AI Security & Protection

AI Compliance Starts Here. Is Your Business Using AI Safely?

AI compliance is now a business-critical issue. AI tools are transforming how businesses operate — but most SMEs are unknowingly exposing data.

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See the risks
The Problem

The Risks Most Businesses
Don't Know About

AI introduces five distinct threat layers into your business. Most SMEs are exposed on all five — often without realising it.

Where this all starts — every day, in your business
Staff using AI tools to do their jobs — often without IT knowing
ChatGPTOpenAI
GeminiGoogle
CopilotMicrosoft
ClaudeAnthropic
+ Shadow AIUnknown tools
↓ risks flow down
Layer 1 — Input risks: how attackers manipulate what your staff type or feed in
Prompt injectionHijack AI behaviour
Indirect injectionVia docs, URLs, emails
JailbreakingBypass safety rails
Data poisoningCorrupt training data
↓
Layer 2 — Data & privacy risks: what leaves your business when staff use these tools
Data leakageStaff pasting secrets
GDPR exposurePII sent to 3rd parties
Training data riskProvider trains on input
Shadow AIUnsanctioned tools
↓
Layer 3 — Code & infrastructure risks: when staff use AI to write or deploy code
Vibe coding flawsAI writes insecure code
Supply chain riskSuggested bad packages
Agentic overreachAutonomous AI actions
API exposureLeaked keys, open endpoints
↓
Layer 4 — Compliance & legal risks: the regulatory consequences of AI use
EU AI ActRegulatory obligations
IP & copyrightOwnership disputes
Hallucination liabilityAI gives wrong advice
AI bias & fairnessDiscrimination exposure
↓
Layer 5 — Operational & social risks: AI-powered attacks targeting your people
Deepfake attacksCEO fraud, fake audio
AI-enhanced phishingHyper-personalised scams
Over-relianceRemoving human review
Vendor lock-inSupply & continuity risk

Click any risk card to explore it in detail below ↓

These attacks target the AI model itself — exploiting the way it processes and responds to instructions. A malicious actor doesn't need to breach your network; they just need to craft the right input.

Prompt injection: Malicious instructions hidden inside documents, emails, or web pages that hijack AI behaviour — causing it to exfiltrate data, ignore instructions, or act against your interests.
Jailbreaking: Techniques that bypass safety controls on AI tools, causing them to produce harmful, inaccurate, or policy-violating outputs that create liability for your business.
Data poisoning: Corrupting AI systems by feeding them bad training data or manipulated inputs, causing systematically wrong outputs that erode trust in your AI-driven processes.

This is where UK GDPR exposure lives. Most SMEs don't realise that staff pasting client data into a public AI tool is a notifiable data event — and that the liability sits entirely with the business.

Staff data leakage: Employees pasting client data, contracts, financial records, or internal documents into ChatGPT or Gemini — a potential UK GDPR breach with no technical safeguard in place.
Shadow AI: Staff using unapproved AI tools the business doesn't know about — no visibility, no control, no audit trail. Common tools include Grok, Meta AI, and third-party browser extensions.
Training data opt-in: Most consumer AI plans use your conversations to improve their models by default. Opting out only affects future conversations — what's already been shared may remain in training data.
US server jurisdiction: Data processed by US-based AI providers may not meet UK GDPR requirements for international data transfers — especially for regulated sectors including finance and healthcare.

AI-generated code is now being shipped to production at scale — often without the security review that hand-written code would receive. The results are frequently exploitable from day one.

Vibe coding vulnerabilities: AI-generated code shipped directly to production often contains injection flaws, insecure defaults, and OWASP Top 10 issues that a junior developer might have caught.
Malicious or deprecated packages: AI code assistants frequently suggest npm and PyPI packages that are outdated, abandoned, or in some cases deliberately malicious (typosquatting attacks).
Hardcoded secrets: API keys, credentials, and tokens appearing directly in AI-generated code — frequently committed to public repositories before anyone notices.
Excessive agentic permissions: AI agents given broad system access — read/write file permissions, unrestricted API access, admin database roles — creating significant blast radius if compromised.

