While many companies are intentionally rolling out AI to boost quality and efficiency, unsanctioned AI tools are cropping up in corporate environments even faster. Software vendors are baking AI right into products companies already use (think Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini), while employees are taking matters into their own hands and installing tools on the sly. As a result, businesses are staring down a poorly managed data leak channel: staff paste information from corporate systems into AI chatbots, sending data not just to the SaaS vendor, but straight to the developers behind the underlying AI model. Both the risks and the mitigation strategies vary depending on the type of AI system in play. We break down this broad topic, focusing heavily on tools for spotting and blocking AI at two distinct levels.

Types of unwanted AI systems

Depending on the type of AI in question, managing and blocking its use requires a different playbook. It’s essential to break down AI into four distinct categories:

• Platform-native AI capabilities. Think Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Apple Intelligence, along with AI features baked right into browsers. The tricky thing about these is that they’re built into everyday essentials, are instantly available to every user (sometimes popping up aggressively), and most importantly, vendors try to turn them on by default.
• AI companions embedded in business apps. This bucket includes Slack AI, Zoom AI Companion, Notion AI, Jira’s Rovo assistant, and the like. These are tied to a single application and are completely inseparable from it.
• Standalone web and app-based chatbots. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Character AI, local setups like LM Studio, browser extensions, and agentic browsers like Comet. Apps and services in this category are usually adopted by employees on their own without permission: classic examples of shadow AI.

• Desktop-native multi-functional agents. This group features tools like OpenClaw, NanoClaw, NemoClaw, and others. They pose the biggest threat because they come with broad access rights by default and actively process untrusted data from the open web.

How to deal with unwanted AI

Every company, depending on its industry, appetite for innovation, and risk tolerance, needs to draw its own line in the sand between recommended, approved case-by-case, and completely banned use cases for specific AI products. Regulated sectors like healthcare play by one set of rules, while retail businesses operate under an entirely different playbook. Either way, after analyzing exactly which AI tools have already slipped into the organization, corporate policies need to be fine-tuned. That’s why the first order of business is employing existing infosec and logging tools to scan corporate infrastructure.

Depending on the chosen strategy, the uncovered AI systems can be:

• Disabled or restricted by using the built-in corporate policy settings within the tools themselves
• Hard-blocked at the endpoint or network level to create a safety net against policy workarounds or configuration errors
• Transitioned to managed access, where the tool isn’t completely blocked but instead routed through a dedicated corporate gateway that checks access permissions, and monitors usage patterns

Detecting AI systems

Spotting AI requires a multi-layered approach, as different detection methods complement each other and work best against specific types of AI.

 

Technology	What it can detect
DNS	Any AI tool with an identifiable domain
Web Gateway or NGFW	Any AI tool with a recognizable request-and-response fingerprint (API endpoint paths, domains, and other indicators). Web filters can inspect traffic content, and many gateways/NGFWs now feature a dedicated category for detecting and blocking generative AI
EPP/EDR	Locally deployed LLMs (running via Ollama, LM Studio, and similar shells), native desktop apps for ChatGPT or Claude, agentic browsers, and open-source AI agents. An indirect but strong red flag is the presence of Node.js, Python, Git, Docker, or other containerization tools on machines belonging to non-technical staff
Application control	Similar to EPP/EDR, this allows to immediately block unwanted applications right out of the gate
Browser control	AI-focused browser extensions and visits to AI-themed websites. This is a lifesaver if the corporate web gateway can’t inspect encrypted traffic
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) / Identity Governance	OAuth permissions requested by AI apps and services, as well as any third-party integrations plugging into core productivity hubs (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and others)

 

Naturally, almost all of these tools allow to do more than just spot AI — they let to block it entirely, or at the very least, sound the alarm for the team in charge.

Keeping an eye on OAuth

Popular office AI solutions — especially meeting assistants, email and calendar automation agents, and the like — gain access to corporate data by requesting OAuth permissions directly from communication, document workflow, or video conferencing platforms. If a user has the green light to grant these permissions to third-party apps, the resulting data leaks completely bypass the organization’s perimeter. Tools like EDR and NGFW won’t see a thing when a tool like Read.ai grabs recordings of every single meeting in, say, Microsoft Teams.

