Get announcements/news posted by instructors for a course. Returns title, body, posted date,
AI agents call get_announcements to retrieve information from Waterloo Learn without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and queries existing announcement data from a course learning management system. It performs a read-only operation that returns information without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any actions. The data accessed is typically non-sensitive course announcements intended for student viewing.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'get_announcements' and description 'Get announcements/news posted by instructors for a course' indicate data retrieval without modification. Returns title, body, posted date with no side effects.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get announcements/news posted by instructors for a course. Returns title, body, posted date,. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Waterloo Learn MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Waterloo Learn MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_announcements: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Waterloo Learn. Nothing to install.
get_announcements is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get_announcements rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get_announcements. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
get_announcements is provided by the Waterloo Learn MCP server (petersenmatthew/waterloo-learn-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Every MCP server has a record like this.
Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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