with infostealers and backdoors. The technique is called slopsquatting, and it's already being exploited at scale. In February 2026, researchers uncovered a campaign of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.securityweek.com/new-sandworm_mode-supply-chain-attack-hits-npm/">19 typosquatted packages specifically</a> targeting users of AI coding tools, designed to exfiltrate SSH keys, AWS credentials, and API tokens.Your agent ignores your instructions. Summer Yue, Meta's Director of Alignment, told her OpenClaw agent to&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/23/a-meta-ai-security-researcher-said-an-openclaw-agent-ran-amok-on-her-inbox/">confirm before taking any action</a> on her email. It worked, until the session ran long enough to trigger context compaction, a mechanism where the agent compresses its memory to keep running. The safety instructions were among the first things dropped. The agent deleted 847 emails. She had to physically run to her machine to stop it.Your agent is a new delivery channel for malware. Attackers are already using multiple paths to get malicious code running through agents. Weaponized skills on public marketplaces have delivered the&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/GenThreatLabs/status/2018323584834318419">AMOS infostealer to macOS users</a>. Malicious project configurations have achieved&nbsp;<a href="https://research.checkpoint.com/2026/rce-and-api-token-exfiltration-through-claude-code-project-files-cve-2025-59536/">remote code execution in Claude Code</a> the moment a developer opens a repository. Prompt injection through fetched content can turn a trusted agent into an attacker's proxy. The delivery mechanisms vary. The result is the same: your agent executes something it shouldn't, and it does so with your permissions.These are just three examples. The pattern is consistent: agents operate with real authority, and that authority is being exploited. Through supply chains, through the agent's own fragility, and through the same malware ecosystem that has targeted every other computing platform before them.<h2>Where ADR Must Operate</h2>To be effective, ADR must sit as close to the agent's execution loop as possible. Not as an external service watching from the outside. Inside, where the actions happen.Agent sessions contain source code, credentials, business logic, and personal data. ADR evaluates locally, on the device. No prompts, tool inputs, or code leave your machine for analysis.Agents are not robust systems. Their own internal mechanisms can silently drop safety instructions or get poisoned across sessions. A security layer that only sees inputs and outputs misses the moment things go wrong inside. ADR watches the execution loop itself: every action the agent attempts, in context, in sequence.Only a client-side layer sees the complete picture: the prompt history, what files were already modified, the sequence of prior actions. A remote service sees isolated events. ADR sees the session. That difference is what makes it possible to distinguish a legitimate file deletion from a compromised agent cleaning up its tracks.<h2>Sage: ADR in Practice</h2>In February, we&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/news/company-news/sage-ai-agent-security">open-sourced Sage</a> as the first implementation of ADR. It runs client-side, directly inside the agent's execution loop, across Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenClaw. Over 200 detection rules cover supply chain attacks, credential exposure, dangerous commands, persistence mechanisms, and more, backed by Gen's threat intelligence.Since launch,&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/avast/sage/">Sage</a> has quickly crossed 1,000 installs and is available across the major agentic tool marketplaces. The open-source community is already contributing, porting Sage to new platforms like OpenCode and hardening detection rules. As one independent security researcher concluded after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paranoid-sage-testing-security-tool-agents-radek-hendrych-capff/">testing Sage</a>: "Real-time monitoring and management of AI agents based on deterministic measures is, in my view, the right way to go."All these responses confirm what we suspected: people want this layer.<h2>What's Next</h2>ADR is the runtime layer. But runtime protection alone isn't enough.&nbsp;The Agent Trust Hub is built on the idea that trust in the agentic era must be layered: verification before installation, ecosystem trust signals across marketplaces, and enforcement at execution. ADR closes the gap at the moment risk becomes real.&nbsp;The industry needs a common interface for how agents expose their actions to security tools. A shared standard, so that protection works consistently regardless of which agent you use or which platform you're on. We've been working on that too. More soon.

Inside the Gen Agent Trust Hub, ADR turns trust signals into real-world protection.