The most drastic — and often best — move is to block standard users from granting OAuth consent in the first place. Here’s how to handle the technical heavy lifting (Global Administrator, Application Administrator, or equivalent rights are needed):

Microsoft 365 / Entra ID

In the Microsoft Entra admin center, head over to Identity > Applications > Enterprise apps > Consent and permissions > User consent settings. There User consent for applications can be disabled (check out Microsoft’s full guide).

Google Workspace

In the Google Admin console, navigate to Security > Access and data control > API controls. Under Manage App Access, the trust level for all apps can be set: Trusted, Limited, Specific Google data, or Blocked. However, the real kicker here is the Unconfigured app settings subsection, which dictates what happens when a user tries to connect an unknown app. To seal this loophole, select Don’t allow users to access any third-party apps.

A separate subsection, Manage Google Services, permits fine-tuning exactly how third-party apps interact with Google Workspace and Google Cloud services. This allows to cut off access for each individual Google product (see Google’s official guide).

Salesforce

In Setup, use the Quick Find box to search for connected apps, then select Manage Connected Apps from the results. While settings are configured for each external app individually, all users can approve access by default. There isn’t a blanket block switch here; instead, Salesforce allows to opt for Admin approved users are pre-authorized (see the full Salesforce guide on this).

Slack

From the Admin settings menu, head to Apps and workflows -> App Management Settings. Tweak the Require approved apps setting by selecting Only allow pre-approved apps. Once that’s locked in, double-check that no rogue AI tools have slipped onto the approved list.

Have you ever tried to tally up how much you spend on subscriptions each month? Music, movies, gaming, language courses, delivery services, heated seats, and even the ability to chat with the Grok bot directly from your car — there’s a subscription for just about everything now. There’s even a subscription service specifically designed to… track your other subscriptions.

The number of subscriptions varies significantly depending on where you live, but statistically, 78% of adults worldwide have at least one paid subscription, with the average user juggling 5.6 active services. Furthermore, a large portion of these are family plans used by groups of close relatives… and sometimes other people: 37% of users share their subscriptions outside their immediate family.

Because subscription accounts, especially family plans, often contain sensitive personal data, they’ve become a prime target for cybercriminals. Today we look at how to manage your subscriptions securely, avoid having your accounts compromised, and keep from falling for scammers’ latest tricks.

Security of shared accounts and subscriptions

Why would anyone want to hack your subscription? Even if the service only offers entertainment, your account almost certainly contains sensitive information: your name, address, email, phone number, the names of other members, and other personally identifiable information. This data is then sold on the dark web and used for further attacks.

Attackers compromise subscription accounts either through social engineering and phishing, or by taking advantage of many users’ reliance on weak or leaked passwords. As we recently highlighted in our research, nearly half of all passwords worldwide can be cracked in less than a minute. Scammers then either resell existing subscriptions or slots in a family group at a discount, or they sign the victim up for new services, hoping the extra charges go unnoticed.

Finally, some middlemen don’t bother with hacking at all; they simply buy bulk subscriptions for a large number of devices, where the per-unit cost is typically much lower. They then resell individual slots in these plans on online marketplaces. As a result, a single “family” account can end up filled with people who are complete strangers to one another.

Sharing subscriptions with family and others

Many subscription owners think nothing of sharing access with family and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

The worst-case scenario from a security standpoint is when a single account is purchased and the owner shares the login and password with other users. This usually happens when people try to save money on a family plan by buying an individual subscription and sharing it. Some services even allow for different profiles, but they are all tied to a single account, meaning the credentials are shared. This is how streaming platforms like Hulu and Disney+ operate.

Sharing one account among multiple people significantly increases the risk of your credentials falling into the wrong hands. There’s no way to guarantee that everyone else is storing those details securely or that their devices aren’t infected with malware. Even without malware, it’s incredibly easy to accidentally hand over a password to attackers simply by signing in to the subscription service over unprotected public Wi-Fi.

It’s entirely possible that the password you kindly shared with some friends has already surfaced in some corner of the dark web, and you may soon lose access to your account. Furthermore, if you reuse the same password across different sites and apps, your other accounts are now in the crosshairs as well.

