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Model Context Protocol (MCP) is rapidly emerging as the foundational layer for intelligent, tool-using AI systems, especially as organizations shift from prompt engineering to context engineering. Developed by Anthropic and now adopted by major players like OpenAI and Microsoft, MCP provides a standardized, secure way for large language models (LLMs) and agentic systems to interface with external APIs, databases, applications, and tools. It is revolutionizing how developers scale, govern, and deploy context-aware AI applications at the enterprise level.

As the world embraces agentic AI, where models don’t just generate text but interact with tools and act autonomously, MCP ensures those actions are interoperable, auditable, and secure, forming the glue that binds agents to the real world.

What Is Agentic AI? Master 6 Steps to Build Smart Agents

What is Model Context Protocol?

What is Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Model Context Protocol is an open specification that standardizes the way LLMs and AI agents connect with external systems like REST APIs, code repositories, knowledge bases, cloud applications, or internal databases. It acts as a universal interface layer, allowing models to ground their outputs in real-world context and execute tool calls safely.

Key Objectives of MCP:

  • Standardize interactions between models and external tools

  • Enable secure, observable, and auditable tool usage

  • Reduce integration complexity and duplication

  • Promote interoperability across AI vendors and ecosystems

Unlike proprietary plugin systems or vendor-specific APIs, MCP is model-agnostic and language-independent, supporting multiple SDKs including Python, TypeScript, Java, Swift, Rust, Kotlin, and more.

Learn more about Agentic AI Communication Protocols 

Why MCP Matters: Solving the M×N Integration Problem

Before MCP, integrating each of M models (agents, chatbots, RAG pipelines) with N tools (like GitHub, Notion, Postgres, etc.) required M × N custom connections—leading to enormous technical debt.

MCP collapses this to M + N:

  • Each AI agent integrates one MCP client

  • Each tool or data system provides one MCP server

  • All components communicate using a shared schema and protocol

This pattern is similar to USB-C in hardware: a unified protocol for any model to plug into any tool, regardless of vendor.

Architecture: Clients, Servers, and Hosts

Model Context Protocol (MCP) 101: How LLMs Connect to the Real World | Data Science Dojo
source: dida.do

MCP is built around a structured host–client–server architecture:

1. Host

The interface a user interacts with—e.g., an IDE, a chatbot UI, a voice assistant.

2. Client

The embedded logic within the host that manages communication with MCP servers. It mediates requests from the model and sends them to the right tools.

3. Server

An independent interface that exposes tools, resources, and prompt templates through the MCP API.

Supported Transports:

  • stdio: For local tool execution (high trust, low latency)

  • HTTP/SSE: For cloud-native or remote server integration

Example Use Case:

An AI coding assistant (host) uses an MCP client to connect with:

  • A GitHub MCP server to manage issues or PRs

  • A CI/CD MCP server to trigger test pipelines

  • A local file system server to read/write code

All these interactions happen via a standard protocol, with complete traceability.

Key Features and Technical Innovations

A. Unified Tool and Resource Interfaces

  • Tools: Executable functions (e.g., API calls, deployments)

  • Resources: Read-only data (e.g., support tickets, product specs)

  • Prompts: Model-guided instructions on how to use tools or retrieve data effectively

This separation makes AI behavior predictable, modular, and controllable.

B. Structured Messaging Format

MCP defines strict message types:

  • user, assistant, tool, system, resource

Each message is tied to a role, enabling:

  • Explicit context control

  • Deterministic tool invocation

  • Preventing prompt injection and role leakage

C. Context Management

MCP clients handle context windows efficiently:

  • Trimming token history

  • Prioritizing relevant threads

  • Integrating summarization or vector embeddings

This allows agents to operate over long sessions, even with token-limited models.

D. Security and Governance

MCP includes:

  • OAuth 2.1, mTLS for secure authentication

  • Role-based access control (RBAC)

  • Tool-level permission scopes

  • Signed, versioned components for supply chain security

E. Open Extensibility

  • Dozens of public MCP servers now exist for GitHub, Slack, Postgres, Notion, and more.

  • SDKs available in all major programming languages

  • Supports custom toolchains and internal infrastructure

Model Context Protocol in Practice: Enterprise Use Cases

Example Usecases for MCP
source: Instructa.ai

1. AI Assistants

LLMs access user history, CRM data, and company knowledge via MCP-integrated resources—enabling dynamic, contextual assistance.

2. RAG Pipelines

Instead of static embedding retrieval, RAG agents use MCP to query live APIs or internal data systems before generating responses.

