TL;DR
- Cybersecurity professionals usually take one of two career paths: technical or managerial, and both are equally important.
- Technical roles focus on hands-on problem-solving such as penetration testing, threat hunting, and security engineering.
- Managerial roles require leadership, strategic planning, risk management, and aligning security with business objectives.
- I have been on both sides, starting as a technical manager on a bug bounty team and later moving into leadership. I learned that strategy matters, but so does investing in people.
- Choosing the right path is not about what looks better on a resume. It is about what keeps you engaged and growing in this field.
Career growth in cybersecurity does not have to mean moving into management. Unlike some industries where becoming a manager is the default progression, cybersecurity and tech have strong pathways for individual contributors who want to stay hands-on. Professionals can advance to roles like distinguished architect, principal engineer, or lead roles without ever stepping into management. The key is that you have a choice in staying technical or becoming a leader and both paths are valuable.
I have worked on both sides: I started in hands-on roles, testing applications, scanning networks, and being a technical lead. I spent years in offensive security, including working on a bug bounty team. Eventually, I transitioned into management as a people leader. At first, I missed the hands-on work, but I realized something important. Security is not just about tools, it is about building people and teams.
Yes, a strong security program is built on technology, but it is also built on well-trained, motivated professionals who are constantly learning and growing. Whether you choose to stay technical or move into leadership, the most important thing is ensuring that the people doing the work have what they need to be effective while aligning security efforts with broader organizational strategy and goals. A security program succeeds when individual contributors and people leaders work together, combining technical expertise with strategic oversight to protect the organization.
So how do you decide which path is right for you? Let’s break it down.
Why Distinguish Between Technical and Managerial Skill Paths?
Technical and managerial paths require different skill sets and perspectives:
- Technical roles involve deep specialization. These professionals focus on hands-on work, such as penetration testing, threat hunting, system hardening, or cloud security. They are responsible for executing security operations, identifying vulnerabilities, and mitigating threats.
- Managerial roles require broader oversight and leadership. These professionals guide security teams, align security with business strategy, manage budgets, and ensure compliance with policies and regulations.
Both types of professionals are essential to an organization’s security posture. Without skilled technical experts, security initiatives would lack execution, and without strong leadership, teams would struggle to effectively prioritize security goals.
Choosing the right path depends on individual strengths and interests. Someone passionate about coding, troubleshooting, or systems design may thrive in a technical role, while those interested in policy, budgeting, and stakeholder communication may be better suited for a leadership position. The best security programs recognize the value of both paths and create opportunities for professionals to grow in their chosen direction.
Technical Skill Path Overview
Common Responsibilities
- Conducting penetration tests and security assessments
- Developing security tools and automation
- Monitoring and responding to security incidents
- Reverse engineering malware and analyzing exploits
- Designing and securing cloud environments
Common Technical Roles
- SOC Analyst – Monitors threats, investigates alerts, and responds to incidents
- Security Engineer – Builds and implements security controls across an organization
- Ethical Hacker – Finds security weaknesses before attackers do
- Cloud Security Specialist – Secures cloud environments, configures identity and access management (IAM), and protects data
- Malware Analyst / Reverse Engineer – Dissects malware to understand how it works and how to defend against it
Pros of Staying Technical
- You stay hands-on, continuously learning and solving security problems
- Specialized skills are in high demand, leading to strong job security and career growth
- Deep expertise can lead to well-paying roles in offensive security, vulnerability research, or cloud security
Cons of Staying Technical
- Keeping up with new attack methods and tools requires constant learning, which requires time and funding
- Career growth can sometimes be limited if companies push manager roles for advancement instead of allowing for progression in individual contributor roles
- You may not have direct influence over security strategy or high-level decision-making
Key Certifications for Technical Roles
- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) – Core certification for penetration testers
- GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN) – Covers penetration testing methodologies
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) – A broad cybersecurity certification useful in both technical and leadership roles
- AWS Certified Security – Specialty – Focuses on cloud security best practices
- GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) – Covers detecting, responding to, and mitigating cyber threats and attacks.
