Artificial Intelligence is one of the headline technologies of the modern era. After all, AI is modern magic — it can do wonders for your business, and can truly unlock your company’s potential. Companies are taking note of this, and AI adoption is rapidly increasing.
However, one thing that can be massively overlooked is the role of security in AI adoption. After all, security is vital for every aspect of your business — including AI adoption, for many reasons.
In this article, we will review the ins and outs of AI adoption and how you can ensure that data security is tight in your organisation’s cloud adoption. We’ll take a look at some of the best practices, as well as how you can get started today.
The Rise of AI in Business
Artificial intelligence is simply unmissable for any modern business. The power of AI is indisputable — from the ability to automate whole processes, to simply having an omniscient work assistant that can do anything for you, AI is such a flexible tool.
There are so many benefits to implementing AI into your business, some of which include —
- Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity: With automation, process optimisation, and predictive analytics, AI can find parts of your organisation that are lacking in efficiency and supercharge them. This will ultimately bolster productivity within your business, meaning that people have more time to do what matters.
- Customer Experience: AI’s ability to create custom recommendations and tailored customer service experiences means that your customers will always get the best experience for them and that their experience will also remain consistently high in quality.
- Plan for the future: AI is amazing for planning for the future. After all, it’s able to detect trends and analyse for patterns, to be able to predict where your company is going.
Why Data Security is Crucial for AI Adoption
Protection of Sensitive Information
AI simply runs on data. This means that you’ll need to feed your AI data for it to be able to work — which is a risk when not protected properly.
Using AI that uses sensitive data can make your information vulnerable because you are in one place. On top of this, failing to consider how the AI uses your data in the long term can lead to that data being leaked through the AI’s training data.
Compliance with Regulations
On top of this, compliance regulations like GDPR are vital to consider when using AI in your organisation. Misusing the data in your organisation could be a breach of compliance, which could be problematic for your business.
Failing to comply with compliance can lead to penalties, up to litigation if your compliance breaches are serious. So, taking care here is vital.
Common Data Security Risks in AI Implementation
Access Control
Access control is vital for any security setup, especially when using AI. After all, with the potency of AI, anyone with access to your organisation’s AI can do a lot with a few prompts.
Data Loss Prevention
Incorrect labelling of sensitive information can lead to data loss prevention issues. This is because, if sensitive data is labelled incorrectly as less sensitive, it increases the risk of unauthorised access and accidental disclosure.
This can result in data breaches, regulatory violations, and reputational damage.
Employee Misuse and Responsible Use
Employees using AI irresponsibly can also lead to information becoming compromised. After all, AI is powerful, and misuse of AI can lead to lots of the above issues prevailing and becoming a problem.
Training your employees on the dangers of AI misuse and how to responsibly use AI will help reduce this, as it will reduce accidental misuse.
Best Practices for Ensuring Data Security in AI
Make Use of Sensitivity Labels
Sensitivity labels are vital for AI systems. They let you categorise data based on its level of confidentiality, meaning that you can implement controls to specific labels based on sensitivity, to prevent access, disclosure, or misuse.
These labels can be applied manually, automatically, or even using a hybrid approach to mix both of these. This will allow you to be able to label whatever you need with ease — however is best for you.
Enforce Least Privilege Access Controls
The principle of least privilege is a vital approach to security in the modern world. It ensures that only those who need access to information for their work have access to their work — restricting access to anyone who doesn’t need to be able to access said data.
Using access controls to be able to limit who can access different information — using AI sensitivity labels, for example — will be able to stop anyone from accessing data they’re not meant to.
Provide Sufficient Employee Training
Employee training is vital. After all, making sure that your employees are aware of the risks that they can face and how to make sure they’re protected will ensure that user error doesn’t lead to security issues and consequences.
This is especially important when it comes to AI. AI is a new concept — meaning that lots of people are unaware of the risks that it can bring, meaning that there’s a higher chance that someone uneducated will make a mistake that can lead to a problem.
How We Can Help
Artificial intelligence is a technology that is taking over the business world. Businesses are rapidly implementing AI — and security is becoming a massive concern for companies worldwide.
By making sure you know what to do when it comes to security and AI, you can easily prevent your business from having issues in the long run — from data leakage to compliance issues, and beyond.
If you’re looking to get started with artificial intelligence but don’t know how to go about doing so correctly, reach out to us now. We’re here to help and will ensure that you have all of the support you need to be able to succeed with artificial intelligence in the long run.