Introducing Dependency Firewall with On-Device Protection

Today, we are introducing Dependency Firewall with Device Mode to block malicious and vulnerable packages before they are installed. This works for both developer and non-developers using AI agents to complete routine work, such as creating dashboards, internal apps, spreadsheets, documents or slide decks.

AI tools like Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor routinely download and run third party software while completing tasks. A single task can involve dozens or hundreds of them, including packages the user never selected directly.

This activity now happens well beyond engineering. Malicious package installations by agents can occur across any teams using AI to write code, to analyze data, to prepare presentations, to review documents, and to automate routine work. The software these tools download runs with the same access as the user, putting everything the user can reach at risk. This includes sensitive company documents, active browser sessions, credentials, and internal systems.

Device Mode stays active on the device where developers or coding agents are working and checks all package downloads automatically. People can continue using their existing AI tools and applications without changing how they work.

Device Mode checks packages before they are installed

In our earlier research Preventing Supply Chain Attacks While Agents Work, we found coding agents complete the task they are given at any cost. They will switch package managers, fall back to a public registry, change local settings, run an installer directly, or download the package as a file.

Device Mode protects your systems directly from your device, regardless which tool the agent reaches, from Codex, Claude Code, a terminal, running on the machine. If an agent retries an npm install with pnpm, switches registries, or requests a package file directly, the new request is evaluated against your organization’s policy. Packages that violate the policy are blocked before installation.

Device Mode brings protection to the agent’s process of achieving tasks. Because Device Mode lives on your device, it helps protect against potentially dangerous package installations and steps agents, from any application your code is being run, via Codex, Claude Code, or any other running agents. If an agent retries an npm installation with pnpm, switches registries, or requests a package file directly, the new request will be evaluated against your organization’s policy. Packages that violate the policy are blocked before installation.

Protect everyone, not just engineers

A finance team may use an agent to analyze a spreadsheet. A legal team may use one to prepare a presentation. A recruiter may use one to automate a workflow. Any of these tasks can lead the agent to download and run third party code. If one of those packages contains malware, gaining access to the confidential files, credentials, and services available on the device.

Device Mode runs continuously in the background and covers package requests from terminals, development tools, desktop applications, and AI agents. Users do not need to remember a special command or select a protected registry each time. Device Mode automatically protects you from malicious packages and code vulnerabilities based on your security policies.

Organizations can deploy and manage Device Mode centrally on macOS through their existing device management software, so protection stays on, across every company device.

Apply the same rules across registries and devices

Dependency Firewall applies package policies in two places.

• The registry. The registry layer works with company artifact repositories such as JFrog Artifactory, AWS CodeArtifact, and Sonatype Nexus. It checks packages downloaded through the organization’s approved software sources.
• The device. Device Mode checks package requests on the machine. This covers requests made through public registries, alternative package managers, AI tools, and direct package URLs.

Both layers read the same organization’s package policy, so packages receive the same decision, whether the request comes through an approved registry or directly from a managed device.

Device Mode currently covers JavaScript, Python, and Java ecosystems, including tools such as npm, pnpm, Yarn, and Bun with more ecosystems and package managers on the way. Its network level design allows the same policy to cover every application and package manager without a separate integration for each.

Organizations can customize these policies based on how their teams work. Administrators can define which people or groups can download packages, which package sources they can use, and which devices or environments those rules apply to. For example, an organization can restrict one team to an approved internal registry while applying different access policies to other teams.

Available now

We developed Dependency Firewall with customers who are testing how existing package controls behave when AI agents install software on users’ behalf. Their feedback shaped Device Mode around automatic checks, centralized deployment, and support for the tools people already use.

Book a demo to learn more, or contact the depthfirst team to enable Device Mode for your organization.

Request a demo