Managerial Skill Path Overview
Common Responsibilities
- Overseeing security teams and setting strategy
- Managing budgets, risk assessments, and compliance initiatives
- Developing security policies, standards, and governance frameworks
- Aligning security initiatives with business priorities and regulatory requirements
- Working with executives to advocate for security funding and resources
Common Managerial Roles
- Security Manager – Leads security operations and oversees security programs
- Director of Information Security – Manages security programs across business units
- Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) – Owns the company’s security program and engages with executive leadership
- Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Manager – Ensures compliance with security frameworks and regulations
Pros of Moving into Management
- You have greater influence over security decisions and strategy
- Leadership roles open the door to director, VP, or CISO positions
- You can shape the security culture of an organization by mentoring, hiring, and developing training programs
Cons of Moving into Management
- Less time for hands-on security work, as the focus shifts to strategy and management
- Increased pressure to justify security budgets and risk decisions to executives
- Managing people comes with challenges, and success depends on how well you develop your team
Key Certifications for Managerial Roles
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) – Focuses on enterprise security leadership
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) – Strong for auditing and compliance roles
- Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) – Covers global data privacy laws
- Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) – Covers cloud security risk management
- CISSP – One of the most widely recognized security leadership certifications
Key Skill Sets for Technical Experts
Stepping into a managerial role requires a shift in focus from technical execution to leading teams, managing risk, and aligning security initiatives with business objectives. Strong security leadership ensures that technical teams are supported while also advocating for security at the executive level.
- Leadership & Communication – Effective security leaders motivate teams, influence stakeholders, and communicate risks and solutions clearly. They must be able to translate complex security concepts into business terms that executives and board members can understand. Soft skills like emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and active listening are just as critical as technical knowledge.
- Policy & Compliance – Security managers must be familiar with frameworks like NIST, ISO 27001, and regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA. They oversee security audits, ensure compliance, and establish policies that align with business goals while mitigating risks.
- Financial Acumen – Budgeting, vendor management, and return on investment (ROI) analysis are critical for managerial roles. Security leaders must be able to justify spending on security initiatives, make data-driven risk assessments, and ensure that security investments provide tangible value to the organization.
Both technical and managerial career paths require continuous learning and a commitment to improving security posture, but the focus and skill sets differ. Whether you choose to stay hands-on or move into leadership and develop soft skills, the key is to hone expertise in the areas that align with your career goals and the impact you want to make in cybersecurity.
Transitioning from Technical to Managerial
Moving into management is not a switch you can flip overnight. The best security leaders start as strong technical professionals before developing leadership skills.
Steps to Transition
- Take on leadership responsibilities by mentoring junior team members, leading projects, and driving security initiatives
- Learn about risk management and compliance by getting familiar with NIST, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA
- Improve executive communication by learning how to explain security risks in a business context
- Pursue leadership certifications like CISM or CISSP to build foundational management skills
- Find a mentor who has successfully made the transition and can provide guidance
When I moved from technical management to people leadership, I realized that investing in my team was more important than anything else. A good manager is not just a decision-maker. A good manager removes roadblocks, supports the team, and ensures that people have what they need to grow. At the same time, I began to see how security fits into the broader business strategy. Security is not just about technical execution, it has to align with business goals, risk management, and regulatory requirements.
There is a balance. While it is critical to keep teams sharp and ensure they have the right training and tools, it is just as important to understand the business impact of security decisions. I learned that leadership is about bridging the gap between technical execution and business strategy by translating security risks into business terms, advocating for security initiatives at the executive level, and ensuring security remains a business enabler rather than an afterthought.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity careers do not follow a single path. Some professionals stay very technical, mastering offensive security or defending infrastructure. Others step into leadership, guiding security teams and shaping strategy. Both paths are valuable.
What matters is finding the right fit for you. If you love hands-on security work, stay technical and push yourself to become an expert. If you are drawn to leadership, develop the skills to guide teams and advocate for security at the highest levels.
Cybersecurity is a constantly evolving field, and staying ahead requires continuous learning. Whether you’re refining your technical expertise or preparing to lead at a higher level, the key to success is adaptability and ongoing skill development.
What’s your next step? Are you deepening your hands-on security knowledge, or are you transitioning into leadership? No matter which path you choose, Cybrary provides the training, certifications, and resources to help you advance your career.
Take the next step today and invest in your professional growth with Cybrary!
The Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) is a community-led organization and has been around for over 20 years and is largely known for its Top 10 web application security risks (check out our course on it). As the use of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) has exploded recently, so too has the risk to privacy and security by these technologies. OWASP, leading the charge for security, has come out with its Top 10 for LLMs and Generative AI Apps this year. In this blog post we’ll explore the Top 10 risks and explore examples of each as well as how to prevent these risks.
