Srikant Menon

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Introducing the SAGE AI Security Model™: A Framework for Securing Enterprise AI Systems

Learn about the SAGE AI Security Model—a structured architecture and governance model for securing AI systems across data, models, applications, and governance.

Srikant Menon
1–2 minutes
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As organizations accelerate AI adoption, a critical question continues to surface:

How should enterprises structure cybersecurity for AI systems?

While there is growing guidance on AI ethics and machine learning security, there is still no widely adopted enterprise architecture model for AI cybersecurity.

The SAGE AI Security Model is designed to address this gap.

What is the SAGE Model?

SAGE stands for:

Secure AI Governance and Engineering

It is a layered architecture model that helps organizations design and govern AI security across the enterprise.

The model organizes AI security into five domains:

1. Infrastructure Security

Securing cloud platforms, compute environments, GPUs, and AI infrastructure.

2. Data Security

Protecting training data, data pipelines, and ensuring data integrity.

3. Model Security

Defending machine learning models against manipulation, theft, and adversarial attacks.

4. AI Application Security

Securing AI-powered applications, APIs, and autonomous agents.

5. Governance & Risk

Ensuring compliance, risk management, and policy enforcement across AI systems.

Why the SAGE Model Matters

Most organizations approach AI security in silos:

  • data teams focus on data
  • ML engineers focus on models
  • security teams focus on infrastructure

The SAGE model brings these together into a cohesive architecture.

It helps answer critical questions:

  • Where do AI security controls need to exist?
  • How do responsibilities map across teams?
  • How does AI security integrate into existing cybersecurity programs?

Complementing Existing Frameworks

The SAGE model is not a replacement for existing standards like:

  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework
  • MITRE ATT&CK Framework

Instead, it provides the architectural structure within which these frameworks can be applied to AI systems.

From Concept to Implementation

The SAGE model is supported by:

  • an implementation framework (how to operationalize security controls)
  • a maturity model (how organizations evolve their AI security capabilities)

Together, they provide a practical roadmap for enterprises.

The Bigger Vision

Every major shift in technology has required new security models.

  • Cloud led to cloud security frameworks
  • Zero Trust redefined network security

AI will require its own architecture.

The SAGE model is a step toward defining that architecture.

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