Gen Agent Trust Hub Introduces Agent Detection and Response: The Missing Security Layer for Agentic AI 

Threat Research Team

AI agents are starting to do the parts of computing that used to be “hands on keyboard”. They run terminal commands, edit files, install packages, and fetch things from the web, because that’s what it takes to get real work done. Tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenClaw give these agents direct access to your machine and your sensitive information. That's what makes them useful. It's also what makes them risky. These agents make mistakes. They install packages that don't exist because they hallucinated the name. They pick up credentials and pass them where they shouldn't. They'll download and run programs from the internet without a second thought if the task seems to call for it. All of this happens fast, with confidence, and without asking. If you’ve watched an agent confidently suggest curl … | bash or “just add your API key here” into a file it shouldn’t touch, you’ve seen the problem.&nbsp;Agents are also targets. Malicious URLs, poisoned dependencies, and compromised plugins can turn an agent into an attack vector, one that already has access to your files, your terminal, and your network. This is already happening. <a href="https://x.com/GenThreatLabs/status/2018323584834318419" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">We recently identified</a> around 400 malicious skills on ClawHub, a public registry for agent extensions. At the time of discovery, they accounted for 12% of all available skills. These weren’t obviously shady throwaways; many were weaponized versions of legitimate skills, designed to trick agents into downloading malware.&nbsp;&nbsp;These are the same agents we're starting to trust with payments, infrastructure, and sensitive workflows. The gap between what agents can do and what keeps them in check is real, and it's growing.&nbsp;Today, Gen, the company behind Norton, Avast, LifeLock, and AVG, is releasing Sage to close that gap. With Sage, the Agent Trust Hub now evaluates and governs agent behavior during execution. Not just before installation. Not just at verification. But in the exact moment an action is about to happen.&nbsp;

<h2>What Sage does</h2>Think of Sage as a lightweight safety shield for AI agents. It sits inside the agent's workflow and checks every action before it happens: shell commands, URL fetches, file writes, package installs. For each action, Sage returns a verdict:&nbsp;<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e2aee30f293d4edf72390d310cdfa3f0e">Allow — no threat detected, the action proceeds&nbsp;</li><li data-list-item-id="e89d49ae9fae752dee97f089112c466b8">Ask — something looks suspicious, the user decides&nbsp;</li><li data-list-item-id="e44ca3f76876a9e666f2544e1233366ba">Deny — confirmed threat, the action is blocked&nbsp;</li></ul>The agent never notices unless something is wrong.&nbsp;Sage catches both sides of the risk. It protects agents from external threats like malicious URLs, compromised packages, and dangerous downloads. And it protects users from agents themselves, when they try to run destructive commands, expose credentials, or write to sensitive system files.&nbsp;Here's a concrete example. An agent automating a setup task decides to download and execute a script from the internet. No review, no confirmation. Sage recognizes the pattern and blocks it before anything runs.&nbsp;<h2 class="text-align-justify">Part of a larger commitment</h2>Sage is not a standalone effort. It’s part of a broader strategy to embed continuous trust into the AI skills ecosystem through the Gen Agent Trust Hub.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Skill Scanner of the <a href="https://ai.gendigital.com/agent-trust-hub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gen Agent Trust Hub</a> helps determine whether an agent extension is trustworthy before it gets installed, using cloud-based verification and classification. Sage picks up where that leaves off. Once the agent is running, it enforces safety locally, on your machine, checking every action at the moment it's about to execute.&nbsp;&nbsp;Together, they cover the full lifecycle: from the decision to install something to the moment it actually runs. More capabilities are on the way as the agentic ecosystem grows.&nbsp;<h2 class="text-align-justify">Open source, on purpose</h2>The agentic platforms themselves are designed for open integration: open-source tools, community plugins, public hook APIs. A closed security layer would be harder to adopt in a space that moves fast and depends on community integrations.&nbsp;At the same time, there is no established playbook for how to secure AI agents. By open-sourcing Sage, we're proposing one and inviting the community to help define what safe agents should look like in practice.&nbsp;This first version is lightweight. It's not a full antivirus product as we know it, but it addresses the problems where they are. It covers the high-risk paths we think matter most: commands, file changes, URL fetches, and package installs, including catching hallucinated or malicious dependencies before they land on your machine. Sage ships with over 200 detection rules covering command injection, persistence, credential exposure, obfuscation, and supply-chain attacks.&nbsp;Sage currently supports Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenClaw, with more platforms on the way. If you find a detection that's too noisy or not strict enough, open an issue. If you want to add a rule, improve a check, or add support for another agent platform, send a pull request.&nbsp;We built Sage to be extended.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Try it</h2>Learn more about Sage at <a href="https://ai.gendigital.com/sage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://ai.gendigital.com/sage</a>. For technical details, documentation, and source code, visit the project on <a href="https://github.com/avast/sage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://github.com/avast/sage.</a>&nbsp;If you use Claude Code, Cursor, or OpenClaw, install Sage and put it in the path of real work. The fastest way to improve a safety layer is to expose it to real commands, real repos, and real mistakes. That's what we're doing here — shipping early, in the open.&nbsp;

