Report by Harmonic Security

From Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI

13 FINDINGSPublished Jan 1, 2025
View Original Report →

Key Findings

63.8% of ChatGPT users used the free tier, with 53.5% of sensitive prompts entered into it.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AIChatGPTSensitive information

When asked if they agree with the statement "We aren't sure if any employees are currently accessing GenAI sites today or what they are doing on these sites," 42% of organizations surveyed said they strongly agree, 40% said they agree, 7% said they neither agree nor disagree, 5% said they disagree, 5% said they strongly disagree.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AI

8.5% GenAI prompts contain sensitive information.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AISensitive information

When asked if they agree with the statement "My organization has blocked/is blocking access to one or several GenAI sites," 44% of organizations surveyed said they strongly agree, 42% said they agree, 6% said they neither agree nor disagree, 5% said they disagree, 2% said they strongly disagree.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AI

5.64% of sensitive data input into GenAI tools was sensitive code, like Access Keys and proprietary source code.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AISensitive informationCode

45.77% of sensitive data input into GenAI tools was customer data, such as billing information, customer reports, and customer authentication data.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AISensitive informationCustomer data

When asked if they agree with the statement "We are concerned about data leakage as employees increasingly use GenAI tools," 43% of organizations surveyed they strongly agree, 39% said they agree, 10% said they neither agree nor disagree, 5% said they disagree, and 3% said they strongly disagree.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AIData leakage

When asked if they agree with the statement "We aren't sure if any employees are currently accessing GenAI sites today or what they are doing on these sites," 42% of organizations surveyed said they strongly agree, 40% said they agree, 7% said they neither agree nor disagree, 5% said they disagree, 5% said they strongly disagree.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AI

When asked if they agree with the statement "My organization has blocked/is blocking access to one or several GenAI sites," 44% of organizations surveyed said they strongly agree, 42% said they agree, 6% said they neither agree nor disagree, 5% said they disagree, 2% said they strongly disagree.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AI

When asked if they agree with the statement "We are concerned about data leakage as employees increasingly use GenAI tools," 43% of organizations surveyed they strongly agree, 39% said they agree, 10% said they neither agree nor disagree, 5% said they disagree, and 3% said they strongly disagree.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AIData leakage

26.83% of sensitive data input into GenAI tools was employee data, including payroll data, PII, and employment records.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AISensitive informationEmployee data

14.88% of sensitive data input into GenAI tools was legal and finance data, such as information on Sales Pipeline Data, Investment Portfolio Data, and Mergers and Acquisitions.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AISensitive informationLegal dataFinance data

6.88% of sensitive data input into GenAI tools was security policies and reports.

Harmonic SecurityFrom Payrolls to Patents: The Spectrum of Data Leaked into GenAI ·Jan 1, 2025
Gen AISensitive informationSecurity policiesSecurity reports