What is ChatGPT Security?
ChatGPT security is the process of protecting an organization from the compliance, brand image, customer experience, and general safety risks that ChatGPT introduces into applications.
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is at the forefront of the large language model (LLM) revolution, with 92% of Fortune 500 companies integrating ChatGPT within its first year of release and more than 200 million weekly active users as of August 2024.
As ChatGPT’s capabilities expand—with new features like fine-tuning and the Assistants API—its influence as a powerful tool for enterprises can only continue to grow. However, ChatGPT’s widespread use also introduces serious security concerns.
In this article, we’ll explore common security risks associated with ChatGPT and outline best practices to safeguard your enterprise applications.
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Common security risks for ChatGPT enterprise applications
AI and GenAI introduce a new set of challenges for SecOps processes due to the unique nature of AI models and their deployments. While traditional security risks still apply, here we’ll discuss ChatGPT security risks that are specific to GenAI enterprise applications:
Data theft: Large amounts of sensitive enterprise data can be intercepted during transmission or when stored on a server, especially if proper encryption methods aren’t in place. For example, malicious actors could exploit weak API endpoints to steal confidential business data during communication.
Data leaks: ChatGPT may inadvertently expose personally identifiable information (PII) or intellectual property (IP) through responses, potentially using such data for training future models. One of the most common attack vectors is insufficient data sanitization before using ChatGPT for model fine-tuning.
Malicious code: While ChatGPT doesn’t create harmful code on its own, it can be manipulated by attackers using prompts that mimic human-like text to run and generate dangerous scripts. This creates a new attack vector where malicious actors can trick the model into assisting with unauthorized system access.
Output misuse: The output from ChatGPT can be misused if malicious actors twist its responses to create deceptive or harmful content. Imagine malicious actors generating misleading legal advice or using human-like text in social engineering attacks through your GenAI applications.
Unauthorized access and impersonation: With social engineering attacks contributing to 74% of all data breaches, ChatGPT can be exploited to impersonate trusted individuals or services, making it easier for attackers to gain unauthorized access to your systems for malicious purposes.
The implications are not just theoretical—high-profile incidents such as the March 2023 ChatGPT outage and the Samsung data exposure in April 2023 underscore the real-world impact of these vulnerabilities.
2023 Samsung ChatGPT Leak
In April 2023, Samsung faced a significant data leak incident involving ChatGPT. Three separate employees allegedly leaked confidential company information to the AI chatbot within a span of just 20 days.
Key details of the Samsung leak:
One engineer reportedly entered Samsung's source code into ChatGPT while seeking a solution to a bug.
Another employee recorded a company meeting, transcribed it, and input the transcription into ChatGPT to create meeting notes.
A third employee used ChatGPT to optimize a test sequence for identifying yield and defective chips.
Consequences and actions taken:
Samsung launched disciplinary investigations into all three incidents.
The company issued a warning to employees about the security of internal information.
Samsung temporarily banned the use of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, on company-owned devices and internal networks.
The electronics giant is now developing its own in-house AI tools for software development and translation.
Ensuring robust security protocols is crucial to protect against such threats—whether unintentional or resulting from cyber attacks—and safeguard enterprise applications.
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Best practices for securing ChatGPT deployments
Implementing AI security best practices ensures ChatGPT remains a secure and effective tool for enterprises by preventing security risks and additionally enhancing its scalability and integration across various applications.
Once again, traditional security measures such as comprehensive monitoring and logging as well as network detection and response (NDR) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) are assumed. Below, we explore five key security practices and actionable steps specific to safeguarding your ChatGPT deployments:
1. Keep ChatGPT updated
Staying on top of updates ensures that your deployment has the latest security patches and improvements:
Consider adopting ChatGPT Enterprise to benefit from out-of-the-box, enterprise-level security practices and privacy guardrails.
Automate update checks and integrate them into your existing DevSecOps workflows.
Monitor security bulletins for any vulnerabilities or threats specific to language models.
Use models from reputable sources only, such as OpenAI or well-known research organizations. Keep your set of ChatGPT models and plugins to a minimum.
2. Implement zero-trust security access
A zero-trust model with a secure web gateway ensures strict verification for all users, systems, and services, regardless of their location:
Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users interacting with ChatGPT.
Ensure secure API management by implementing strong authentication, rate limiting, and monitoring of API activity for unusual behaviors.
Add encrypted communication channels like Transport Layer Security (TLS).
Monitor user and system behavior continuously, leveraging behavioral analytics to detect any deviations that might signal compromised access.
