Netskope enables secure enterprise use of ChatGPT and Generative AI

ChatGPT adoption is growing exponentially in enterprises, currently at a rate of 25% month over month

Netskope, provider in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), announced general availability of a comprehensive data protection solution to help enterprises securely manage employee use of ChatGPT and other generative AI applications, such as Google Bard and Jasper. As part of its Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE) platform and data security innovation, Netskope states it can successfully enable safe usage of generative AI thanks to unique, patented data protection techniques not found in other SSE platforms.

Following incidents in 2023 of sensitive data exposure from generative AI, many enterprises are now prioritizing if and how to safely enable the use of these applications and support AI innovation without putting their businesses at risk. Currently,

• About 10% of enterprise organizations are actively blocking ChatGPT use by teams
• ChatGPT adoption is growing exponentially in enterprises, currently at a rate of 25% month over month
• Approximately 1 out of 100 enterprise employees actively uses ChatGPT daily, with each user submitting, on average, 8 prompts per day

To address this challenge, Netskope Intelligent SSE combines its data protection features with newly released innovations specifically for classifying and dynamically controlling safe usage of generative AI applications. These are available to Netskope customers today as a unified solution offering from Netskope and its network of channel partners.

“Enterprises today are faced with deciding whether to block access to ChatGPT and other generative AI apps to reduce security risk, or allow usage and reap the efficiencies and other benefits these apps can bring about. The safe enablement of these apps is ultimately an advanced data protection challenge—one Netskope is uniquely positioned to solve,” said Krishna Narayanaswamy, Netskope Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer. “Netskope helps all organizations encourage the responsible use of these increasingly popular applications using the right data protection controls in place that help keep the business safe and productive.”

As part of Intelligent SSE, Netskope Zero Trust Engine capabilities for the safe enablement of generative AI applications according to the business include:

Comprehensive Application Usage Visibility

• Instant access to specific ChatGPT usage and trends within the organization via industry’s broadest discovery of SaaS (using a dynamic database of 60,000+ applications) and Advanced Analytics dashboards
• Best-in-class Cloud Confidence Index (CCI) that actively classifies new generative AI applications and evaluates their risks accordingly
• Granular context and instance awareness via patented Cloud XD™ inspection     , which discerns access levels and data flows through application accounts, such as corporate vs. personal accounts
• Visibility via a new web category specially created for identifying generative AI domains, enabling teams to configure access control and real-time protection policies, and manage traffic destined specifically for generative AI applications

Advanced Application Access Control

• The ability to monitor, allow, or block enterprise sensitive data (such as source code) from being posted to AI chatbots    
• Visual coaching messages to alert users in real-time on potential data exposure and other risks every time generative AI applications are accessed— promoting responsible use of generative AI applications and training employees in real time, without stopping harmless queries

Advanced Data Protection

• The ability to monitor and allow or block posts and file uploads to AI chatbots
• Support for regulatory compliance needs such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and many others, using advanced data classifiers and ML-based detection

The Highest Performing Security Services

• With SSE services powered by NewEdge, the world’s largest security private cloud presence with data centers in 65+ regions globally, Netskope provides customers with unparalleled service coverage, performance, and resilience

A History and Tradition of AI/ML Innovation in Data Protection and Beyond

Since its founding in 2012, Netskope has been continuously lauded for its advanced data protection capabilities and the uses of AI and machine learning (ML) innovation in its platform. These innovations include in data security, embedded UEBA, threat protection, IoT security, Borderless SD-WAN, AIOps and other areas, with advanced techniques for personally identifiable information (PII)       image classification, whiteboard image detection, sensitive document classification, IoT device detection, WAN access anomaly detection, encrypted file detection, and many other critical use cases.

In addition, Netskope AI Labs is claimed to be recognized as an authority in solving security and fraud problems through the responsible use of AI/ML in different domains, developing large-scale AI/ML models for real-time SSE and SASE use cases. Netskope’s team also includes inventors listed on more than 300 patents worldwide.

Dr. Yihua Liao, Head of Netskope AI Labs said, “As a leader in the transformation of network, cloud, and data security, Netskope is committed to the responsible use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. We work with peers, academia, thought leaders, and governments alike to safely direct AI/ML efforts in a way that will benefit and not cause harm to our customers, partners, employees, and their families. Netskope AI Labs is a critical component of Netskope product and service innovation. Even more importantly, we help drive the right outcomes regarding AI’s role in security and networking and how we can all take advantage of innovation with the right protections in place, whether for generative AI applications or any other compelling use case.”