TECHNOLOGY TIMES
Insider Tips To Make Your Business Run Faster, Easier And More
IS YOUR BUSINESS TRAINING AI TO HACK YOU?
There’salotofexcitementaboutartificial intelligence(AI)rightnow,andforgood reasonToolslikeChatGPT,Google GeminiandMicrosoftCopilotare poppingupeverywhereBusinessesare usingthemtocreatecontent,respondto customers,writee-mails,summarize meetingsandevenassistwithcoding orspreadsheets.
AIcanbeahugetime-saverand productivitybooster.But,likeany powerfultool,ifmisused,itcanopen thedoortoseriousproblems–especially whenitcomestoyourcompany’s datasecurity.
Evensmallbusinessesareatrisk.
Here’s The Problem
Theissueisn’tthetechnologyitselfIt’s
howpeopleareusingit.When employeescopyandpastesensitivedata intopublicAItools,thatinformationmay bestored,analyzedorevenusedtotrain futuremodelsThatmeansconfidentialor regulateddatacouldbeexposed,without anyonerealizingit.
In2023,engineersatSamsung accidentallyleakedinternalsourcecode intoChatGPT.Itbecamesucha significantprivacyissuethatthe companybannedtheuseofpublicAI toolsaltogether,asreportedby Tom’s Hardware. Nowpicturethesamethinghappening inyourofficeAnemployeepastesclient financialsormedicaldataintoChatGPT to“gethelpsummarizing,”notknowing therisksInseconds,privateinformation isexposed.
Why Small Businesses Are Vulnerable
Mostsmallbusinessesaren’tmonitoring AIuseinternallyEmployeesadoptnew toolsontheirown,oftenwithgood Beyondaccidentalleaks,hackersarenow exploitingamoresophisticatedtechnique called prompt injection They hide malicious instructions inside e-mails, transcripts, PDFs or even YouTube captions.WhenanAItoolisaskedto processthatcontent,itcanbetrickedinto giving up sensitive data or doing somethingitshouldn’t Inshort,theAI helpstheattacker–withoutknowingit’s beingmanipulated.
intentionsbutwithoutclearguidance. ManyassumeAItoolsarejustsmarter versionsofGoogle.
Theydon’trealizethatwhattheypaste couldbestoredpermanentlyorseenby someoneelse
Andfewcompanieshavepoliciesinplace tomanageAIusageortotrainemployees onwhat’ssafetoshare
considerblockingpublicAIplatformson companydevicesifneeded.
What You Can Do Right Now
Youdon’tneedtobanAIfromyour business,butyoudoneedtotakecontrol
Here are four steps to get started:
1. Create an AI usage policy.
Definewhichtoolsareapproved,what typesofdatashouldneverbesharedand whotogotowithquestions.
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Helpyourstaffunderstandtherisksof usingpublicAItoolsandhowthreatslike promptinjectionwork.
Encourageemployeestostickwith business-gradetoolslikeMicrosoft Copilot,whichoffermorecontrolover dataprivacyandcompliance.
4. Monitor AI use.
Trackwhichtoolsarebeingusedand
AI is here to stay
Businessesthatlearnhowtouseitsafely willbenefit,butthosethatignoretherisks areaskingfortrouble
Afewcareless keystrokescanexpose yourbusinesstohackers, complianceviolations, orworse.
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CARTOON OF THE MONTH
The Bottom Line
2. Educate your team.
3. Use secure platforms.
Afailed2001draftledformerOaklandA’s GeneralManagerBillyBeanetooverhaulhow hemanagedtalent—sparkingatransformation thatrevolutionizedbaseballandinspired industriesworldwide.
Usingadata-drivenstrategy,Beaneturnedthe low-budgetOaklandA’sintoconsistentplayoff contenders.TheteamwonsevenAmerican LeagueWesternDivisiontitlesandmade10 postseasonappearances,allwhileoperating withoneofthelowestpayrollsinMajor LeagueBaseball.
Beane’sapproach,knownasthe“Moneyball” philosophy,emphasizedobjectiveanalysisover traditionandintuition.Itgainedwidespread recognitionthroughabest-sellingbookand Oscar-nominated film chronicling his unconventionalpathtosuccess.
Atarecentleadershipevent,Beaneoutlined howbusinessescanadoptsimilarprinciples tobuildhigh-performingteamsdespite resourcelimitations.
“Baseballhadbeentrackingstatssincethe 1800s,butnoneofitinfluenceddecisionmaking,”Beanesaid.“Iturnedrunningateam intoamathequation.”Hereplacedgutinstinct andsubjectivescoutingwithanalytics, reshapinghowtalentwasevaluated.
“Youcan’tgobackandforth,”Beanesaid.“If youcommittodata,youhavetouseitevery time.”Histeamstayeddisciplinedthroughout eachseason,trustingthemathtoguide decisionsratherthanreactingemotionallyto short-termoutcomes.