LLM01: Prompt Injection
Those familiar with the OWASP Top 10 for web applications have seen the injection category before at the top of the list for many years. This is no exception with LLMs and ranks as number one. Prompt Injection can be a critical vulnerability in LLMs where an attacker manipulates the model through crafted inputs, leading it to execute unintended actions. This can result in unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or social engineering. There are two types: Direct Prompt Injection, which involves "jailbreaking" the system by altering or revealing underlying system prompts, giving an attacker access to backend systems or sensitive data, and Indirect Prompt Injection, where external inputs (like files or web content) are used to manipulate the LLM's behavior.
As an example, an attacker might upload a resume containing an indirect prompt injection, instructing an LLM-based hiring tool to favorably evaluate the resume. When an internal user runs the document through the LLM for summarization, the embedded prompt makes the LLM respond positively about the candidate’s suitability, regardless of the actual content.
How to prevent prompt injection:
- Limit LLM Access: Apply the principle of least privilege by restricting the LLM's access to sensitive backend systems and enforcing API token controls for extended functionalities like plugins.
- Human Approval for Critical Actions: For high-risk operations, require human validation before executing, ensuring that the LLM's suggestions are not followed blindly.
- Separate External and User Content: Use frameworks like ChatML for OpenAI API calls to clearly differentiate between user prompts and untrusted external content, reducing the chance of unintentional action from mixed inputs.
- Monitor and Flag Untrusted Outputs: Regularly review LLM outputs and mark suspicious content, helping users to recognize potentially unreliable information.
LLM02: Insecure Output Handling
Insecure Output Handling occurs when the outputs generated by a LLM are not properly validated or sanitized before being used by other components in a system. Since LLMs can generate various types of content based on input prompts, failing to handle these outputs securely can introduce risks like cross-site scripting (XSS), server-side request forgery (SSRF), or even remote code execution (RCE). Unlike Overreliance (LLM09), which focuses on the accuracy of LLM outputs, Insecure Output Handling specifically addresses vulnerabilities in how these outputs are processed downstream.
As an example, there could be a web application that uses an LLM to summarize user-provided content and renders it back in a webpage. An attacker submits a prompt containing malicious JavaScript code. If the LLM’s output is displayed on the webpage without proper sanitization, the JavaScript will execute in the user’s browser, leading to XSS. Alternatively, if the LLM’s output is sent to a backend database or shell command, it could allow SQL injection or remote code execution if not properly validated.
How to prevent Insecure Output Handling:
- Zero-Trust Approach: Treat the LLM as an untrusted source, applying strict allow list validation and sanitization to all outputs it generates, especially before passing them to downstream systems or functions.
- Output Encoding: Encode LLM outputs before displaying them to end users, particularly when dealing with web content where XSS risks are prevalent.
- Adhere to Security Standards: Follow the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) guidelines, which provide strategies for input validation and sanitization to protect against code injection risks.
LLM03: Training Data Poisoning
Training Data Poisoning refers to the manipulation of the data used to train LLMs, introducing biases, backdoors, or vulnerabilities. This tampered data can degrade the model's effectiveness, introduce harmful biases, or create security flaws that malicious actors can exploit. Poisoned data could lead to inaccurate or inappropriate outputs, compromising user trust, harming brand reputation, and increasing security risks like downstream exploitation.
As an example, there could be a scenario where an LLM is trained on a dataset that has been tampered with by a malicious actor. The poisoned dataset includes subtly manipulated content, such as biased news articles or fabricated facts. When the model is deployed, it may output biased information or incorrect details based on the poisoned data. This not only degrades the model’s performance but can also mislead users, potentially harming the model’s credibility and the organization’s reputation.
How to prevent Training Data Poisoning:
- Data Validation and Vetting: Verify the sources of training data, especially when sourcing from third-party datasets. Conduct thorough checks on data integrity, and where possible, use trusted data sources.
- Machine Learning Bill of Materials (ML-BOM): Maintain an ML-BOM to track the provenance of training data and ensure that each source is legitimate and suitable for the model’s purpose.
- Sandboxing and Network Controls: Restrict access to external data sources and use network controls to prevent unintended data scraping during training. This helps ensure that only vetted data is used for training.
- Adversarial Robustness Techniques: Implement strategies like federated learning and statistical outlier detection to reduce the impact of poisoned data. Periodic testing and monitoring can identify unusual model behaviors that may indicate a poisoning attempt.