Closing the growing security gap between what Al agents can do and what keeps them in check

Introducing Sage: Safety for Agents 

AI agents aren’t just helpful in chats anymore. They’re actually taking action on your behalf. Autonomous AI can access data. They move from suggestion to execution without hesitation.&nbsp;This is what we call “mindless artificial intelligence.”&nbsp;When technology starts taking action on our behalf, trust has to be built into the system itself.&nbsp;That’s why Gen is partnering with Vercel to bring independent safety verification to the AI skills ecosystem at <a href="https://skills.sh/" target="_blank">skills.sh</a>, embedding trust directly into the skills layer.&nbsp;

<h2>Independent verification. Built in.&nbsp;</h2>Through this partnership, the Gen <a href="https://ai.gendigital.com/agent-trust-hub" target="_blank">Agent Trust Hub</a> will evaluate skills on skills.sh and assign clear, transparent classifications:&nbsp;🟢 Safe&nbsp; 🟡 Low Risk&nbsp; 🟠 High Risk&nbsp; 🔴 Critical Risk&nbsp;Behind those ratings is advanced risk modeling and threat intelligence from Gen Threat Labs, analyzing permissions, behaviors, vulnerabilities and potential malicious intent.&nbsp;The goal isn’t to slow innovation. It’s to help it scale responsibly. Developers should be able to build boldly. Users should be able to install confidently. And both deserve clarity.&nbsp;<h2>Security as infrastructure, not an afterthought&nbsp;</h2>By integrating verification directly into skills.sh, Gen and Vercel are making security part of the AI development lifecycle, not something bolted on after the fact.&nbsp;In the agentic world, skills are how things get done. Until now, developers and users had limited visibility into whether a skill was truly safe. Reputation and documentation can’t tell the whole story. As agents gain autonomy, guesswork isn’t good enough.&nbsp;The trust has to be visible.

<h2>Powering Digital Freedom in what comes next&nbsp;</h2>At Gen, we believe Digital Freedom means being able to embrace new technology without sacrificing safety or confidence. As AI evolves, our responsibility evolves with it.&nbsp;The future of AI will be powerful. And expansive. But, it must also be secure by design.&nbsp;This partnership is one more step toward building the trust foundation the agentic era demands, so innovation and confidence can grow together.&nbsp;

Bringing transparent risk ratings to the AI skills ecosystem to help developers build boldly and users move confidently

The trust layer for the agentic era 

We’re honored to share that Gen™ has been recognized for the second year in a row on Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies. We do not take for granted the millions of people around the world who trust us to help them safely navigate our complex digital world. Our family of consumer Cyber Safety brands, Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner, enable people to take full advantage of the digital world, safely, privately, and confidently.

Here at Gen, our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We’re guided by our principles and purpose, and we feel great responsibility for the trust and confidence our customers, employees, and all stakeholders place in us. With increasing and changing cyberthreats, our products and employees have become more vital than ever.

Whether it’s the products we develop or our community-based initiatives, everything we do is with a people-first mindset with trust at its core. As cyberthreats continue to evolve and the digital landscape becomes more complex, we’re grateful for all our customers who look to us as a reliable, trustworthy resource they can turn to for all their digital safety needs.

America's Most Trustworthy Companies 2023 were identified in an independent survey based on a vast sample of U.S. residents who rated companies based on the three pillars of trust: Customer, investor and employee trust. All companies headquartered in the US with a revenue over $500 million were considered in the study, resulting in the top 700 Most Trustworthy Companies across 23 industries.

Check out the full list of Newsweek’s America's Most Trustworthy Companies 2023 at <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/rankings/most-trustworthy-companies-america-2023">www.newsweek.com.</a>

This marks the company’s second recognition since Newsweek’s inaugural list in 2022.

Gen Recognized as One of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America

Read about Gen's commitment to sustainability.