Ratherthanspendingbigonstars,Beane focusedonbuildingdepth.“Wecouldn’tafford topplayers,sowemadesurewedidn’thavebad ones,”hesaid.“Astrongmiddleroster outperformsonewithgaps.”
Beanerecruitedtalentfromoutsidetraditional pipelines.OneexamplewashiringaHarvard economicsmajorasassistantGM—unusualina roletypicallyfilledbyformerplayers.Thisfresh thinkinghelpedtheA’sstayahead.
“Ifwedidwhateveryoneelsewasdoing,our resultswouldmatchourbudget,”Beanesaid. “Wechallengedthenorm,useddatatovalue skillsdifferentlyandchangedouroutcomes.”
“Dataexplainsdecisions,”henoted.“Even whenyou’renotalwaysright,claritybuilds trust.”
Beane’sphilosophyprovesthatsuccessisn’t solelydictatedbybudget.Withinnovation, disciplineandadata-firstapproach,even smallerorganizationscancompetewithgiants.
“There’sachampionshipteamyoucanafford youjustneedtofindwhatothersundervalue,” Beaneexplained.Hefocusedonon-base percentage,ametricmorepredictiveof winningthantraditionalstats,uncovering overlookedplayerswhodeliveredstrongresults. Asheputit:“Dataisn’tanopinion.It’safact.”
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WHY PHISHING ATTACKS SPIKE IN THE SUMMER
Youandyouremployeesmaybegetting backfromvacation,butcybercriminals nevertakeadayoff.Infact,datashown instudiesfromvendorsProofPointand CheckPointindicatethatphishing attemptsactuallyspikeinthesummer monthsHere’showtostayawareand stayprotected
Why The Increased Risk?
Attackersuseyoursummertravelbugto their advantage by impersonating hotel andAirbnbwebsites,saysCheckPoint Research They’ve uncovered a sharp increase in cyberthreats related to the travel industry – specifically, a 55% increaseinthecreationofnewwebsite domainsrelatedtovacationsinMay2025, comparedtothesameperiodlastyear.Of over39,000domainsregistered,onein every21wasflaggedaseithermaliciousor suspicious
August/Septemberisalsoback-to-school time,whichmeansanuptickinphishing attemptsimitatinglegitimateuniversity e-mails,targetingbothstudentsandstaff.
Whilethesethreatsmightnotaffectyour industrydirectly,there’salwaysachance thatemployeespursuingtheirmaster’s degreeorplanningavacationwillcheck theirpersonale-mailontheirwork computer–andittakesonlyonewrong clickforcyberattackerstohaveaccessto allofyourbusiness’sdata.
What To Do About It
WhileAIismakingcybersecurity strongerandworkflowssmoother,it’s alsomakingphishingattacksmore convincing.That’swhyit’simportantto trainyourselfandyourteamonwhatto lookfor,toavoidclickingona maliciouslink
Safety tips to prevent attacks:
Keep an eye out for shady e-mails. Don’tonlycheckformisspellingsand poorlyformattedsentencesinthe bodyofe-mails;AIcanwritee-mails forattackersjustlikeitcanforyou. Alsoexaminethee-mailaddressofthe senderandthetextofthelinkitself,if visible,tomakesureeverythinglooks legitimate
Double-check URLs. Misspellingsin thelinktextorunusualdomain endings,liketodayorinfo,canbean indicatorofanattackDomain endingsliketheseareoftenusedin scamsites.
Visit websites directly. It’salways bettertosearchforthewebsite yourself,ratherthanclickingonlinks inanymessagesore-mails
Enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA). SettingupMFAensuresthat
evenifabreachdoesoccurwithin yourcompany,yourlogincredentials willremainprotected–andsowill anydatasecuredbehindthem.
Be careful with public WiFi. Ifyou needtousepublicWiFi,useaVPN foradditionalprotectionwhen accessingsecureinformation,like bookingportalsorbankaccounts.
Don’t access personal e-mail on company devices. Accessing personale-mail,messagingorsocial mediaaccountsonbusinessdevices increasesyourriskKeeppersonal accountsonyourpersonaldevices, andwork-relatedaccountsonthe workdevices.
Ask your MSP about endpoint security. Endpointdetectionand response(EDR)softwarecanmonitor yourdesktopsandmobiledevices, detect/blockphishingattempts, maliciousdownloadsandalertyour MSPimmediatelyintheeventofa breach,limitingyourdata’sexposure
Phishingattemptsbecomemore sophisticatedeveryday,andAIisonly speedingthatprocessalongBecauseof this,it’sessentialtokeepyourteamwellinformedoftherisks;knowledgeisthe bestdefenseagainstphishingattacks.Stay informedandstaysafe!