Glossary

Shadow AI

The AI tools your team uses without IT approval. Not malicious, just unseen, which is the problem.

AIDR (AI detection and response)

Detecting AI use across your organization and acting on it: allow, warn, or block. AIDR detects; Northbeams also proves it to your auditor.

The four surfaces

The places Northbeams catches AI activity: browser (Chrome extension), desktop (the Mac and PC app), CLI (coding agents and terminal tools), and MCP (the gateway between agents and their tools). One platform, four surfaces, one dashboard.

MCP Gateway

The desktop-app feature that sits between coding agents and their MCP servers and governs individual tools, on the device. See Govern MCP tools with the Gateway.

Evidence Pack

A signed PDF that maps your governance data to compliance frameworks (EU AI Act, ISO 42001, NIST AI RMF, SOC 2 readiness). See Generate an Evidence Pack.

Sentinel and Evidence

The two products under one platform. Northbeams Sentinel is the real-time SecOps product. Northbeams Evidence is the compliance deliverable, bundled into Sentinel.

Risk classification

How detected tools are labeled: sanctioned (approved), unknown (seen but not yet reviewed), or high-risk.