F5 and Skyfire have joined forces to help enterprises securely welcome verified AI agents while continuing to block malicious bots and automated threats. Through this new technology partnership, the companies plan to bring Skyfire’s open Know Your Agent (KYA) protocol to the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP). As a result, merchants and content providers will be better equipped to identify legitimate AI agent traffic and separate it from harmful automation.

As AI agents increasingly browse, research, and make purchases on behalf of users, businesses now face a new challenge. On one hand, companies rely on bot management tools to stop scraping, credential stuffing, and fraud. On the other hand, those same systems can accidentally block trustworthy AI agents that are trying to complete valid commercial actions. Therefore, this partnership directly addresses a growing issue in digital commerce.

With the planned integration, F5 customers will be able to recognize Skyfire-verified AI agents through KYA and grant them the right level of access. In turn, businesses can convert what was once treated as suspicious automation into authenticated and revenue-generating interactions. This approach not only improves security but also opens new opportunities for merchants that want to participate in the next phase of online commerce.

“The rise of agentic AI represents a fundamental shift in how commerce happens online,” said John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer at F5. “Merchants need the ability to distinguish between a malicious agent or bot and a verified AI agent acting on behalf of a real customer. Through our partnership with Skyfire, F5 customers will gain that visibility. This combined solution enables them to confidently open their doors to the next generation of Internet traffic while maintaining the security posture they depend on.”

F5 explained that its Distributed Cloud Bot Defense, part of the F5 ADSP, already protects some of the world’s largest enterprises against sophisticated automated attacks. Now, by integrating Skyfire’s technology, F5 is extending those protections to identify and validate agents carrying Skyfire KYA identity tokens. Consequently, merchants can improve visibility into agentic traffic and make smarter, real-time access decisions.

More specifically, merchants using F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense will be able to strengthen verification of AI agent traffic through their existing security infrastructure instead of broadly blocking all automated requests. They will also gain deeper visibility into agent identity, including details about the AI agent itself and the human or enterprise principal behind the request through the Skyfire KYA token. In addition, businesses can allow AI agents to complete standard eCommerce checkout flows using Skyfire’s tokenized payment credentials, all while preserving current merchant systems. Just as importantly, enterprises can monetize AI-driven traffic by linking requests to accountable and paying entities.

Another major advantage of this integration is its simplicity. F5 bot defense customers can validate agents without taking additional steps. Meanwhile, customers that want to accept agentic payments through Skyfire can do that without overhauling their existing infrastructure. Since the integration works with current technology stacks, merchants do not need to re-platform. Skyfire’s KYA protocol uses standard JSON Web Tokens (JWTs), which are compatible with OAuth2, HTTP, and JWKS infrastructure. At the same time, F5 bot defense interprets those tokens at the edge and applies access policies in real time.

“AI agents are the new consumers of the Internet, but they’ve been locked out by security measures designed for a human-only web,” said Amir Sarhangi, CEO and co-founder of Skyfire. “Through our partnership with F5, we’re enabling an Internet where verified agents are first-class participants in the digital economy, where identity and security protocols work with them, not against them. F5’s unmatched scale in protecting the world’s largest enterprises makes this a pivotal step toward making agentic commerce a reality everywhere.”

Overall, the partnership signals an important shift in how enterprises may handle AI-driven traffic in the future. Rather than treating all automation as a threat, F5 and Skyfire are creating a framework that helps organizations verify, trust, and monetize legitimate AI agent activity. As agentic commerce continues to evolve, this collaboration could play a key role in helping enterprises balance innovation, identity, payments, and security more effectively.

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