3. Multi-Agent Workflows

Agents delegate tasks to other agents, tools, or humans, all via standardized MCP messages—enabling team-like behavior.

4. Developer Productivity

LLMs in IDEs use MCP to:

  • Review pull requests

  • Run tests

  • Retrieve changelogs

  • Deploy applications

5. AI Model Evaluation

Testing frameworks use MCP to pull logs, test cases, and user interactions—enabling automated accuracy and safety checks.

Learn how to build enterprise level LLM Applications in our LLM Bootcamp

Security, Governance, and Best Practices

Key Protections:

  • OAuth 2.1 for remote authentication

  • RBAC and scopes for granular control

  • Logging at every tool/resource boundary

  • Prompt/tool injection protection via strict message typing

Emerging Risks (From Security Audits):

  • Model-generated tool calls without human approval

  • Overly broad access scopes (e.g., root-level API tokens)

  • Unsandboxed execution leading to code injection or file overwrite

Recommended Best Practices:

  • Use MCPSafetyScanner or static analyzers

  • Limit tool capabilities to least privilege

  • Audit all calls via logging and change monitoring

  • Use vector databases for scalable context summarization

Learn More About LLM Observability and Monitoring

MCP vs. Legacy Protocols

What is the difference between MCP and Legacy Protocols

Enterprise Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: Assessment

  • Inventory internal tools, APIs, and data sources

  • Identify existing agent use cases or gaps

Phase 2: Pilot

  • Choose a high-impact use case (e.g., customer support, devops)

  • Set up MCP client + one or two MCP servers

Phase 3: Secure and Monitor

  • Apply auth, sandboxing, and audit logging

  • Integrate with security tools (SIEM, IAM)

Phase 4: Scale and Institutionalize

  • Develop internal patterns and SDK wrappers

  • Train teams to build and maintain MCP servers

  • Codify MCP use in your architecture governance

Want to learn how to build production ready Agentic Applications? Check out our Agentic AI Bootcamp

Challenges, Limitations, and the Future of Model Context Protocol

Known Challenges:

  • Managing long context histories and token limits

  • Multi-agent state synchronization

  • Server lifecycle/versioning and compatibility

Future Innovations:

  • Embedding-based context retrieval

  • Real-time agent collaboration protocols

  • Cloud-native standards for multi-vendor compatibility

  • Secure agent sandboxing for tool execution

As agentic systems mature, MCP will likely evolve into the default interface layer for enterprise-grade LLM deployment, much like REST or GraphQL for web apps.

FAQ

Q: What is the main benefit of MCP for enterprises?

A: MCP standardizes how AI models connect to tools and data, reducing integration complexity, improving security, and enabling scalable, context-aware AI solutions.

Q: How does MCP improve security?

A: MCP enforces authentication, authorization, and boundary controls, protecting against prompt/tool injection and unauthorized access.

Q: Can MCP be used with any LLM or agentic AI system?

A: Yes, MCP is model-agnostic and supported by major vendors (Anthropic, OpenAI), with SDKs for multiple languages.

Q: What are the best practices for deploying MCP?

A: Use vector databases, optimize context windows, sandbox local servers, and regularly audit/update components for security.

Conclusion: 

Model Context Protocol isn’t just another spec, it’s the API standard for agentic intelligence. It abstracts away complexity, enforces governance, and empowers AI systems to operate effectively across real-world tools and systems.

Want to build secure, interoperable, and production-grade AI agents?

July 8, 2025

AI is revolutionizing business, but are enterprises truly prepared to scale it safely?

While AI promises efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage, many organizations struggle with data security risks, governance complexities, and the challenge of managing unstructured data. Without the right infrastructure and safeguards, enterprise AI adoption can lead to data breaches, regulatory failures, and untrustworthy outcomes.

The solution? A strategic approach that integrates robust infrastructure with strong governance.

The combination of Databricks’ AI infrastructure and Securiti’s Gencore AI  offers a security-first AI building framework, enabling enterprises to innovate while safeguarding sensitive data. This blog explores how businesses can build scalable, governed, and responsible AI systems by integrating robust infrastructure with embedded security, privacy, and observability controls.

 

LLM bootcamp banner

 

However, before we dig deeper into the partnership and its role in boosting AI adoption, let’s understand the challenges around it.

Challenges in AI Adoption

AI adoption is no longer a question of if but how. Yet many enterprises face critical roadblocks that threaten both compliance and operational success. Without the right unstructured data management and robust safeguards, AI projects risk non-compliance, non-transparency, and security vulnerabilities.

