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AI Security Checklist for Regulated Firms

Assess your firm's preparedness for safe and compliant ongoing AI use.

AI has been adopted by regulated firms faster than most CISOs and CIOs can keep up with. Particularly in resource constrained mid-sized firms, governance often lags. To reduce risk and satisfy regulators, CISOs should think about AI use in two ways: 

  1. Shadow AI (employee-led use of public tools)
    Unapproved use of ChatGPT/Claude and browser plug-ins can expose sensitive data, breach GDPR or NDAs, and generate misleading content that staff may act on. 
  2. Approved & Embedded AI (company-sanctioned tools)
    Copilot/M365, CRM features, and customer-facing chatbots can introduce prompt-injection vulnerabilities, unfair or opaque decision-making, and unintended commitments (e.g. discounts or promises). 

This AI Security Checklist helps you quickly identify risk exposure across people, policy, and platforms to align your controls with GDPR, Consumer Duty, and operational resilience expectations. 

1. Governance & Accountability

🔲  Do you have an AI usage inventory – can you name every tool currently in use across the business? 

🔲  Is there a designated AI risk owner (e.g., CTISO, CISO, Data Privacy Officer)? 

🔲   Is AI risk formally captured on your corporate risk register? 

🔲  Do board members and senior leaders understand how AI is being used, and the implications? 

🚩  Red flag: If AI activity is happening without governance, you have a “Shadow AI” problem – and exposure to legal, reputational, and operational risk. 

FoxTech Solution

Our SOC identifies shadow AI usage patterns in real-time across your network and helps you build a comprehensive inventory

2. Employee Use & Shadow AI

🔲  Do you have a clear, enforced policy on staff use of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude)?

🔲  Are employees trained to recognise acceptable vs. risky AI use cases? 

🔲  Do you block non-approved AI tools at the network or endpoint level? 

🔲  Are staff encouraged and enabled to use secure, approved alternatives? 

🔒  FoxTech Insight: AI tools can amplify mistakes at speed. One stray prompt with sensitive data can violate GDPR, NDAs, or internal policy in seconds. 

3. Data, Privacy, and Legal Risk

🔲  Are you confident no sensitive or regulated data is being exposed via AI tools? 

🔲  Do you know whether your AI vendors use your data to train models? 

🔲  Have you conducted DPIAs (Data Protection Impact Assessments) on all AI tools processing personal data? 

🔲  Are there contractual safeguards in place with AI vendors? 

📌 Note: Under UK GDPR and evolving global standards, AI processing must be explainable, fair, and justifiable. 

4. AI Model Security & Behaviour

🔲  Have you assessed your AI tools for prompt injection vulnerabilities? 

🔲  Is there a process for testing how AI systems respond to adversarial inputs? 

🔲  Are AI agents (e.g., support bots, Copilot-type tools) sandboxed and monitored? 

🔲  Do you have a rollback mechanism in case of AI-driven reputational or financial damage? 

⚠️ Example risk: A customer service chatbot offering unapproved discounts or advice due to prompt injection or poor constraints. 

FoxTech Solution

We help you document AI systems, conduct regulatory gap analysis, and implement GDPR and Consumer Duty-compliant processes. Our compliance specialists understand both the technical and regulatory requirements.

5. Supply Chain & Third-Party AI Risk

🔲  Do you know which third-party vendors are embedding AI into their services? 

🔲  Are their models trained on your data? Are they contractually prohibited from doing so? 

🔲  Are AI-based dependencies accounted for in your business continuity and incident response plans? 

🔲  Have you performed any external risk validation of their tools (e.g., pen testing, threat modelling)? 

🔒FoxTech Tip: Your AI supply chain is only as strong as the least secure component.

6. Testing, Monitoring & Incident Response

🔲  Do you run ongoing threat modelling for your AI usage? 

🔲  Are your AI systems included in security testing (e.g., penetration tests)? 

🔲  Can you monitor AI-driven outputs in real-time for anomalies? 

🔲  Do you have an incident response plan for AI-specific events? 

🧠 If you don’t know how your AI tools might fail, you’re not ready for when they do. 

Your Next Steps

Prioritize Based on Your Gaps: 

  • Start with Discovery: You can’t manage what you can’t see 
  • Quick wins: Policy + training can be deployed quickly 
  • Enable, don’t just restrict: Provide safe AI tools within guardrails 
  • Build over time: AI readiness is a journey, not a destination 

Need Help?

FoxTech specialises in helping regulated mid-sized firms build robust AI governance. Whether you need shadow AI discovery, policy development, or compliance readiness, we can help.