The challenge of shadow AI

AI won't take over the world yet, but it might make you vulnerable

Unseen or unmanaged artificial intelligence (AI) tools in your organisation are more than blind spots; they’re ticking time bombs. When employees use unvetted AI applications, they unknowingly expose your business to regulatory breaches, data privacy issues, and operational instability.

The crux of the challenge lies in businesses’ lack of control. Without governance, you lose oversight of how AI tools interact with your data and how securely they operate. The combination of AI’s power and the absence of proper management amplifies both operational and reputational risks.

You need to reduce exposure

When employees independently adopt AI tools, they bypass official security protocols and introduce unmanaged risks. Shadow AI creates a chaotic landscape, where IT leaders lack visibility into data flows, access points, and potential vulnerabilities, putting the entire organisation at risk. Unvetted AI tools lead to sensitive data being shared or processed without proper safeguards. This creates significant risks of breaches, unauthorised retention, or misuse of your business-critical information.

You have compliance concerns

With AI tools operating outside of approved frameworks, businesses risk violating industry regulations and privacy/data protections laws. Shadow AI can also lead to accidental breaches of industry standards or frameworks through mishandling of regulated data, resulting in severe financial penalties and compliance setbacks.

You want sight of all your vulnerabilities

Shadow AI bypasses security protocols, introducing tools that may be poorly secured or exploitable. These unmanaged tools increase the risk of malware, API breaches, or adversarial attacks, exposing your business to cyber threats you can’t see or control. Unvetted AI tools often lack the necessary security features to safeguard sensitive data. These tools may inadvertently access, store, or process information in ways that compromise data integrity and privacy.

IP exposure

Should a product design team experiment with an AI image generator for concept art, they upload proprietary designs and company IP into an unsanctioned tool. Months later, they discover that elements of their designs appear in the AI tool's public dataset and outputs used by competitors. The company realises it has no legal recourse due to the tool's terms of service, which allow for the use of uploaded data in AI training. This results in a loss of competitive advantage and potential legal complications.

Compliance breach

If an unsanctioned AI-based legal document generator is used to draft a business contract, you're saving time, but mistakenly, it overlooks critical clauses required for the company to comply with industry regulations. The contract is signed, but later, during an audit, the business is penalised for failing to meet regulatory standards, costing significant time and money to rectify. Further, the lack of due diligence exposes gaps in the company’s risk management processes.

Data leakage

Imagine a marketing team using an AI-powered tool to generate customer insights by uploading internal spreadsheets containing sensitive client data. Unbeknownst to them, the tool’s terms of service allow for uploaded data to be stored and used for training its AI models. A few months later, sensitive customer information is exposed in a data breach affecting the AI vendor. The business faces regulatory fines for non-compliance with data protection laws (like GDPR), reputational damage, and the loss of client trust.

Take stock of AI usage today

Ask the difficult questions like what AI tools are being used across your teams, who is using them and why? Then focus in on the blind spots like ChatGPT, MidJourney or others that might be handling sensitive company or customer data.

Raise awareness and set boundaries this week

Educate teams on the risks of shadow AI, especially around data exposure, compliance and security. Start to consider initial guidelines by creating a policy for AI usage, whats allowed, what isn't and when to involved IT or leadership in decisions.

Implement governance measures this month

Work with IT to assess AI tools in use and set up monitoring processes for new applications. Next you'll need to validate secure data handling by reviewing permissions and ensuring sensitve information isn't being fed into unsecured AI systems.

Develop a long-term AI strategy ASAP

Build governance frameworks by defining approval processes for AI tools, vetting vendors and ensuring security measures are in place. It's important to tailor AI to your business goals, while mitigating risks and guided by regulatory requirements.

Establishing AI governance

The first step in tackling Shadow AI is creating a governance framework that sets clear policies for AI tool usage. Conosco’s AI Strategy & Consultancy services help your organisation establish robust guidelines and practices, ensuring that all AI tools are vetted, sanctioned, and integrated securely. This proactive approach enables leaders to regain control, ensuring visibility and reducing risk across all digital touchpoints.

Strengthening security operations

Implementing a Security Operations Centre (SOC) provides constant monitoring and threat detection to uncover hidden AI tools that may be lurking in the network. Conosco’s SOC services deliver real-time oversight, identifying and mitigating potential risks from unapproved AI applications, so your team can focus on innovation without compromising security.

Ensuring identity and access management

Effective Identity and Access Management (IAM) is essential to safeguard data and enforce access control for AI tools. Conosco’s IAM solutions ensure that only authorised users can interact with approved AI platforms, reducing the risk of data leakage and unauthorised access. By managing identities across the enterprise, Conosco helps you secure sensitive information and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

AI Strategy & Consultancy Services

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Security Operations Centre (SOC)

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Identity and Access Management (IAM)

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November 19, 2024 by Conosco

You are facing unmanaged AI usage and shadow AI risks

The risks of unmanaged, unregulated AI in your business.

AI won't take over the world yet, but it might make you vulnerable

You need to reduce exposure

You have compliance concerns

You want sight of all your vulnerabilities

Doing nothing is not an option

IP exposure

Compliance breach

Data leakage

Actions you should take

Take stock of AI usage today

Raise awareness and set boundaries this week

Implement governance measures this month

Develop a long-term AI strategy ASAP

Addressing the challenge

Establishing AI governance

Strengthening security operations

Ensuring identity and access management

Speak to an expert and remove the pain of shadow AI from your business.

Our portfolio of solutions that solve this challenge

AI Strategy & Consultancy Services

Security Operations Centre (SOC)

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

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