Here are the top challenges businesses must address:

Safeguarding Data Security and Compliance: AI systems process vast amounts of sensitive data. Organizations must ensure compliance with the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, GDPR, HIPAA, etc., while preventing unauthorized access. Failure to do so can lead to data breaches, legal repercussions, and loss of customer trust.

Managing Unstructured Data at Scale: AI models rely on high-quality data, yet most enterprise data is unstructured and fragmented. Without effective curation and sanitization, AI systems may generate unreliable or insecure results, undermining business decisions.

Ensuring AI Integrity and Trustworthiness: Biased, misleading, or unverifiable AI outputs can damage stakeholder confidence. Real-time monitoring, runtime governance, and ethical AI frameworks are essential to ensuring outcomes remain accurate and accountable.

Overcoming these challenges is key to unlocking AI’s full potential. The right strategy integrates AI development with strong security, governance, and compliance frameworks. This is where the Databricks and Securiti partnership creates a game-changing opportunity.

 

You can also read about algorithmic biases and their challenges in fair AI

 

A Strategic Partnership: Databricks and Securiti’s Gencore AI

In the face of these challenges, enterprises strive to balance innovation with security and compliance. Organizations must navigate data security, regulatory adherence, and ethical AI implementation.

The partnership between Databricks and Securiti offers a solution that empowers enterprises to scale AI initiatives confidently, ensuring security and governance are embedded in every step of the AI lifecycle.

Databricks: Laying the AI Foundation

Databricks provides the foundational infrastructure needed for successful AI adoption. It offers tools that simplify data management and accelerate AI model development, such as:

  • Scalable Data Infrastructure – Databricks provides a unified platform for storing, processing, and analyzing vast amounts of structured and unstructured data. Its cloud-native architecture ensures seamless scalability to meet enterprise AI demands.

  • End-to-End AI Development – With tools like MLflow for model lifecycle management, Delta Lake for reliable data storage, and Mosaic AI for scalable training, Databricks streamlines AI development from experimentation to deployment.

  • Governance & Data Access Management – Databricks’ Unity Catalog enables centralized governance, enforcing secure data access, lineage tracking, and regulatory compliance to ensure AI models operate within a trusted framework.

 

Building Safe Enterprise AI Systems with Databricks & Gencore AI
Building Safe Enterprise AI Systems with Databricks & Gencore AI

 

Securiti’s Gencore AI: Reinforcing Security and Compliance

While Databricks provides the AI infrastructure, Securiti’s Gencore AI ensures that AI models operate within a secure and compliant framework. It provides:

  • Ease of Building and Operating Safe AI Systems: Gencore AI streamlines data ingestion by connecting to both unstructured and structured data across different systems and applications, while allowing the use of any foundational or custom AI models in Databricks. 
  • Embedded Security and Governance in AI Systems: Gencore AI aligns with OWASP Top 10 for LLMs to help embed data security and governance at every important stage of the AI System within Databricks, from data ingestion to AI consumption layers. 
  • Complete Provenance Tracking for AI Systems: Gencore AI’s proprietary knowledge graph provides granular contextual insights about data and AI systems within Databricks.
  • Compliance with AI Regulations for each AI System: Gencore AI uniquely provides automated compliance checks for each of the AI Systems being operationalized in it.

 

Databricks + Securiti Partnership for enterprise AI

 

Competitive Advantage: A Strategic AI Approach

To fully realize AI’s business potential, enterprises need more than just advanced models – they need a secure, scalable, and responsible AI strategy. The partnership between Databricks and Securiti is designed to achieve exactly that. It offers:

  • AI at Scale with Enterprise Trust – Databricks delivers an end-to-end AI infrastructure, while Securiti ensures security and compliance at every stage. Together, they create a seamless framework for enterprises to scale AI initiatives with confidence.
  • Security-Embedded Innovation – The integration ensures that AI models operate within a robust security framework, reducing risks of bias, data breaches, and regulatory violations. Businesses can focus on innovation without compromising compliance.
  • Holistic AI System Governance – This is not just a tech integration—it’s a strategic investment in AI governance and sustainability. As AI regulations evolve, enterprises using Databricks + Securiti will be well-positioned to adapt, ensuring long-term AI success. Effective AI governance requires embedded controls throughout the AI system, with a foundation rooted in understanding enterprise data context and its controls. Securiti’s Data Command Graph delivers this foundation by providing comprehensive contextual insights about data objects and their controls, enabling complete monitoring and governance of the entire enterprise AI system across all interconnected components rather than focusing solely on models.

 

Here’s a list of controversial experiments in big data ethics

 

Thus, the collaboration ensures AI systems are secure, governable, and ethically responsible while enabling enterprises to accelerate AI adoption confidently. Whether scaling AI, managing LLMs, or ensuring compliance, this gives businesses the confidence to innovate responsibly.