Regulation is moving faster than most businesses realise. The EU AI Act is now in force — and UK businesses with EU customers or operations are within scope. The ICO has also issued specific guidance on AI and UK GDPR compliance.

EU AI Act obligations: If you use AI in hiring, lending, customer service scoring, or other high-risk categories — and your customers include EU residents — you may have obligations under the EU AI Act regardless of where you're based.
IP and copyright exposure: Who owns AI-generated content? Current UK law is unsettled. Using AI-generated text, images, or code without understanding the licensing terms of the model creates potential IP infringement risk.
Hallucination liability: AI confidently giving wrong advice to customers — incorrect product information, wrong legal or financial guidance, inaccurate medical information — with your business's name on it.
AI bias and discrimination: AI tools used in hiring, lending, or customer service decisions may embed discrimination that exposes you to Equality Act claims and regulatory action from the FCA or CMA.

AI doesn't just create technical vulnerabilities — it supercharges social engineering and creates new operational dependencies. These risks require human and process responses, not just technical controls.

Deepfake CEO fraud: AI-generated audio and video used to impersonate executives in wire transfer scams, supplier payment redirections, and internal authorisation bypasses. These attacks are now indistinguishable from genuine communications.
AI-enhanced phishing: Hyper-personalised phishing attacks using AI to reference real employee names, current projects, supplier relationships, and internal terminology — bypassing spam filters and human suspicion.
Over-reliance on AI decisions: Removing human review from critical business decisions — credit checks, contract approvals, customer communications — creating single points of failure and accountability gaps.
Vendor lock-in and dependency: Business-critical workflows built around a single AI provider with no fallback — creating operational fragility when models change, are deprecated, or suffer outages.
What's Happening Right Now

Not hypothetical.
Happening today.

These aren't edge cases for large enterprises. They're happening in businesses your size, with tools your team is already using.

Most AI tools are opted into training by default. Your staff conversations — including anything pasted in — may already be in a training dataset you cannot retrieve or delete.
Default setting · All major consumer AI plans
A free ChatGPT account offers zero contractual data protection. Enterprise plans are different. Most SMEs are not on Enterprise plans — and most don't know it matters.
OpenAI Terms of Service · Consumer vs. Enterprise
Under UK GDPR, if your staff paste client data into an AI tool, you are the data controller. The liability is yours — not OpenAI's, not Google's. Yours.
ICO Guidance · UK GDPR Article 4
Most Exposed Sectors

Which Businesses
Need This?

AI risk is not spread evenly. Some industries are far more exposed because they handle sensitive data, rely on fast-moving staff decisions, or are already using AI without formal controls.

Residential properties — estate agents and AI data risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 01

Estate Agents & Property Companies

Estate agencies routinely use AI for listing descriptions, client communications, and market reports — often feeding in buyer financials, personal data, and property details with no formal controls in place.

Common AI Use
Listing descriptions and sales copy
Client and applicant email drafting
Tenant screening summaries
Market analysis and valuation reports
Main Risks
Client names and financial details in public AI tools
AI copy containing unverifiable legal claims
No audit trail across branch staff AI use
GDPR exposure from uncontrolled data processing
What Could Go Wrong
Staff paste a buyer's financial profile into ChatGPT to draft an offer letter — that client's personal data is now inside a third-party AI system with no consent or controls.
AI-generated listing makes a legally unverifiable claim about planning permission — the agency faces a complaint and potential Trading Standards involvement.
Multiple branches using different AI tools with no oversight — inconsistent outputs, compliance gaps, and no audit trail if something goes wrong.
Data Leakage GDPR Risk AI Hallucination Shadow AI
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit Acceptable Use Policy Staff Awareness Training
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Financial data and accountancy — AI security risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 02

Accountants & Bookkeepers

Accountants are using AI to handle financial summaries, draft client correspondence, and assist with spreadsheet work — yet few have any policy governing how confidential client financial records are treated inside these tools.