Sr. Manager, CR and Environment

Environment

For more than 50 years, Earth Month (April) has been a global reminder that real change starts with everyday action.&nbsp;&nbsp;At Gen, that idea shows up through our people — how we think, how we build and how we show up in our communities. Because creating a safer digital world goes hand in hand with supporting a healthier, more resilient planet. Earth Month is an opportunity to bring that idea to life.&nbsp;&nbsp;In 2026, teams across Gen took action in ways that were local, collective and accessible. From employee-led volunteer efforts like beach and river cleanups, planting pollinator-friendly flowers and donating to environmentally focused nonprofits, we made a meaningful impact in the communities where we live and work. Employees around the world also participated virtually, engaging with global sustainability leaders and “taking an hour” for the planet through a digital campaign. &nbsp;Here are a few highlights from this year’s activities.&nbsp;Learning from leaders driving environmental change&nbsp;In 2017, Flossie Donnelly began organizing beach cleanups in her local community in Ireland at just 10 years old. Today, she is co-founder of <a href="https://flossieandthebeachcleaners.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flossie and the Beach Cleaners</a>, a leading nonprofit and a nationwide movement focused on reducing plastic pollution and protecting marine ecosystems.&nbsp;Flossie joined Gen team members on Earth Day as part of our global webinar, From Inspiration to Impact, held in collaboration with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). She was joined by WAGGGS member Terry Aketch, co-founder of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/rafiki-peps-enterprise/posts/?feedView=all" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rafiki Peps</a>, a waste-focused social enterprise in Kenya. The conversation spotlighted something we believe in deeply: a new generation of changemakers is driving innovation and impact through community action.&nbsp;Taking action at home&nbsp;Impact also starts at home — and we believe in making that accessible.&nbsp;That’s the idea behind our Sustainable Home Improvement Program (SHIP), which marked its fourth anniversary this Earth Month. The program is a unique initiative that provides employees with grants of up to $500 per year for eligible home projects that benefit the environment.&nbsp;In fiscal 2026, we supported 3,249 employee-led projects worldwide, with more than half of employees participating. From installing home solar panels and upgrading to energy-efficient appliances to creating and renovating home gardens, SHIP helps make sustainability practical, personal and accessible.&nbsp;&nbsp;Throughout the month, employees also took part in activities designed to make participation easy from anywhere. These included an Action Blitz where team members shared sustainable habits, an Earth Month quiz and learning sessions focused on climate and environmental impact. These simple activations helped make action easy, growing our participation and in turn, our collective impact.&nbsp;Connecting innovation and environmental impact&nbsp;At Gen, innovation isn’t just about advancing technology — it's about applying our expertise and creativity in ways that create positive change.&nbsp;&nbsp;This year, we partnered with Goodera to explore the intersection of innovation and impact through a workshop using generative AI to design posters promoting eco-friendly habits. The session contributed to a growing library of educational resources supporting Materials for the Arts and broader environmental awareness efforts — demonstrating how technology can help scale positive impact. To help offset the event’s footprint, we planted trees with One Tree Planted.&nbsp;Beyond earth month &nbsp;While Earth Month is one important moment, empowering employees to take action for the planet is a longstanding pillar of our Global Impact program. This commitment continues throughout the year. Through partnerships, community initiatives and innovative technology, we are focused on creating an impact that lasts — both online and offline.&nbsp;&nbsp;To learn more about how Gen supports the environment, view our latest <a href="https://s201.q4cdn.com/771113172/files/doc_downloads/2025/06/Gen-Social-Impact-Report-2025.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Impact Report</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Gen team members take action for the planet through global Earth Month activations 