By embedding AI security, governance, and trust from day one, businesses can accelerate adoption while maintaining full control over their AI ecosystem. This partnership is not just about deploying AI, but also about building a future-ready AI strategy.

A 5-Step Framework for Secure Enterprise AI Deployment

Building a secure and compliant enterprise AI system requires more than just deploying AI models. A robust infrastructure, strong data governance, and proactive security measures are some key requirements for the process. 

The combination of Databricks and Securiti’s Gencore AI provides an ideal foundation for enterprises to leverage AI while maintaining control, privacy, and compliance.

 

Steps to Building a Safe Enterprise AI System
Steps to Building a Safe Enterprise AI System

 

Below is a structured step-by-step approach to building a safe AI system in Databricks with Securiti’s Gencore AI.

Step 1: Set Up a Secure Data Environment

The environment for your data is a crucial element and must be secured since it can contain sensitive information. Without the right safeguards, enterprises risk data breaches, compliance violations, and unauthorized access. 

To establish such an environment, you must use Databricks’s Unity Catalog to establish role-based access control (RBAC) and enforce data security policies. It will ensure that only authorized users have access to specific datasets and avoid unintended data exposure. 

The other action item at this step is to use Securiti’s Data Discovery & Classification to identify sensitive data before AI model training begins. This will ensure regulatory compliance by identifying data subject to the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA.

Step 2: Ensure Data Privacy and Compliance

Once data is classified and protected, it is important to ensure your AI operations maintain user privacy. AI models should never compromise user privacy or violate regulatory standards. You can establish this by enabling data encryption and masking to protect sensitive information. 

While data masking will ensure that only anonymized information is used for AI training, you can also use synthetic data to ensure compliance and privacy.

 

Safely Syncing Unstructured Data to Databricks Delta Tables for Enterprise AI Use Cases
Safely Syncing Unstructured Data to Databricks Delta Tables for Enterprise AI Use Cases

 

Step 3: Train AI Models Securely

Now that the data environment is secure and compliant, you can focus on training your AI models. However, AI model training must be monitored and controlled to prevent data misuse and security risks. Some key actions you can take for this include: 

  • Leverage Databricks’ Mosaic AI for Scalable Model Training – use distributed computing power for efficient training of large-scale models while ensuring cost and performance optimization 
  • Monitor Data Lineage & Usage with Databricks’ Unity Catalog – track data’s origin and how it is transformed and used in AI models to ensure only approved datasets are used for training and testing 
  • Validate Models for Security & Compliance Before Deployment – perform security checks to identify any vulnerabilities and ensure that models conform to corporate AI governance policies 

By implementing these controls, enterprises can train AI models securely and ethically while maintaining full visibility into their data, models, and AI system lifecycles.

Step 4: Deploy AI with Real-Time Governance Controls

The security threats and challenges do not end with the training and deployment. You must ensure continuous governance and security of your AI models and systems to prevent bias, data leaks, or any unauthorized AI interactions. 

You can use Securiti’s distributed, context-aware LLM Firewall to monitor your model’s interactions and detect any unauthorized attempts, adversarial attacks, or security threats. The firewall will also monitor your AI model for hallucinations, bias, and regulatory violations. 

Moreover, you must continuously audit your model’s output for accuracy and other ethical regulations. During the audit, you must flag and correct any responses that are inaccurate or unintended.

 

Inspecting and Controlling Prompts, Retrievals, and Responses
Inspecting and Controlling Prompts, Retrievals, and Responses

 

You must also implement Databricks’ MLflow for AI model version control and performance monitoring. It will maintain version histories for all the AI models you have deployed, enabling you to continuously track and improve model performance. This real-time monitoring ensures AI systems remain safe and accountable.

Step 5: Continuously Monitor and Improve AI Systems

Deploying and maintaining enterprise AI systems becomes an iterative process once you have set up the basic infrastructure. Continuous efforts are required to monitor and improve the system to maintain top-notch security, accuracy, and compliance. 

You can do this by: 

  • Using Securiti’s AI Risk Monitoring to detect threats in real-time and proactively address the issues
  • Regularly retrain AI models with safe, high-quality, and de-risked datasets
  • Conduct periodic AI audits and explainability assessments to ensure ethical AI usage
  • Automate compliance checks across AI systems to continuously monitor and enforce compliance with global regulations like the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. 

By implementing these actions, organizations can improve their systems, reduce risks, and ensure long-term success with AI adoption.