Common AI Use
Financial report drafting and summaries
Client email and letter drafting
Spreadsheet formula and data assistance
Tax and compliance document support
Main Risks
Client financials in public AI with no data retention controls
Confidentiality obligations breached by AI default training
AI-generated errors presented as professional advice
No audit trail for AI-assisted work product
What Could Go Wrong
An accountant uses ChatGPT to summarise a client P&L — that financial data is now potentially used to train a public AI model without the client's knowledge or consent.
AI-drafted correspondence contains an error on a client's tax position that goes unreviewed — the firm faces a professional negligence claim.
Staff across the firm use six different AI tools with no firm-wide policy — an unmanageable compliance gap that grows with every new hire.
Client Confidentiality Data Leakage GDPR Risk Compliance Exposure
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit AI Policy Compliance Assessment
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Recruitment interview and candidate data — AI security risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 03

Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment agencies handle some of the most personally sensitive data in professional services — CVs, salary expectations, employment history, health disclosures — and AI is now embedded in nearly every part of the workflow.

Common AI Use
CV screening and candidate summaries
Job description and outreach drafting
Interview preparation notes
Candidate and client communication
Main Risks
Candidate salary data and employment history leaked via prompts
AI bias in CV screening leading to discriminatory shortlisting
Client hiring briefs and salary budgets exposed via AI
No documentation of AI-assisted decisions for compliance
What Could Go Wrong
A consultant uses AI to score CVs — the algorithm inadvertently filters on protected characteristics and the firm faces an employment discrimination claim.
Candidate personal data entered into a public AI tool in breach of GDPR consent terms — ICO investigation, reputational damage, candidate complaint.
A client's confidential hiring strategy and salary budget shared in a prompt to generate outreach copy — the information leaves the firm with no record or control.
Data Leakage GDPR Risk AI Bias Client Confidentiality
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit AI Policy Staff Awareness Training
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Marketing agency team — AI security and client data risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 05

Marketing Agencies

Marketing agencies are among the heaviest AI adopters — using it for everything from copy to campaign strategy — but most do so without any controls over how client data, creative briefs, or unreleased brand information is handled.

Common AI Use
Copywriting and content production
Campaign strategy and ideation
Client brief summarisation
Social and ad creative generation
Main Risks
Confidential client strategies and brand briefs exposed
Shadow AI use across teams with no standardisation
IP ownership uncertainty around AI-generated content
Client CRM and customer data entered into public AI tools
What Could Go Wrong
An account manager pastes an unreleased client campaign brief into ChatGPT for copy ideas — the client's strategic direction is now inside a third-party AI system.
Two competing clients' data is inadvertently processed through the same AI context window — creating a confidentiality conflict with no way to audit or remediate it.
Junior staff use a dozen different AI tools with no firm-wide policy — a chaotic, unauditable situation that grows with every new project and every new hire.
Shadow AI Client Confidentiality Data Leakage Insecure AI Use
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit Acceptable Use Policy Staff Awareness Training
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Ecommerce operations and customer data — AI security risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 06

Ecommerce Brands

Ecommerce brands use AI across customer service, product content, and operations — often exposing customer PII, supplier pricing, and business-critical commercial data in prompts with no oversight or policy.