Turning Earth Month into Action at Gen

Our purpose, Powering Digital Freedom, includes a commitment to protect our world which means supporting a healthy planet. Throughout the year, we work internally and with our partners to manage our environmental impacts, minimizing our greenhouse gas emissions, engaging our employees in environmental stewardship and identifying new strategies to reduce our footprint, especially in our product line.&nbsp;&nbsp;We are a digital-first company and are proud that 98% of our products are delivered digitally. Although physical products account for only 2% of our annual revenue, we believe we have a responsibility to deliver those products in a way that supports healthy forests. That’s why we’re proud to report that in fiscal 2025, ~55% of our physical products were made using paper or cardboard that was certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), our highest use rate on record. &nbsp;We also plan to increase our use of FSC-certified cardboard in products made in Europe and Asia later this year.&nbsp;&nbsp;FSC is a trusted nonprofit organization that works to protect healthy, resilient forests. FSC certification ensures that our paper and cardboard come from responsibly managed forests. The organization sets criteria for forestry operations and chain of custody standards globally, prioritizing water quality, biodiversity, the prohibition of hazardous chemicals, the protection of local communities and workers, and more.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Working with partners to reduce waste and plastic&nbsp;The Gen Global Supply Chain team leads multiple initiatives to reduce the impact of our physical products. These include managing assembly materials, such as inks, plastic and cardboard, and partnering with suppliers who embrace sustainability in their own operations.&nbsp;&nbsp;Our two primary suppliers, who produce more than 98% of our global physical product by spend, maintain environmental management systems that are ISO 14001-certified. We also collaborate closely with Tier 1 physical product suppliers on optimizing packaging, exploring renewable energy sources and reducing plastic use. As a result, our physical products now contain less than 0.5% plastic. &nbsp;Additionally, in fiscal 2026, our Supply Chain team is working with our suppliers to find possibilities to replace the plastic used in transport packaging with paper. For example, we are in the process of changing the bands used to hold products together from plastic to paper in our Americas and Asia Pacific regions, and in EMEA, we are in the process of changing packaging filler from plastic to paper.&nbsp;On the other end of the product lifecycle, we are members of several take-back initiatives in Europe that fund recycling programs for our consumer products. Gen also has an employee-focused computer buy-back program that resold 400 devices globally over the past financial year. &nbsp;Supporting a healthy planet&nbsp;These efforts are part of our broader commitment to promote sustainability across our business and communities. Recent activities include our <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/impact/environment/world-water-day-2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AquaTower build</a> with Planet Water Foundation to mark World Water Day, our series of volunteering events throughout <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/impact/environment/earth-month-2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth Month</a> and our continued support for our team members’ green home projects through our Sustainable Home Improvement Program.&nbsp;&nbsp;In light of these initiatives, we’re honored to be recognized by Newsweek as one of the <a href="https://rankings.newsweek.com/americas-greenest-companies-2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World’s Greenest Companies 2025</a>. The annual ranking celebrates companies that are reducing their environmental impact in key areas like greenhouse gas emissions, water management and waste reduction. Learn more about our environmental strategy in our latest <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/us/en/social-impact/social-impact-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Social Impact Report</a>. &nbsp;

55% of our physical products are now made from FSC-certified materials

Helping protect healthy forests

Celebrating Earth Month is an important spring tradition for us at Gen. That’s why we were honored to be named one of <a href="https://rankings.newsweek.com/worlds-greenest-companies-2025">Newsweek’s World’s Greenest Companies 2025</a>—a recognition of our continued commitment to sustainability and environmental action. Every April, our team members come together to lend a hand in their local communities, learn new ways to integrate sustainability into their lives and celebrate each other’s passion for making a positive impact on the environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This year is no different. Gen team members across Europe, India and the United States spent Earth Month beautifying local parks and ecosystems, educating themselves through webinars and virtual quizzes, and taking advantage of Gen initiatives like the Sustainable Home Improvement Program (SHIP). SHIP is an award-winning benefit that reimburses employees for eligible home projects that help protect the planet.&nbsp;&nbsp;TERRA, our sustainability-focused employee community open to all employees, organized many of these events and serves as a year-round resource for employees looking to learn more about environmental topics.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Volunteering in Our Communities&nbsp;</h2>Team members at around the world cleaned up beaches, parks and other local ecosystems in April, collaborating with partner organizations to remove trash, plant trees, volunteer at nature preserves and more.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2>Saving Energy (and Money!) at Home&nbsp;</h2>The 2025 Earth Month theme was, “Our Power, Our Planet,” emphasizing the role that clean energy can play in building a sustainable future. Energy efficiency — and the cost savings that go along with it—are a common theme for Gen team members who participate in SHIP.&nbsp;&nbsp;Launched on Earth Day 2022, SHIP offers individual grants of up to $500 per year for eligible home projects that benefit the environment. Since its introduction, more than 4,000 projects have been undertaken by the Gen Team — upgrading home appliances to more energy-efficient models, installing home solar or PV panels, improving insulation and more. These projects have helped employees reduce their environmental footprints and save on their energy bills.&nbsp;&nbsp;“I decided to install solar panels at home because of the frequent power outages we’ve been experiencing lately,” said David Hsu, a team member based in California. “Since installing the system, I’ve started using it for a lot of my daily power needs, like charging my phone, tablet and laptop, and even using it to run my washing machine. The Gen Sustainable Home Improvement Program is a fantastic initiative, especially with utility costs going up and our environment constantly changing.”&nbsp;In keeping with the clean energy theme, Gen also suggested environmental courses on LinkedIn and offered prizes to complete the <a href="https://www.earthday.org/the-clean-energy-quiz/?_gl=1*1p3v57y*_up*MQ..*_ga*NTI3MTc1NzA5LjE3NDEzNDc2MTU.*_ga_QENXCBT7TN*MTc0MTM0NzYxNC4xLjEuMTc0MTM0NzY1NC4wLjAuMA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clean Energy Quiz</a>. We hosted a webinar with our partners at Social Shifters that featured a presentation about Waste to Energy technology from one of the <a href="https://www.socialshifters.co/global-innovation-challenge/?general_2024&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwy46_BhDOARIsAIvmcwO3sRscsQoqmInl0PLuMrRItNah9QujNQb58kEwQwccPfLIid4mtUsaArYUEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Innovation Challenge</a> winners.&nbsp;&nbsp;These Earth Month efforts are part of our year-round commitment to support a healthy planet by empowering our teams to choose sustainability and reduce their environmental impacts. Learn more about our environmental strategy in our latest <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/us/en/social-impact/social-impact-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Social Impact Report</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Gen team members take action for the planet 