The second scenario is when each group member has an individual account. Many services now allow you to add extra users to a subscription at no additional cost, and most owners are happy to give away these free slots. Even then, you shouldn’t let your guard down: a breach of just one of these accounts can still leak sensitive information, such as family members’ names, addresses, billing info, and other subscription-related data.

How to protect your subscriptions (and your wallet)

To keep your and your loved ones’ personal data private and your accounts under your control, follow these simple rules.

Use strong account security

To do this, learn — and teach your friends and family — how to use password managers, two-factor authentication, or passkeys.

If you and your loved ones rely on memory to store passwords, there’s a high probability that you’re reusing the same one across multiple services. This is a major blunder: data breaches happen all the time, and a single compromised password gives attackers access to your other accounts.

The simplest solution is to use a password manager that generates and remembers complex, unique passwords for every site and service on your behalf. All you have to do is remember the single main password for its encrypted vault. Additionally, Kaspersky Password Manager doesn’t just store and create passwords; it can also check if they’ve appeared in leaked databases, and sync your credentials across all your devices.

Additionally, a password manager provides a robust defense against phishing: unlike a human, who can easily be misled by a sign-in form that looks almost identical to the real thing and is hosted on a look-alike domain, a password manager won’t fall for the trick. It’ll only offer to autofill your saved login and password on the specific site or service for which they were originally stored.

Avoid using browsers to store your passwords: unfortunately, attackers have long figured out how to extract browser-saved passwords in a matter of seconds.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an extra layer of verification the system requests after you enter your password — such as an SMS code or a one-time code from an authenticator app. Whenever technically possible, be sure to enable 2FA on every account linked to a subscription. This applies to the subscription services themselves, as well as any third-party accounts you use to sign in, such as Google, Apple, or Facebook.

We recommend storing your two-factor authentication tokens and generating the one-time codes — which refresh every 30 seconds — inside Kaspersky Password Manager. This significantly lowers the chances of someone hijacking your account. Even if an attacker somehow discovers or guesses your password, they won’t be able to get the code without physical access to your device.

Finally, you can ditch passwords (almost) entirely by switching to passkeys. We’ve previously covered what this password alternative looks like and the specifics of using it. Currently, this is the most breach-resistant authentication system out there. Its main drawback has been the difficulty of syncing passkeys across different ecosystems, like Windows and iOS, but the updated version of Kaspersky Password Manager can now save and sync passkeys across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices, making that issue a thing of the past.

Don’t overlook device security

Even a complex password and 2FA aren’t reasons to let your guard down. An attacker can infect your device with an infostealer: malware designed to swipe things like session cookies from your browser, app configuration files, and other sensitive data. Session cookies allow you to stay signed in without re-entering your credentials every time; however, if scammers get their hands on them, they can sign in to the service as you — even without knowing your username or password. This makes a proactive approach essential, especially if you use Chrome, Edge, Opera, or other Chromium-based browsers on Windows. We recommend installing Kaspersky Premium on all your devices; it includes Kaspersky Password Manager in addition to comprehensive protection against cyberthreats.

Only share subscriptions with people you trust

Otherwise, you might be asking for trouble. For example, if you share a Steam subscription with a friend who cheats, both of your accounts could end up banned. Furthermore, never try to let someone else into your personal account or individual subscription. Sharing your password with others is usually a violation of the terms of service, and can result in your account being blocked.

Make sure there are no strangers in your family group

To do this, periodically check active devices and sessions in your subscription settings. If you see an unrecognized device in the authorized list, terminate that session — or all of them — and change your account password immediately. Signing back in on a few devices is much easier than trying to recover a hijacked account.

And remember: don’t let your own habits compromise your security. If you’re visiting friends, on vacation, or on a business trip and use a local computer or smart TV — or if you sign in to your account from a public computer — don’t forget to sign out when you’re done. Otherwise, the next person to use that device might find themselves with free subscriptions or, even worse, access to your email or cloud photo stream.

Don’t take the bait

Watch out for phishing emails and messages spoofing legitimate services. If you receive a notification about a “need to update your billing details”, or a claim that a “new user has been added” to your family plan, don’t rush to click any links or open attachments. Links can lead to a phishing page, and attachments may hide malware. Scammers often use email addresses and domains that look nearly identical to the real ones — for instance, by swapping l (lowercase L) for I (uppercase i), or using a familiar name in a different domain zone.