Common AI Use
Customer service message drafting
Product description and copy generation
Returns and complaint handling
Inventory and operations support
Main Risks
Customer PII (names, order history, addresses) in AI tools
Supplier pricing, margins, and logistics data exposed
AI-generated copy containing inaccurate or misleading claims
No policy governing customer data shared with AI
What Could Go Wrong
A customer service agent pastes a full order history into ChatGPT to draft a response — every customer in that thread has had their personal data processed by an unvetted third-party AI.
AI generates a product description containing an incorrect safety claim about a product — the brand faces a consumer protection complaint and a potential recall.
Supplier pricing strategy is included in an operations AI prompt — commercially sensitive data leaves the business with no record or data processing agreement.
Data Leakage GDPR Risk AI Hallucination Insecure AI Use
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit Acceptable Use Policy Staff Awareness Training
Get a Free AI Security Review →
Financial adviser meeting with client — AI security and FCA compliance risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 07

Mortgage Brokers & Financial Services

Mortgage brokers and financial advisers operate in one of the UK's most tightly regulated environments — yet many are now using AI to handle sensitive client affordability data and financial profiles with no formal governance or FCA-aligned oversight.

Common AI Use
Client financial summary drafting
Affordability research and support
Suitability and recommendation letter drafting
Compliance documentation assistance
Main Risks
Client income, credit, and affordability data in public AI
FCA-regulated communications not meeting disclosure standards
AI-generated financial content falling short of compliance requirements
No audit trail for AI-assisted advice or recommendations
What Could Go Wrong
A broker uses AI to draft a suitability letter — the content does not meet FCA disclosure requirements and is sent to the client without a compliance review.
A client's sensitive financial profile is entered into an AI tool — the data is stored and potentially used for AI training with no regulatory authorisation or lawful basis.
An FCA-regulated firm faces scrutiny after an AI-related data incident — it cannot demonstrate what tools were in use, what data was processed, or what controls were in place.
Compliance Exposure Client Confidentiality GDPR Risk Data Leakage
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit Compliance Assessment AI Policy
Get a Free AI Security Review →
Private clinic reception — patient data and AI security risk
Most Exposed Sectors · 08

Private Clinics & Healthcare Providers

Private clinics and independent healthcare providers are increasingly using AI for admin and patient communications — but health data carries the highest level of legal protection under UK GDPR, and the tolerance for error is zero.

Common AI Use
Appointment and admin communication drafting
Patient query response assistance
Medical summary and note assistance
Operational and scheduling support
Main Risks
Special category health data processed via unvetted AI tools
AI-generated medical content containing clinical inaccuracies
Patient confidentiality obligations breached by consumer AI
No DPIA in place for AI processing of patient health data
What Could Go Wrong
A receptionist uses ChatGPT to respond to a patient query — health details are entered into a public AI system in breach of special category data obligations under UK GDPR.
An AI-drafted appointment summary includes inaccurate clinical information — the patient acts on it and the practice faces a serious complaint and regulatory review.
The practice faces an ICO investigation for processing special category health data via a third-party AI tool without a lawful basis, a DPIA, or a data processing agreement.
GDPR Risk Data Leakage AI Hallucination Compliance Exposure
Best First Steps
AI Security Audit AI Policy Staff Awareness Training Compliance Assessment
Get a Free AI Security Review →
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Possibly. By default, most consumer AI plans are opted into training. If your team has been pasting business data, client information, or internal documents, that data may already be in a training pipeline. An audit tells you exactly where you stand and what to do next — and opting out today is still worth doing, even if it only protects future conversations.
Yes. UK GDPR doesn't have a size exemption — the ICO has fined businesses of all sizes for data breaches. Neither does a deepfake scam targeting your finance team care about your headcount. Smaller businesses are often more exposed precisely because they have fewer controls in place, not less to protect. Attackers know this.
No. We cover ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Meta AI, Grok, AI coding tools including Cursor and GitHub Copilot, and any other AI tools your team uses — known or unknown. Shadow AI (tools the business hasn't approved) is often where the biggest gaps are. Our audit surfaces everything.
You can — and you should. But opting out only protects future conversations. Anything already shared may already be in training data, and there's no straightforward way to retrieve it. An audit also covers the other 14+ risk vectors that a single settings toggle doesn't touch: GDPR obligations, shadow AI, code security, compliance mapping, and social engineering awareness.
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