 

Read about the key risks associated with LLMs and how to overcome them

 

Applications to Leverage Gencore AI with Databricks

As AI adoption accelerates, businesses must ensure that their AI-driven applications are powerful, secure, compliant, and transparent. The partnership between Databricks and Gencore AI enables enterprises to develop AI applications with robust security measures, optimized data pipelines, and comprehensive governance. 

Here’s how businesses can leverage this integration for maximum impact.

1. Personalized AI Applications with Built-in Security

While the adoption of AI has led to the emergence of personalized experiences, users do not want it at the cost of their data security. Databricks’ scalable infrastructure and Gencore AI’s entitlement controls enabled enterprises to build AI applications that tailor user experiences while protecting sensitive data. This can ensure: 

  • Recommendation engines in retail and E-commerce can analyze purchase history and browsing behavior to provide hyper-personalized suggestions while ensuring that customer data remains protected
  • AI-driven diagnostics and treatment recommendations can be fine-tuned for individual patients while maintaining strict compliance with HIPAA and other healthcare regulations
  • AI-driven wealth management platforms can provide personalized investment strategies while preventing unauthorized access to financial records 

Hence, with built-in security controls, businesses can deliver highly personalized AI applications without compromising data privacy or regulatory compliance.

 

Explore personalized text generation with Google AI

 

2. Optimized Data Pipelines for AI Readiness

AI models are only as good as the data they process. A well-structured data pipeline ensures that AI applications work with clean, reliable, and regulatory-compliant data. The Databricks + Gencore AI integration simplifies this by automating data preparation, cleaning, and governance.

  • Automated Data Sanitization: AI-driven models must be trained on high-quality and sanitized data that has no sensitive context. This partnership enables businesses to eliminate data inconsistencies, biases, and sensitive data before model training 
  • Real-time Data Processing: Databricks’ powerful infrastructure ensures that enterprises can ingest, process, and analyze vast amounts of structured and unstructured data at scale 
  • Seamless Integration with Enterprise Systems: Companies can connect disparate unstructured and structured data sources and standardize AI training datasets, improving model accuracy and reliability 

Thus, by optimizing data pipelines, businesses can accelerate AI adoption and enhance the overall performance of AI applications.

 

Configuring and Operationalizing Safe AI Systems in Minutes (API-Based)
Configuring and Operationalizing Safe AI Systems in Minutes (API-Based)

 

3. Comprehensive Visibility and Control for AI Governance

Enterprises deploying AI must maintain end-to-end visibility over their AI systems to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability. The combination of Databricks’ governance tools and Gencore AI’s security framework empowers organizations to maintain strict oversight of AI workflows with: 

  • AI Model Explainability: Stakeholders can track AI decision-making processes, ensuring that outputs are fair, unbiased, and aligned with ethical standards
  • Regulatory Compliance Monitoring: Businesses can automate compliance checks, ensuring that AI models adhere to global data and AI regulations such as the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA
  • Audit Trails & Access Controls: Enterprises gain real-time visibility into who accesses, modifies, or deploys AI models, reducing security risks and unauthorized interventions

 

Securiti’s Data Command Graph Provides Embedded Deep Visibility and Provenance for AI Systems
Securiti’s Data Command Graph Provides Embedded Deep Visibility and Provenance for AI Systems

 

Hence, the synergy between Databricks and Gencore AI provides enterprises with a robust foundation for developing, deploying, and governing AI applications at scale. Organizations can confidently harness the power of AI without exposing themselves to compliance, security, or ethical risks, ensuring it’s built on a foundation of trust, transparency, and control.

The Future of Responsible AI Adoption

AI is no longer a competitive edge, but a business imperative. However, without the right security and governance in place, enterprises risk exposing sensitive data, violating compliance regulations, and deploying untrustworthy AI systems. 

The partnership between Databricks and Securiti’s Gencore AI provides a blueprint for scalable, secure, and responsible AI adoption. By integrating robust infrastructure with automated compliance controls, businesses can unlock AI’s full potential while ensuring privacy, security, and ethical governance.

 

Explore a hands-on curriculum that helps you build custom LLM applications!

 

Organizations that proactively embed governance into their AI ecosystems will not only mitigate risks but also accelerate innovation with confidence. You can leverage Databricks and Securiti’s Gencore AI solution to build a safe, scalable, and high-performing AI ecosystem that drives business growth.

Learn more: https://securiti.ai/gencore/partners/databricks/
Request a personalized demo: https://securiti.ai/gencore/demo/

 

You can also view our webinar on building safe enterprise AI systems as you learn more about it.

April 3, 2025

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