Celebrating Earth Month with our global team

For eight years, we have partnered with <a href="https://planet-water.org/" target="_blank">Planet Water Foundation</a> to help bring clean water to India’s rural population. Employee volunteers from our office in Pune have joined Planet Water staff each year on World Water Day to build <a href="https://planet-water.org/community-water-filtration-system/" target="_blank">AquaTowers</a> in rural schools, not only expanding access to safe water for drinking and sanitation but also providing hygiene education for the wider community.&nbsp;&nbsp;These efforts are part of our company-wide culture of giving, which empowers our teams to use their skills, time and passions to make an impact in their local communities. Recognition such as our inclusion in <a href="https://rankings.newsweek.com/worlds-greenest-companies-2025">Newsweek’s World’s Greenest Companies 2025</a> reflects how local action like building AquaTowers in India contributes to global environmental progress. Confronting India’s growing water scarcity crisis is important to our team members in India.&nbsp;The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rising-water-stress-hurt-indias-credit-strength-moodys-says-2024-06-25/" target="_blank">Ministry of Water Resources</a> found that the country’s average water availability per capita qualifies the region as “water-stressed,” and even in communities that have regular access to water, it isn’t always safe to drink. Yale University’s <a href="https://epi.yale.edu/measure/2024/UWD" target="_blank">2024 Unsafe Drinking Water Index</a> ranked India 144th out of 180 countries, placing people of all ages at greater risk of waterborne diseases that can cause health problems, financial hardship due to missed work and gaps in education due to missed school.&nbsp;At Gen, we’re doing our part to change that. Since the start of our partnership with Planet Water, our work has:<ul><li>Provided clean, safe water to more than 15,000 people in rural India;</li><li>Constructed eight AquaTowers and deployed accompanying hygiene education programming; and</li><li>Implemented 13 AquaHome systems&nbsp;to provide clean water and lighting into homes for the first time.&nbsp;</li></ul>Bringing Clean Water to Our Communities&nbsp;Rural regions in India are at an increased risk of water scarcity. Villagers must travel long distances to collect water from far-away access points, a responsibility that often falls on women and children. Planet Water’s <a href="https://planet-water.org/community-water-filtration-system/" target="_blank">AquaTower</a> installations significantly reduce that burden, bringing water access to the center of the community.&nbsp;&nbsp;The AquaTower is a water filtration system capable of producing 1,000 liters (~265 gallons) of clean drinking water per hour and functions as a handwashing station for students. The system is also open to the wider community, expanding access to health and hygiene resources.&nbsp;This year’s build took place on March 26 at the ZPPS Valti school in Pune, which serves 116 elementary and middle-grade students in a rural community of 3,000 people. Eleven volunteers from our office in Pune joined the effort this year, further demonstrating our commitment to supporting the communities where we work and live.&nbsp;"The families in our village get water from the well even if it is not safe for drinking,” said Santoshi Purushottam Sutar, a teacher at the ZPPS Valti school. “Now, we would not worry anymore about where to get clean water for our students because Gen built an AquaTower in our school.”Improving Hygiene Community-WideWhen clean water is scarce, residents are forced to drink contaminated water, which can carry diseases and lead to frequent illness. Students and their families who are sick often miss school and work and incur higher healthcare costs. The AquaTower not only reduces the spread of disease but also helps students attend school more regularly, supporting the overall growth of the community.&nbsp;&nbsp;This year’s project is one of dozens of similar initiatives Planet Water organized for this year’s World Water Day, all in support of progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of achieving water and sanitation for all by 2030. The organization has reached more than 4.5 million people in 31 countries since 2009.Our work with Planet Water Foundation is part of our efforts to manage our environmental impacts and empower our employees to care for the environment. You can read more about our environmental stewardship efforts in our <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/us/en/social-impact/social-impact-report/" target="_blank">Social Impact Report</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;This grant was awarded from the Gen Foundation, a corporate advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

