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Shadow AI Defense

Your Employees Are Already Using AI. Build the Fortress

78% of your employees use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini at work — without IT approval, without audit trails, and without data controls. They're pasting client data, financial records, and trade secrets into consumer AI tools right now. The Cloud Radix Secure AI Gateway gives them the same models through your channel, with your policies, with full visibility.

78%
Employees using unapproved AI
WalkMe 2025
$4.44M
Average breach cost globally
IBM 2025
#1
Data exfiltration vector
LayerX 2025
Verified 2025 Research

The Shadow AI Problem

These are not projections. This is what is happening inside organizations right now, documented by IBM, WalkMe, LayerX, and Delinea in 2025.

78%

of employees use unauthorized AI

-- WalkMe 2025

$4.44M

global average breach cost; $10.22M in the US

-- IBM Jul 2025

$670K

extra per breach caused by shadow AI

-- IBM Jul 2025

77%

of employees paste corporate data into consumer AI

-- LayerX 2025

71.6%

access AI via non-corporate accounts

-- LayerX 2025

32%

of all data exfiltration via GenAI — the #1 vector

-- LayerX 2025

97%

of AI-related breaches lacked adequate access controls

-- IBM Jul 2025

90%

of organizations are concerned about Shadow AI risks

-- Delinea 2025

The data is clear: your employees are using AI with or without your policy. The only question is whether they do it invisibly through consumer tools or visibly through your governed gateway.

How the Gateway Works

One secure layer between your employees and every AI model — with full visibility and control at every step.

Your Employees
Any device, any role
Finance
Sales
Engineering
|
All AI requests
Secure AI Gateway
Cloud Radix
DLP
Audit
RBAC
Policy
|
Encrypted API calls
AI Models
Via secure API
GPT-4o / OpenAI
Claude / Anthropic
Gemini / Google
Grok / xAI
Data never used for AI training (API access)
Every interaction logged with user + timestamp
Sensitive data blocked before it leaves your org

Enterprise-Grade. Purpose-Built for AI Governance.

Six capabilities that separate a Secure AI Gateway from just telling employees to “be careful.”

API Access — No Training Data Risk

All model calls go through official APIs. Your prompts and data are never used to train future AI models — unlike consumer ChatGPT or Claude.ai accounts.

End-to-End Encryption

All communications between employees, the gateway, and AI providers are encrypted in transit and at rest. Your data never travels in plaintext.

Full Audit Trail

Every prompt, every response, every user, every timestamp — logged immutably. Full forensic capability for compliance audits and incident response.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Pattern detection scans every outbound prompt for PII, PHI, credit card numbers, trade secrets, and custom-defined sensitive patterns — then flags or blocks automatically.

Role-Based Access Controls

Finance sees financial AI tools. Engineering sees code models. Executives see strategic tools. Each role gets precisely the access they need — nothing more.

Policy Enforcement Engine

Your acceptable-use policies are enforced at the gateway level — not just in a PDF in a shared drive. Violations are blocked before they become incidents.

The “Embrace, Don't Ban” Framework

Banning AI Doesn't Work. Governing It Does.

Your employees want to use AI — and that's a good thing. AI makes them faster, more creative, and more productive. Banning consumer AI tools simply drives usage underground where you have zero visibility, zero control, and zero protection.

The Cloud Radix approach: give employees the exact same models they already love — GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Grok — through your Secure AI Gateway with your policies. They get the productivity superpower. You get the audit trail, compliance, and data protection.

Build Your AI Policy
The Ban Strategy (Fails)
  • xCompany bans all AI tools in policy PDF
  • x78% of employees ignore the ban (WalkMe 2025)
  • xUsage moves underground — invisible to IT
  • xNo audit trail when a breach occurs
  • xEmployees secretly paste PHI into ChatGPT
  • xBreach discovered months later via IBM X-Force
The Gateway Strategy (Works)
  • Employees get GPT-4, Claude, Gemini via your gateway
  • Every interaction logged with user identity
  • DLP blocks sensitive data before it leaves
  • Role-based access enforced automatically
  • Compliance reports generated on demand
  • Shadow AI surface eliminated
Compliance Exposure

Every Consumer AI Session Is a Potential Violation

Shadow AI does not just create data breach risk — it creates direct regulatory liability. Here is what is at stake across the frameworks most Indiana businesses operate under.

HIPAA

Patient data (PHI) pasted into consumer AI = automatic violation. $100-$50,000 per violation.

SOX

Financial records and internal controls data in unaudited AI tools creates material weakness findings.

PCI-DSS

Cardholder data in consumer AI tools violates PCI-DSS 3.x and 4.0 requirements for data handling.

Indiana IC 24-4.9

Indiana's data breach notification law. AI-facilitated exfiltration triggers mandatory disclosure obligations.

For HIPAA-specific AI compliance guidance, see our detailed guide:

HIPAA-Compliant AI Employees: A Complete 2026 Guide

Consumer AI vs. Secure AI Gateway

The same AI models. Completely different security, compliance, and governance posture.