- Human Review and Auditing: Regularly audit model outputs and use a human-in-the-loop approach to validate outputs, especially for sensitive applications. This added layer of scrutiny can catch potential issues early.
LLM04: Model Denial of Service
Model Denial of Service (DoS) is a vulnerability in which an attacker deliberately consumes an excessive amount of computational resources by interacting with a LLM. This can result in degraded service quality, increased costs, or even system crashes. One emerging concern is manipulating the context window of the LLM, which refers to the maximum amount of text the model can process at once. This makes it possible to overwhelm the LLM by exceeding or exploiting this limit, leading to resource exhaustion.
As an example, an attacker may continuously flood the LLM with sequential inputs that each reach the upper limit of the model’s context window. This high-volume, resource-intensive traffic overloads the system, resulting in slower response times and even denial of service. As another example, if an LLM-based chatbot is inundated with a flood of recursive or exceptionally long prompts, it can strain computational resources, causing system crashes or significant delays for other users.
How to prevent Model Denial of Service:
- Rate Limiting: Implement rate limits to restrict the number of requests from a single user or IP address within a specific timeframe. This reduces the chance of overwhelming the system with excessive traffic.
- Resource Allocation Caps: Set caps on resource usage per request to ensure that complex or high-resource requests do not consume excessive CPU or memory. This helps prevent resource exhaustion.
- Input Size Restrictions: Limit input size according to the LLM's context window capacity to prevent excessive context expansion. For example, inputs exceeding a predefined character limit can be truncated or rejected.
- Monitoring and Alerts: Continuously monitor resource utilization and establish alerts for unusual spikes, which may indicate a DoS attempt. This allows for proactive threat detection and response.
- Developer Awareness and Training: Educate developers about DoS vulnerabilities in LLMs and establish guidelines for secure model deployment. Understanding these risks enables teams to implement preventative measures more effectively.
LLM05: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
Supply Chain attacks are incredibly common and this is no different with LLMs, which, in this case refers to risks associated with the third-party components, training data, pre-trained models, and deployment platforms used within LLMs. These vulnerabilities can arise from outdated libraries, tampered models, and even compromised data sources, impacting the security and reliability of the entire application. Unlike traditional software supply chain risks, LLM supply chain vulnerabilities extend to the models and datasets themselves, which may be manipulated to include biases, backdoors, or malware that compromises system integrity.
As an example, an organization uses a third-party pre-trained model to conduct economic analysis. If this model is poisoned with incorrect or biased data, it could generate inaccurate results that mislead decision-making. Additionally, if the organization uses an outdated plugin or compromised library, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access or tamper with sensitive information. Such vulnerabilities can result in significant security breaches, financial loss, or reputational damage.
How to prevent Supply Chain Vulnerabilities:
- Vet Third-Party Components: Carefully review the terms, privacy policies, and security measures of all third-party model providers, data sources, and plugins. Use only trusted suppliers and ensure they have robust security protocols in place.
- Maintain a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM): An SBOM provides a complete inventory of all components, allowing for quick detection of vulnerabilities and unauthorized changes. Ensure that all components are up-to-date and apply patches as needed.
- Use Model and Code Signing: For models and external code, employ digital signatures to verify their integrity and authenticity before use. This helps ensure that no tampering has occurred.
- Anomaly Detection and Robustness Testing: Conduct adversarial robustness tests and anomaly detection on models and data to catch signs of tampering or data poisoning. Integrating these checks into your MLOps pipeline can enhance overall security.
- Implement Monitoring and Patching Policies: Regularly monitor component usage, scan for vulnerabilities, and patch outdated components. For sensitive applications, continuously audit your suppliers’ security posture and update components as new threats emerge.
LLM06: Sensitive Information Disclosure
Sensitive Information Disclosure in LLMs occurs when the model inadvertently reveals private, proprietary, or confidential information through its output. This can happen due to the model being trained on sensitive data or because it memorizes and later reproduces private information. Such disclosures can result in significant security breaches, including unauthorized access to personal data, intellectual property leaks, and violations of privacy laws.
As an example, there could be an LLM-based chatbot trained on a dataset containing personal information such as users’ full names, addresses, or proprietary business data. If the model memorizes this data, it could accidentally reveal this sensitive information to other users. For instance, a user might ask the chatbot for a recommendation, and the model could inadvertently respond with personal information it learned during training, violating privacy rules.
