79% of managers say a cyberattack hit their organization within the past year, according to Viking Cloud.
In addition, generative or agentic AI-driven phishing, generative prompt model hacking, and AI vishing (use voice messages to probe for personal information) are the top concerns reported by C-Suite cyber leaders, according to Viking Cloud. 79% of managers say a cyberattack hit their organization within the past year, according to Viking Cloud.
In addition, generative or agentic AI-driven phishing, generative prompt model hacking, and AI vishing (use voice messages to probe for personal information) are the top concerns reported by C-Suite cyber leaders, according to Viking Cloud. 45%, 44%, and 43% of those leaders expressed those concerns, respectively.
Given these common security concerns, we figured it would be helpful for us to discuss how to ensure security when building, deploying, and maintaining AI agents.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss:
-Why security is important in the AI agent space.
-What you can do to enhance agent security.
-What to avoid to enhance security.
-Final thoughts.
Why security is important in the AI agent space
Security is critical in the age of AI agents because AI makes businesses vulnerable to hackers without those hackers needing to do malware attacks.
All it takes is for an agent to be fed a single piece of information, and that information can get leaked to the public.
Without security, your agents can’t be trusted to safeguard customer and employee data. That’s why it’s crucial to get your foundations secured before building and deploying an AI agent.
What you can do to enhance agent security
With the importance of security in mind, here are some best practices you can follow to ensure agent security:
Use Appropriate Tools: According to OWASP, it’s best to give agents the tools they need for specific tasks and to use separate tool sets for various trust levels.
Assume Zero-Trust: It’s also smart to assume external data can’t be trusted and to use delimiters and clear boundaries between directions and data. To do this, build a zero-trust architecture in which all accounts need authorization for access, according to IBM. This protects your system from bad actors who may be able to get in without extra authorization steps.
Monitor and Observe: In addition, set up monitoring and observability measures to check your security quality, according to OWASP.
Ensure Protection: Finally, OWASP recommends businesses implement data protection and privacy by minimizing sensitive data use in agent contexts and following privacy regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA.
By using the proper tools, authenticating all accounts, and monitoring security and privacy, you can keep your agents safer.
At Psycray, we use two-factor authentication for all of our accounts, and we give our clients Single-Sign On features or enhanced domain protection to ensure optimum security. These practices keep both our information and clients’ information secure.
What to avoid to enhance security
When thinking about your AI security practices, it’s just as important to know what to avoid as it is what to do.
Here are some of the practices you should avoid when aiming to increase your agent’s security, according to OWASP:
– Avoid giving agents unrestricted tool access or letting them make high-impact decisions.
– Refrain from storing sensitive data in agents’ memory without encryption or redaction.
– Try not to ignore cost controls or transfer unsensitized data between agents in multi-agent systems.
– Do not write sensitive information or PII in plain text.
By limiting agents’ access to PII and sensitive data in every way possible, you can reduce your risk of data breaches or malware attacks occurring.
Final thoughts
Security is a hot-button topic right now due to the ease with which hackers can prompt social engineering through AI-generated deep fakes, convincing emails, and more.
In taking the steps above to mitigate these issues, you can set your business up for success. Educate your employees on these security best practices, and it will help your organization immensely.