Feature
Consumer AI
ChatGPT / Claude.ai
Secure AI Gateway
Cloud Radix
Data Governance
None
Full policy enforcement
Audit Trail
None
Complete logging — every prompt & response
Compliance
Violates HIPAA, SOX, PCI-DSS
Enforces all frameworks
Training Data Risk
May train on your data (consumer plans)
API = data never used for training
Access Control
None — anyone can use anything
Role-based, per-user, per-model
Data Loss Prevention
None
Pattern detection + auto blocking
Sub-Agent Governance
None
All agent-to-agent calls governed
Incident Response
No logs to investigate
Full forensic audit capability
Multi-Model & Agentic AI

Governs Every Model. Every Agent. Every Call

Modern AI workloads are not just a human typing into a chat window. AI agents call other AI agents, orchestrators spawn sub-agents, and multi-model pipelines pass data between GPT-4, Claude, and specialized models in milliseconds.

The Cloud Radix Secure AI Gateway sits in the path of every AI-to-AI communication, not just human-to-AI. Sub-agent calls are authenticated, logged, and DLP-scanned just like user prompts — giving you complete governance across the entire AI surface area of your organization.

  • Multi-model orchestration with unified audit trail
  • Sub-agent communication policy enforcement
  • Automatic model selection per task type and user role
  • Token usage tracking and cost governance
  • Agentic workflow security — stop prompt injection at the gateway
Governed AI Workflow Example
Orchestrator Agent (Claude)
Authorized - Logged - DLP-scanned
Gateway intercepts
Sub-Agent A
GPT-4o - Research
Logged
Sub-Agent B
Gemini - Analysis
DLP-scanned
Every hop governed - Full chain of custody - Compliance maintained

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything your security team and leadership will want to know before deployment.

1What is Shadow AI?

Shadow AI refers to employees using AI tools — such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — without authorization or oversight from their organization. Because these tools are freely available online, 78% of workers use them at work regardless of company policy (WalkMe, 2025), often pasting in sensitive corporate data without realizing the compliance and security risks.

2Is it safe for employees to use ChatGPT at work?

Using consumer ChatGPT at work carries significant risks: your data may be used for model training, there is no audit trail, no data loss prevention, and it typically violates HIPAA, SOX, and PCI-DSS. 77% of employees admit to pasting corporate data into consumer AI tools (LayerX, 2025). The safe alternative is routing AI usage through a Secure AI Gateway that accesses the same models via API — where data is NOT used for training — with full audit logging and policy enforcement.

3How do I stop employees from putting company data into AI?

Banning AI outright does not work — 78% of employees use it anyway (WalkMe, 2025). The most effective approach is the "Embrace, Don't Ban" framework: give employees sanctioned access to the same AI models through your own Secure AI Gateway with DLP policies, role-based access controls, and a complete audit trail. This channels the behavior rather than driving it underground.

4Does ChatGPT use business data for training?

Consumer ChatGPT accounts may use conversation data to train future models by default. However, when accessing GPT-4 and other models via API — as the Cloud Radix Secure AI Gateway does — your data is NOT used for model training. This is one of the critical reasons to route all employee AI usage through an API-based gateway rather than consumer interfaces.

5What is a Secure AI Gateway?

A Secure AI Gateway is an enterprise intermediary layer that sits between your employees and AI models like GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and Grok. Instead of employees accessing consumer interfaces directly, all requests flow through the gateway — which enforces DLP policies, logs every interaction, applies role-based access controls, encrypts data in transit, and ensures compliance. Employees get the same powerful AI; you get full visibility and control.

6How much does a Shadow AI breach cost?

The global average cost of a data breach is $4.44 million, rising to $10.22 million in the United States (IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, July 2025). Shadow AI incidents add approximately $670,000 on top of the average breach cost (IBM, 2025). Generative AI is now the #1 data exfiltration vector at 32% of exfiltration incidents (LayerX, 2025).

7Can employees still use their preferred AI models through the gateway?

Yes. The Cloud Radix Secure AI Gateway provides access to GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and Grok — the same models employees are already using — via secure API connections. Employees get the productivity benefits they want; your organization gets governance, audit trail, and compliance controls. The experience is seamless for the end user.

8How does the audit trail work?

Every prompt and response passing through the gateway is logged with user identity, timestamp, model used, token count, and DLP policy outcomes. Logs are stored securely and available for compliance audits and incident investigations. Sensitive data patterns (PII, PHI, financial data, trade secrets) are flagged or blocked before they leave your environment.

9Does the gateway slow down AI responses?

Latency added by the Secure AI Gateway is typically under 50 milliseconds — imperceptible in normal use. Because requests go directly to AI provider APIs rather than through consumer web interfaces, responses are often faster than the public ChatGPT or Claude.ai interfaces.

10How quickly can we deploy the Secure AI Gateway?

Most organizations can be fully deployed and operational within 1-2 weeks. The process includes policy configuration, SSO/identity integration, DLP rule setup, and user onboarding. Cloud Radix handles the full deployment for Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana businesses, including on-site configuration when needed.

Fort Wayne & Northeast Indiana

Free Shadow AI Risk Assessment for Fort Wayne Businesses

In 30 minutes, we'll identify exactly how much Shadow AI exposure your organization currently has, which compliance frameworks are at risk, and what a governed AI gateway would look like for your team — at no cost and no obligation.

Based in Auburn, Indiana. Serving Fort Wayne, Angola, Kendallville, and all of Northeast Indiana. Cloud Radix builds the AI infrastructure that lets your organization move fast without leaving the gate open.

No obligation. No sales pitch.
Auburn, IN — local to Fort Wayne
1-2 week deployment timeline