How to prevent Sensitive Information Disclosure:
- Data Sanitization: Before training, scrub datasets of personal or sensitive information. Use techniques like anonymization and redaction to ensure no sensitive data remains in the training data.
- Input and Output Filtering: Implement robust input validation and sanitization to prevent sensitive data from entering the model’s training data or being echoed back in outputs.
- Limit Training Data Exposure: Apply the principle of least privilege by restricting sensitive data from being part of the training dataset. Fine-tune the model with only the data necessary for its task, and ensure high-privilege data is not accessible to lower-privilege users.
- User Awareness: Make users aware of how their data is processed by providing clear Terms of Use and offering opt-out options for having their data used in model training.
- Access Controls: Apply strict access control to external data sources used by the LLM, ensuring that sensitive information is handled securely throughout the system
LLM07: Insecure Plugin Design
Insecure Plugin Design vulnerabilities arise when LLM plugins, which extend the model’s capabilities, are not adequately secured. These plugins often allow free-text inputs and may lack proper input validation and access controls. When enabled, plugins can execute various tasks based on the LLM’s outputs without further checks, which can expose the system to risks like data exfiltration, remote code execution, and privilege escalation. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because plugins can operate with elevated permissions while assuming that user inputs are trustworthy.
As an example, there could be a weather plugin that allows users to input a base URL and query. An attacker could craft a malicious input that directs the LLM to a domain they control, allowing them to inject harmful content into the system. Similarly, a plugin that accepts SQL “WHERE” clauses without validation could enable an attacker to execute SQL injection attacks, gaining unauthorized access to data in a database.
How to prevent Insecure Plugin Design:
- Enforce Parameterized Input: Plugins should restrict inputs to specific parameters and avoid free-form text wherever possible. This can prevent injection attacks and other exploits.
- Input Validation and Sanitization: Plugins should include robust validation on all inputs. Using Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) can help identify vulnerabilities during development.
- Access Control: Follow the principle of least privilege, limiting each plugin's permissions to only what is necessary. Implement OAuth2 or API keys to control access and ensure only authorized users or components can trigger sensitive actions.
- Manual Authorization for Sensitive Actions: For actions that could impact user security, such as transferring files or accessing private repositories, require explicit user confirmation.
- Adhere to OWASP API Security Guidelines: Since plugins often function as REST APIs, apply best practices from the OWASP API Security Top 10. This includes securing endpoints and applying rate limiting to mitigate potential abuse.
LLM08: Excessive Agency
Excessive Agency in LLM-based applications arises when models are granted too much autonomy or functionality, allowing them to perform actions beyond their intended scope. This vulnerability occurs when an LLM agent has access to functions that are unnecessary for its purpose or operates with excessive permissions, such as being able to modify or delete records instead of only reading them. Unlike Insecure Output Handling, which deals with the lack of validation on the model’s outputs, Excessive Agency pertains to the risks involved when an LLM takes actions without proper authorization, potentially leading to confidentiality, integrity, and availability issues.
As an example, there could be an LLM-based assistant that is given access to a user's email account to summarize incoming messages. If the plugin that is used to read emails also has permissions to send messages, a malicious prompt injection could trick the LLM into sending unauthorized emails (or spam) from the user's account.
How to prevent Excessive Agency:
- Restrict Plugin Functionality: Ensure plugins and tools only provide necessary functions. For example, if a plugin is used to read emails, it should not include capabilities to delete or send emails.
- Limit Permissions: Follow the principle of least privilege by restricting plugins’ access to external systems. For instance, a plugin for database access should be read-only if writing or modifying data is not required.
- Avoid Open-Ended Functions: Avoid functions like “run shell command” or “fetch URL” that provide broad system access. Instead, use plugins that perform specific, controlled tasks.
- User Authorization and Scope Tracking: Require plugins to execute actions within the context of a specific user's permissions. For example, using OAuth with limited scopes helps ensure actions align with the user’s access level.
- Human-in-the-Loop Control: Require user confirmation for high-impact actions. For instance, a plugin that posts to social media should require the user to review and approve the content before it is published.
- Authorization in Downstream Systems: Implement authorization checks in downstream systems that validate each request against security policies. This prevents the LLM from making unauthorized changes directly.
LLM09: Overreliance
Overreliance occurs when users or systems trust the outputs of a LLM without proper oversight or verification. While LLMs can generate creative and informative content, they are prone to “hallucinations” (producing false or misleading information) or providing authoritative-sounding but incorrect outputs. Overreliance on these models can result in security risks, misinformation, miscommunication, and even legal issues, especially if LLM-generated content is used without validation. This vulnerability becomes especially dangerous in cases where LLMs suggest insecure coding practices or flawed recommendations.