Unfortunately, phishing pages are often indistinguishable from the originals now that AI is being used for high-quality design and layout. Since spotting every red flag yourself is increasingly difficult, it’s best to delegate anti-phishing protection to Kaspersky Premium. It will alert you to suspicious sites, saving your money and keeping your peace of mind.

Lastly, some scammers lure users in with freebies like fake gift subscriptions for Telegram Premium. The victim is asked to visit a phishing page mimicking the Telegram login screen and sign in to their account to claim the gift. The result isn’t hard to guess: instead of a premium subscription — a hijacked account. Recently, scammers have even learned to use mini-apps to steal credentials directly inside Telegram under various pretexts — ranging from gift giveaways to claims that you must move to a new chat because the old one was blocked.

Avoid buying subscriptions from third-party sellers

You can often find subscription offers on marketplaces and retail platforms at prices significantly lower than what the official provider charges. More likely than not, that tempting price hides a hacked account or a family group that you could be kicked out of at any moment, because the family admin is either the seller or a random user. Furthermore, sharing a family plan with strangers from around the world is a violation of terms for many services.

How to get rid of unwanted subscriptions

Now that we’ve covered subscription security, what about those extra subscriptions that quietly eat away at your balance every month? Research shows that users typically underestimate how many active subscriptions they have and how much they spend on them; they also frequently forget to cancel auto-renewals for subscriptions they no longer use, or auto-charges after the trial period ends.

If you suspect you’re in that boat, start your investigation with your own bank statements. Recurring charges for the same amount can be a subscription you’ve forgotten about. Check who received the payment; if the name doesn’t ring a bell, do an online search on the company. It’s also worth searching your email box for the merchant name or the payment amount; this can help you track down subscription notifications and figure out what exactly you’re paying for. And don’t forget to check your spam folder, as that’s where subscription alerts often end up.

Now, let’s look at how to check and cancel active subscriptions purchased through the App Store and Google Play.

For Android users

1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Tap Google, then tap your profile picture, and go to Google Account.
3. Go to Wallet & subscriptions.

If you’re the family group manager, you’ll be able to see the purchase history for other family members.

For iOS users

1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Tap your profile picture at the top of the menu.
3. Go to Subscriptions.

Note: to manage your iCloud subscription, you’ll need to go to the specific iCloud section located just below Subscriptions. In the Family Sharing section, if you’re the one who set it up, you can view the subscription and purchase history for all family members.

Read more on subscriptions:

• You’ve been sent a “gift” — a Telegram Premium subscription
• How to share subscriptions without tears
• How to control your subscriptions and save money
• Meet the Trojan subscribers hungry to sign you up

Among the various tools in the Kaspersky portfolio is a dedicated platform for securing containerized environments. But in this post, I want to talk about Kaspersky Container Security (KCS) — not as a vendor representative, but rather as a member of a team that actively uses this solution in their daily work. Our Product Security Team is responsible for establishing secure development processes across the company. We’re involved in every stage of the software development life cycle, and our priority is helping product teams catch security issues early so they can stay on schedule for their releases. To achieve this, we’ve built several workflows, one of which focuses specifically on container security. That’s exactly where we lean on our own Kaspersky Container Security platform.

Container security solutions are typically viewed first and foremost as image scanners for the container registry. However, Kaspersky Container Security (KCS) is more of a comprehensive security platform for container environments that handles multiple tasks by virtue of its end-to-end integration into the container workflow. While it certainly includes a container image scanning scenario — which is undeniably important — our experience with KCS has shown that its real value becomes apparent when it’s integrated into several points along the workflow at once:

• Regular builds
• Artifact verification prior to release or deployment
• Monitoring of containers already running in the cluster

The baseline scenario: how KCS scans images

At its core, the process is a standard one. KCS checks images for typical container issues: known vulnerabilities, malware, hardcoded secrets, and misconfigurations. However, the scan result isn’t just a single, abstract verdict. The system calculates a risk rating based on the findings, providing a clear picture of the asset’s security posture. In practice, this is incredibly useful because teams don’t just see a “bad image” message; they get a transparent breakdown of exactly what’s driving the risk and what needs to be fixed first.