3. Limit PII and IP data
Minimizing sensitive data that’s directly processed by ChatGPT reduces the risk of leaks and unauthorized access:
Encrypt data in transit and at rest.
Obtain user consent for processing any personal data.
Anonymize and de-identify sensitive data before feeding it into ChatGPT, protecting individuals’ privacy while still utilizing the tool’s full capabilities.
Establish strict data-retention policies to limit how long sensitive information is stored and processed.
Audit data flows regularly.
4. Employ content moderation
Safeguard your ChatGPT outputs from being misused or misaligned with your business goals:
Check for copyright infringement or unauthorized use of proprietary data in ChatGPT-generated content, particularly in client-facing materials.
Implement output-filtering mechanisms to flag or block inappropriate, offensive, or biased responses before they reach end users or stakeholders.
Reduce output homogenization by customizing responses or using prompts that encourage unique and varied results, avoiding standardized or repetitive answers.
Always verify the accuracy and source of critical information produced by ChatGPT.
5. Education and Governance
Proactive, people-centric security is essential for minimizing human error and avoiding vulnerabilities altogether:
Develop a codified AI policy that outlines acceptable use, security protocols, and clear responsibilities for how ChatGPT is deployed and managed across the organization.
Regularly train employees on the risks associated with AI and ChatGPT, especially focusing on responsible data-sharing practices and awareness of common social engineering attacks.
Perform regular risk assessments to identify and address vulnerabilities, and ensure alignment with the latest security and compliance standards.
Establish an incident response plan for AI and GenAI security incidents.
By following these best practices, organizations can secure their ChatGPT deployments while harnessing the GenAI model’s potential for enterprise-scale innovation. For more official security guidelines, you can also refer to OpenAI’s safety best practices.
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How to ensure regulatory compliance with ChatGPT
When deploying AI tools like ChatGPT, it’s critical to make sure they operate within legal and ethical frameworks. Achieving full-scale regulatory compliance involves navigating complex legislative landscapes and meeting strict data protection guidelines.
For enterprises, complying with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and NIST necessitates transparency in AI decision-making processes and maintaining rigorous data-retention practices and access controls. For instance, GDPR mandates that user data is processed lawfully, transparently, and securely, while HIPAA imposes strict safeguards for health-related information.
To meet these regulatory requirements, enterprises should at minimum:
Familiarize themselves with relevant laws and guidelines.
Perform regular security audits to detect any vulnerabilities, addressing them swiftly to maintain robust defenses.
Maintain transparency in the decision-making processes of AI models, especially when based on sensitive information.
Regular assessments and audits can help prevent violations and ensure that AI deployments meet compliance standards. For specific compliance guidelines and resources on securing ChatGPT, visit OpenAI's Trust and Safety resources.
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How can Wiz AI-SPM help you secure ChatGPT in production?
As the first AI-SPM (AI Security Posture Management) tool integrated into a CNAPP, Wiz AI-SPM is uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive security for AI deployments, including ChatGPT. Through its OpenAI SaaS connector, Wiz offers a comprehensive solution for securing your ChatGPT deployments in production.
Wiz AI-SPM strengthens your ChatGPT deployments through three main functionalities:
Visibility with AI-BOM: Wiz provides an AI bill of materials (AI-BOM) that gives you full visibility of your OpenAI deployments. This includes users, data flows, services, and pipelines, enabling you to track and manage all interactions with the platform. Additionally, Wiz offers the Wiz Security Graph to visually represent these relationships for seamless identification of any risky connections or exposure points.
Risk assessment of (OpenAI) pipelines: Wiz conducts thorough security audits of your AI and GenAI pipelines, helping detect vulnerabilities such as exposed secrets, misconfigurations, and excessive permissions. This attack path analysis allows you to pinpoint exactly where risks lie and how they might be exploited.
Proactive risk mitigation with context: Wiz helps maintain your AI deployments by offering built-in threat detection, recommendations, and automated alerting. These proactive features ensure that even before an attack vector is exploited, you can act to prevent it.
By leveraging Wiz AI-SPM, you can ensure the safety and compliance of your ChatGPT environments within a centralized platform that’s designed to bridge the gap between SecOps experts and data scientists.
Next steps
Understanding and addressing the potential risks associated with ChatGPT is essential for any enterprise using generative AI tools. By following AI security best practices and ensuring AI regulatory compliance, you can protect your organization from complex risks such as data theft, data leaks, malicious code, output misuse, and unauthorized access and impersonation.
Wiz AI-SPM offers a comprehensive solution to streamline and secure AI deployments today, fast-tracking your security posture management. To learn more about how Wiz can enhance your AI security, visit Wiz for AI or schedule a live demo.
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