Protecting Against Prompt Injection

As AI integrates into applications, prompt injection becomes a serious security concern.

What Is It?

Prompt injection occurs when an attacker crafts input that causes AI to behave unexpectedly.

Types

1. Direct: User inputs malicious prompts

2. Indirect: Malicious content in processed data

3. Jailbreaking: Bypass safety filters

Defenses

Input Sanitization

Remove control characters, check patterns, limit length.

Prompt Isolation

Separate user input from system instructions with clear delimiters.

Output Filtering

Check outputs before returning. Filter leaked system content and harmful content.

Role-Based Filtering

Limit what each role can do.

Monitoring

Log and analyze requests for injection patterns. Rate limit suspicious sources.

Best Practices

1. Never trust user input

2. Isolate system prompts

3. Filter outputs

4. Monitor activity

5. Keep models updated

6. Layer defenses