This World Water Day, Gen marks eight years of bringing clean, safe water with Planet Water Foundation

Providing clean, safe water to communities in India

Earth Month 2024 is a special one. It not only reminds us of our shared responsibility to help protect the planet but also marks the two-year anniversary of our Sustainable Home Improvement Program (SHIP), which has become one of our most successful and beloved sustainability initiatives.&nbsp;&nbsp;We launched SHIP on Earth Day 2022, to help Gen team members bring sustainability into their daily lives. The <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/impact/environment/seal-sustainability-awards-2023">award-winning</a> program offers individual grants of up to $500 per year for home projects that benefit the environment, and the response from Gen team members has been extraordinary. To date, more than 1,800 SHIP projects, both big and small, have been funded, from upgrading home appliances to more energy-efficient models to planting trees and backyard gardens.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I recently moved into a new house and needed to upgrade it to make it more heat efficient,” said Lisa Traynor, who works on the Global Supply Chain Team and is based in Dublin. “Although beautiful and green, Ireland can also be wet and damp! I used the SHIP grant towards attic spray foam insulation which reduced my energy use and my energy costs, making my home much more efficient in terms of heat retention. The SHIP grant was easy to access and easy to use.”&nbsp;&nbsp;Gen team members interested in using the benefit submit an application that describes how they will use the funds. The Gen Environment team reviews each one then reimburses the applicant once they have completed the project.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I chose to plant trees in my backyard,” said Alan Zhang, a Senior Network Security Engineer based in Ontario, Canada. “I believe it is a positive and meaningful way to celebrate and make a difference in the world. The trees can improve local air quality, provide habitat for wildlife and reduce erosion. I believe this program is a good approach to build a better world for future generations.”&nbsp;&nbsp;The long-term benefits that the program offers were a major motivator for team members to take part. Katharina Polainer, a Sales &amp; Marketing Specialist who lives in Tettnang, Germany, used SHIP to purchase solar panels and an accompanying battery for her home. Efforts like these also help us lower our overall Scope 3 emissions—GHG emissions from upstream and downstream activities.&nbsp;&nbsp;“With PV panels, we can produce environmentally friendly power for our own house and the community in peak seasons,” Katharina explained. “I highly appreciate the incentive as PV panel prices and battery prices are still at a pretty high level, so anything that helps us financially is a huge plus.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

The SHIP initiative is one of many initiatives that helped empower employees to choose sustainability this Earth Month. The TERRA employee resource group, open to all team members who are interested in environmental topics, hosts events year-round to raise awareness of sustainability, biodiversity, green energy and more. Over the past several months, TERRA has hosted webinars on the impacts of climate change on the weather, major takeaways from the United Nations COP28 climate conference and tips on going green during the holiday season. The group has grown to more than 70 members globally.&nbsp;&nbsp;The more we do to reduce our impacts, the more sustainable our world can become. Learn how you can take action today at <a href="https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/">https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

