What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol, introduced by Anthropic in November 2024 and since adopted widely, that lets AI assistants and agents connect to tools and data sources in a standard way. An MCP server exposes capabilities, such as reading files, querying a database, searching a ticket system or sending messages, and an AI client calls them when a task needs them. That makes AI far more useful, and it also turns each MCP server into a gateway: whatever it can reach, the AI can reach, with the permissions of the account behind it. Security questions follow directly. Who installed the server and from where? Which credentials does it hold, and how broad are they? Does it run locally on a laptop or as a remote service? Does it require approval before acting? Is it logged? Treat MCP servers as software with privileged access: approve them, scope their tokens narrowly, keep them updated, and prefer servers from verified publishers. A network sensor sees remote MCP servers as connections to their hosts; local ones on a laptop stay out of its view.