1. Confidential data in personal accounts
The most common leak: employees pasting customer data or internal documents into free personal AI accounts. Fix: provide business accounts (which exclude your data from training by default) and a one-page policy that says what may go where.
2. Shadow tools nobody approved
New AI tools appear weekly and employees try them with real company data. Fix: a lightweight approval route (“ask before connecting anything to company data”) plus a shared list of approved tools. Make the sanctioned path easier than the shadow path.
3. Overshared integrations
AI assistants connected to email, drives and CRMs inherit whatever access you grant. Broad grants mean a prompt can surface documents the user should never see. Fix: least-privilege connections, and test what the assistant can reach before rolling it out.
4. Convincing fraud
AI-written phishing has no spelling mistakes, and voice cloning makes ‘the CEO on the phone’ a real attack. Fix: verification procedures for payments and credential changes that no single message or call can bypass, and tell your team why.
5. Unreviewed output in the wild
AI states errors confidently: wrong prices in quotes, invented facts in customer answers. Fix: human review on everything that leaves the building, as policy rather than preference.
FAQ
Are business AI tools safe for confidential data?
Reputable business tiers with no-training commitments and clear processing terms are appropriate for most internal data. Highly sensitive categories deserve explicit case-by-case decisions.
Do we need cyber insurance changes for AI?
Check whether your current policy covers social engineering fraud; AI has made those attacks sharply more convincing.
What is the single highest-impact step?
Business accounts plus the one-page policy. It closes the most common gap in an afternoon.