Striking a careful balance
As tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini become more common in today’s workplaces, businesses need to strike a careful balance between embracing innovation and ensuring security.
The benefits of these AI platforms are well documented, providing powerful tools for various tasks—from drafting content to analysing large datasets. But of course, these platforms may also introduce significant risks that could expose your organisation’s most sensitive data.
One of the primary concerns with the widespread adoption of Generative AI is the potential for data leaks. Every interaction with these tools involves data input that, if not properly managed, could inadvertently end up being used to train public AI models or lead to unintended exposure of critical business information. This risk underscores the importance of gaining visibility into how AI is being used across your workforce and implementing policies and control measures to monitor and secure these interactions.
To effectively manage AI use within your organisation, you must be able to discover which AI tools are being used by your employees, and understand the scope of their interactions with AI platforms. Lookout’s SSE platform offers rich visibility and analytics, enabling organisations to track AI usage, filter by specific AI cloud applications, and analyse the volume of data being inputted by users. By drilling down into these details, businesses can assess whether the use of these tools is aligned with their job functions and whether it is enhancing productivity or introducing unnecessary risks.
Once you have visibility, the next step is to control access to these tools. For risk-averse enterprises, this might mean outright blocking access to all Generative AI platforms – which is possible with Lookout’s SSE platform. Additionally, administrators can create tailored rules and policies that can deny access to specific AI tools or allow limited use under strict conditions.
By enforcing dynamic policies in this way, your business can ensure compliance with industry regulations such as PCI DSS or GDPR. If sensitive data, like payment card information, is detected within a Generative AI interaction, Lookout can automatically deny access and notify the user, preventing potential compliance violations and data breaches.
While technology plays a crucial role in securing AI use, employee education is important, too. Your workforce must understand the risks associated with these tools, particularly the dangers of sharing sensitive information or over-relying on AI-generated outputs. Educating employees on best practices for AI use will help mitigate risks and ensure that your organisation can safely harness the power of Generative AI without compromising security.
How Appurity Can Help
Ensuring that these AI innovations enhance rather than compromise your data security is essential.
As part of Appurity’s Endpoint to Cloud Cyber+ Assessment Service, we include a comprehensive review of your AI usage through Lookout’s SSE platform.
With our service, you can:
- Discover AI Usage: Identify which AI platforms are in use by your employees and assess the volume of data being inputted.
- Monitor AI Interactions: Ensure that AI usage aligns with your security policies and doesn’t expose sensitive information.
- Detect Threats: Our assessment identifies potential threats such as malware, data leaks, and compliance violations within your SaaS applications. It also specifically analyses AI interactions, ensuring that the use of Generative AI tools does not expose your organisation to unintended risks or data breaches.
We are committed to supporting our customers in managing the complexities of Generative AI use. Whether your focus is on compliance, data protection, productivity, or security, we can support you to understand, monitor, and manage AI use across your workforce. Learn more about our Endpoint-to-Cloud Assessment service here or book a free call with us to discuss further.