The sudden emergence of generative AI was the technology story of the year in 2023. Organizations worldwide eagerly adopted AI tools that make it simple to generate high-quality text, graphics and videos in seconds. According to a new survey from Foundry Research, 83 percent of private-sector and 79 percent of public-sector organizations are already using generative AI in production systems.
While generative AI platforms deliver important creativity, productivity and efficiency benefits, they can also introduce significant security issues. These systems require a significant amount of data for training and analysis — data that may often include proprietary and personal information. If not handled properly, it can lead to privacy breaches and data loss.
For example, Samsung last year banned the use of generative AI platforms after discovering employees had inadvertently leaked sensitive intellectual property. Developers uploaded source code to ChatGPT, requesting that the system debug and optimize the code. In the process, they essentially transferred the code to external servers where it was potentially accessible to users outside the company, including competitors.
There’s also the risk of malicious data manipulation. There have been numerous examples of adversarial attacks on AI systems in which threat actors modify input data to deceive the AI model, leading to erroneous outputs and faulty decisions.
Loading company data into AI tools can also create compliance problems. Different industry and government regulations have varying requirements for collecting, processing and storing data. Failure to adhere to these regulations can result in severe legal consequences and damage to the company’s reputation.
As organizations find more business use cases for generative AI, they must move quickly to establish security policies and processes that minimize risk without stifling innovation. Generative AI policies should align with the following security best practices:
Be Selective. Conduct thorough security assessments of vendors. This includes evaluating their security measures, understanding their data handling practices and ensuring they comply with industry standards and regulations. Regular vendor assessments help maintain a secure supply chain and reduce the risk of security breaches through third-party providers.
Be Cautious. Never upload or share any data deemed confidential, proprietary or protected by regulations without obtaining prior approval from the relevant department. This encompasses data related to customers, employees or partners. Consider implementing content filtering mechanisms to identify and block potentially harmful outputs.
Control Access. Implementing robust user authentication and authorization mechanisms is paramount in securing generative AI tools. Multifactor authentication should be employed to ensure that only authorized individuals can access and use the AI tools. Additionally, organizations should carefully manage user roles and permissions to control what actions users can perform within the system. Regular reviews and updates to user access levels are essential to maintain a secure environment.
Patch and Update. Like any other software, generative AI tools have vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malicious actors. Establish a comprehensive patch management policy to ensure that the tools are regularly updated with the latest security patches. Timely updates help protect against known vulnerabilities and strengthen the overall security posture of the system.
Have a Plan. A well-defined incident response plan is necessary to minimize the impact of a potential security breach. The plan should outline the steps to be taken in case of a security incident, including communication protocols, containment measures and post-incident analysis to identify areas for improvement.
Generative AI tools have remarkable potential, but they come with significant security responsibilities. The cybersecurity pros at Technologent can help you develop and implement robust security policies covering data privacy, access control, authentication, vendor assessments and more. Contact us to learn more about how to minimize the security risks inherent in these powerful tools.