Stephen Said
Sr. Solutions Architect at AWS
Stephen is a Sr. Solutions Architect with AWS and concentrates on Data Analytics and Data Platforms. With over a decade of experience in software engineering and DevOps, he is committed to enhancing data engineering productivity and architecting resilient data platforms. Building on engineering best practices like automation or iterative software development, Stephen is passionate to create efficient solutions that empower organisations to deliver analytical workloads of high quality.
401 Unauthorized? Auth & Communication Protocols for Agents Made Easy
Struggling with agent security? Who acts as the OAuth server when an MCP client connects? When one agent calls another via A2A, does it authenticate as itself or on behalf of the user? And how do you propagate tokens across an agent chain without creating a confused deputy?
As agents move from demos to production, these questions become blockers. This session cuts through the complexity of MCP Auth, A2A, OAuth 2.1, and OIDC — clarifying what each protocol solves, where trust boundaries live, and how token exchange, scopes, and agent identity actually fit together.
Walk away with a clear mental model for securing agent communication and a plan to implement it in your own stack.