Microsoft Developer, with experts from Arcade.dev, explores securing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers in production. Learn from Nate and Wils about OAuth 2.1, token validation, agentic AI, and advanced mitigation techniques.

MCP In Production: Building Secure and Agent-Ready Model Context Protocol Servers

In this video conversation, Microsoft Developer interviews Nate and Wils, founding engineers at Arcade.dev, about the best practices and advanced patterns required to secure Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers as AI systems increasingly rely on external data sources.

Key Topics Covered

  • Why MCP matters: MCP is positioned as a critical protocol for AI-based systems that need dynamic data access, making security even more important in production environments.

  • Security Patterns for MCP Servers:
    • OAuth 2.1 Flows: Learn how to implement modern OAuth for authenticating and authorizing external access.
    • Token Validation: Best practices to validate and manage session and access tokens correctly.
    • Defending Against Attacks:
      • Confused deputy attacks
      • Session hijacking
      • Token passthrough vulnerabilities
    • Strategies for server hardening and reducing common attack vectors in the AI context.
  • Agentic AI Context: As AI advances, new agentic patterns emerge where autonomous agents (not just humans) orchestrate and interact with systems via MCP. This changes the security landscape and requires forward-thinking implementation strategies.

Developer Resources

Who Should Watch?

  • Developers building secure AI systems on Azure
  • Engineers working on MCP server infrastructure
  • Security professionals interested in modern AI and cloud security
  • Anyone integrating MCP with agentic or autonomous AI systems

Summary

Securing MCP servers is vital as AI architecture evolves to include more autonomous agent interactions and external data access. This session covers threat mitigation, modern authentication, and practical tooling for Microsoft-centric AI deployments.