How our sustainability benefits and employee groups help protect the planet 

Celebrating Earth Month with Team Gen

Our corporate responsibility program supports our business mission to empower people to live their digital lives freely and safely. As we work towards a safe and sustainable future for our employees, consumers, and communities, it is important that we do our part to protect our planet.&nbsp;&nbsp;As a software company, Gen’s business model does not have a large impact on the environment. Despite this, we will not bury our heads about what is happening across the globe with climate change. I believe that it is important that we remain committed to key elements driving the changes in our climate: GHG emissions reductions and operating a low-carbon business.&nbsp;Between 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic hit we reduced our global GHG emissions by 18%. Over the last three years, we reduced our GHGs by 60%. While part of this was due to the pandemic, we also took significant steps to reduce our carbon footprint. We did this not by buying credits but by looking inside our house: achieving operational efficiencies, shifting to a flexible work environment, and collaborating with our employees, suppliers, and nonprofit partners.To reduce future emissions, we will look at everything, but only make commitments that are underscored with action and impact. We will evaluate our offices, supply chain, and products to find more energy efficient solutions, use more renewable energy, and eliminate the use of high-emission refrigerants.Addressing climate change requires help from everyone. It’s important that we cultivate a climate-conscious culture throughout the organization. Our newest employee resource group, <a>Terra</a>, does just that, inspiring, educating, and encouraging employees to act to protect the planet.&nbsp;In 2022, we also launched a new employee benefit – the Sustainable Home Improvement Program – through which we provide financial incentives to employees who green their homes. We will continue to provide opportunities for awareness and education to help our employees choose sustainability every day.Finally, we are looking at areas we can positively influence outside of our own operations. A large portion of our vendors have climate targets, and we continue to amplify our impact through partnerships with organizations like <a href="https://gridalternatives.org/">GRID Alternatives</a>, <a href="https://www.barefootcollege.org/">Barefoot College International</a>, and <a href="https://planet-water.org/">Planet Water Foundation</a>.To learn more about our ongoing environmental sustainability efforts, read our ESG Report.&nbsp;

Gen reaffirms commitment to operating a low-carbon business

Doing our part to protect the planet

President

In September we announced NortonLifeLock and Avast officially coming together as one company. Today, we’re proud to share we’ve accomplished the milestone of joining together with a greater and more powerful mission than ever before. We’ve launched a new company, Gen: For the next generation of digital life.

<h2>Digital life is life</h2>

Think back to when your life started going digital. Some remember what life was like without having access to the internet at all. When you were introduced to technology, you embraced it as a part of your life. For others, a digital footprint was created before you took your first step.

With each generation comes the advancement of technology beyond what could have been imagined. Today, that line between what was digital life and real life is gone. Digital life is life. We work, shop, learn and socialize online. And it’s kept us connected and helped keep us going, beyond what we’d expect.

For those who can remember, there was a time when you could pick up antivirus products at the store and install it on your computer. That was considered sufficient at the time, but the world has irrevocably changed with convenience and connection at our fingertips 24/7. This digital evolution has also created opportunities to expose more of our lives to crime. In fact, <a href="https://www.nortonlifelock.com/us/en/newsroom/press-kits/2022-norton-cyber-safety-insights-report-special-release-online-creeping/">more than half of consumers have experienced a cybercrime</a>. It’s not just our devices that need protection now — it’s our identity and privacy, too.

<h2>Powering Digital Freedom for generations</h2>

Gen’s family of consumer brands is rooted in protecting the first digital generations. And now there’s a new generation — it’s not Gen X, Y, or Z. It’s Gen D. Generation digital. A generation of people linked by being a part of digital life as we know it today.

Today’s technology goes beyond the wildest dreams of previous generations and has helped us unlock endless possibilities, but we’re not free to fully embrace and enjoy them until we’re protected and empowered in all aspects of our digital life.

That’s why we’ve made it our purpose to power Digital Freedom for consumers through Gen’s family of trusted consumer brands: Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, Reputation Defender and CCleaner. We’re committed to bringing our energy, our smarts and global presence to systematically tackle cyber threats and challenges for this generation and the next.

Separate we were strong. But together, we're setting out to put control, freedom, and empowerment into the hands of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Welcome to Gen.

Vincent Pilette

Posts by Vincent Pilette

Gen Recognized as One of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America

Doing our part to protect the planet

Introducing Gen. For the next generation of digital life.