But that’s not all. KCS works well for scenarios where it’s not enough to just find a problem — you need to tie it to the artifact’s life cycle. When a team is managing hundreds of builds, periodic registry scanning isn’t enough, and it almost always requires manual intervention. You need to know which pipeline introduced the risk, which policies were triggered, and what the next steps are. KCS provides this essential link.

Advanced scenario: CI/CD integration

One lesser-known KCS feature is its full-scale scanning capability within CI/CD pipelines. For our team, this is the most effective way to use KCS. The logic is straightforward: you integrate the scanner into the pipeline, and the scan results appear directly in the execution logs. They’re also sent to the solution’s central console, where they’re logged in a dedicated CI/CD section that links the findings to the artifact name, scan time, pipeline, and severity level.

In a CI/CD environment, you can scan images from tar-archives or directly from Git repositories. Out of the box, it supports GitLab, Jenkins, TeamCity, and GitHub Actions; in practice, KCS can be integrated into any pipeline orchestrator.

Another critical aspect of using KCS in CI/CD involves security policies. Our solution uses a model where policies allow for not just collecting results, but also controlling the behavior of the pipeline itself. This comes in handy for phased rollouts. You can start in audit mode, and then gradually move toward failing builds when secrets, critical misconfigurations, or vulnerabilities are detected. This evolutionary approach generally works better than simply flipping a switch to block it all at once.

How KCS helps in our workflows

We run our own composition analysis system, so we don’t treat KCS as a single source of truth. Instead, it serves as a powerful extra layer in our workflows, and that’s exactly where we find the most value.

While our in-house composition analysis system handles component tracking, dependencies, and code-level risk assessment, KCS excels at securing the container perimeter. It takes care of technical image scanning and CI/CD security, while aggregating reports on container artifacts. It doesn’t conflict with our internal analysis; it reinforces it right where containers receive actual workloads.

This is particularly useful for us in two scenarios. First, it provides early-stage artifact control during development. Second, it acts as a gatekeeper during release acceptance. We no longer debate risks sometime after the release; we catch them at the exact point where the team can still quickly fix a Dockerfile, Helm chart, or config set without a lengthy approval chain.

The way it handles a software bill of materials (SBOM) is also noteworthy. Our system relies primarily on up-to-date, relevant SBOMs. KCS offers modes specifically for processing SBOMs, and can even output scan results in that same format. In this regard, KCS integrates seamlessly with our internal processes, allowing us to fit it into our existing workflows rather than the other way around.

Why KCS is more than just a scanner to us

Its other powerful layer is cluster security. At this stage, KCS evolves beyond being just an image-scanning tool. It features runtime policies for containers and nodes, audit and blocking modes, and a set of security profiles. In practical terms, this means KCS can be used not only to find vulnerabilities within an image, but also to monitor what the container is actually doing once it’s live. Policies can account for image provenance, digital signatures, restrictions on capabilities and volumes, and even the processes and network connections running inside the container.

When a problem is detected, you have the option to log the results in audit mode first rather than blocking the process immediately. In production environments, this is always the smarter move. Another vital tool is ensuring trusted image provenance. KCS supports digital signature verification, which shifts the focus from simply finding CVEs to securing the company’s entire software supply chain.

Reporting capabilities

KCS does more than just display the issues it detects; it serves as a comprehensive reporting source. It can generate reports on images, accepted risks and Kubernetes benchmarks.

Generated reports are available in HTML, PDF, CSV, JSON and XML formats, with specific support for SARIF for detailed reporting — which is ideal for integrating into AppSec workflows. As for the SBOMs mentioned above, the scanning scenarios can output artifacts and results in CycloneDX and SPDX formats, making it easy to plug into existing processes.

Why we continue to use KCS

To put it simply, KCS complements our workflows perfectly — not because it solves every single problem, but because it integrates so effectively into engineering scenarios.

We also appreciate that the product team listens to our feedback. The KCS team actually incorporates our practical operational requests into their development roadmap. For example, deep SBOM integration and specific report types were added to KCS as a direct result of our hands-on experience.

To sum it up, when integrated correctly, Kaspersky Container Security helps cover several areas at once: from basic container scanning, to CI/CD and cluster security. In our experience, it provides real value within a live container ecosystem. You can learn more about the solution on the official KCS page.