As an example, there could be a development team using an LLM to expedite the coding process. The LLM suggests an insecure code library, and the team, trusting the LLM, incorporates it into their software without review. This introduces a serious vulnerability. As another example, a news organization might use an LLM to generate articles, but if they don’t validate the information, it could lead to the spread of disinformation.
How to prevent Overreliance:
- Regular Monitoring and Review: Implement processes to review LLM outputs regularly. Use techniques like self-consistency checks or voting mechanisms to compare multiple model responses and filter out inconsistencies.
- Cross-Verification: Compare the LLM’s output with reliable, trusted sources to ensure the information’s accuracy. This step is crucial, especially in fields where factual accuracy is imperative.
- Fine-Tuning and Prompt Engineering: Fine-tune models for specific tasks or domains to reduce hallucinations. Techniques like parameter-efficient tuning (PET) and chain-of-thought prompting can help improve the quality of LLM outputs.
- Automated Validation: Use automated validation tools to cross-check generated outputs against known facts or data, adding an extra layer of security.
- Risk Communication: Clearly communicate the limitations of LLMs to users, highlighting the potential for errors. Transparent disclaimers can help manage user expectations and encourage cautious use of LLM outputs.
- Secure Coding Practices: For development environments, establish guidelines to prevent the integration of potentially insecure code. Avoid relying solely on LLM-generated code without thorough review.
LLM10: Model Theft
Model Theft refers to the unauthorized access, extraction, or replication of proprietary LLMs by malicious actors. These models, containing valuable intellectual property, are at risk of exfiltration, which can lead to significant economic and reputational loss, erosion of competitive advantage, and unauthorized access to sensitive information encoded within the model. Attackers may steal models directly from company infrastructure or replicate them by querying APIs to build shadow models that mimic the original. As LLMs become more prevalent, safeguarding their confidentiality and integrity is crucial.
As an example, an attacker could exploit a misconfiguration in a company’s network security settings, gaining access to their LLM model repository. Once inside, the attacker could exfiltrate the proprietary model and use it to build a competing service. Alternatively, an insider may leak model artifacts, allowing adversaries to launch gray box adversarial attacks or fine-tune their own models with stolen data.
How to prevent Model Theft:
- Access Controls and Authentication: Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and enforce strong authentication mechanisms to limit unauthorized access to LLM repositories and training environments. Adhere to the principle of least privilege for all user accounts.
- Supplier and Dependency Management: Monitor and verify the security of suppliers and dependencies to reduce the risk of supply chain attacks, ensuring that third-party components are secure.
- Centralized Model Inventory: Maintain a central ML Model Registry with access controls, logging, and authentication for all production models. This can aid in governance, compliance, and prompt detection of unauthorized activities.
- Network Restrictions: Limit LLM access to internal services, APIs, and network resources. This reduces the attack surface for side-channel attacks or unauthorized model access.
- Continuous Monitoring and Logging: Regularly monitor access logs for unusual activity and promptly address any unauthorized access. Automated governance workflows can also help streamline access and deployment controls.
- Adversarial Robustness: Implement adversarial robustness training to help detect extraction queries and defend against side-channel attacks. Rate-limit API calls to further protect against data exfiltration.
- Watermarking Techniques: Embed unique watermarks within the model to track unauthorized copies or detect theft during the model’s lifecycle.
Wrapping it all up
As LLMs continue to grow in capability and integration across industries, their security risks must be managed with the same vigilance as any other critical system. From Prompt Injection to Model Theft, the vulnerabilities outlined in the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs highlight the unique challenges posed by these models, particularly when they are granted excessive agency or have access to sensitive data. Addressing these risks requires a multifaceted approach involving strict access controls, robust validation processes, continuous monitoring, and proactive governance.
For technical leadership, this means ensuring that development and operational teams implement best practices across the LLM lifecycle starting from securing training data to ensuring safe interaction between LLMs and external systems through plugins and APIs. Prioritizing security frameworks such as the OWASP ASVS, adopting MLOps best practices, and maintaining vigilance over supply chains and insider threats are key steps to safeguarding LLM deployments. Ultimately, strong leadership that emphasizes security-first practices will protect both intellectual property and organizational integrity, while fostering trust in the use of AI technologies.