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Addressing the New Copilot Security Breach: The Case for Local LLMs

Author(s):
Shakudo Team
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Updated on:
September 5, 2024

Table of contents

Data/AI stack components mentioned

Airbyte
Data Integration
MinIO
Data Storage
Coraza
Security
Trivy
Security
Dify
Large Language Model (LLM)
LangChain
Large Language Model (LLM)
Apache Spark
Distributed Computing
Dask
Distributed Computing
Mattermost
Communication
Langfuse
Large Language Model (LLM)
Llama 3
Large Language Model (LLM)

The Copilot Security Breach 

Since Microsoft Copilot launched as a prominent AI tool within Microsoft 365 applications to help users generate content and manage data, the integration has brought notable security concerns particularly related to data privacy and the risk of data breaches. 

Recent cybersecurity research has uncovered a significant vulnerability in Microsoft Copilot Studio that could potentially be exploited to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Detailed in the National Vulnerability Database under CVE-2024-38206, the vulnerability involves a technique that allows attackers to extract instance metadata from a Copilot chat message, including managed identity tokens. With these access tokens, attackers could gain unauthorized access to internal resources, such as Cosmos DB instance, which allow them to read or alternate exciting data. 

While the vulnerability does not enable direct access to information across different tenants, it could potentially lead to data breaches when multiple customers are allowed to share the same infrastructure.

The vulnerability involves a technique that allows attackers to extract instance metadata from a Copilot chat message, including managed identity tokens.

Understanding the Risks

Cloud-based AI tools, such as Copilot, pose security risks primarily due to the transmission and storage of sensitive data on remote servers, which can expose data to unauthorized access and potential breaches. These tools often rely on third-party services, creating another layer of possible failure or exploitation when cloud providers implement insufficient security measures, further increasing the risk of unauthorized access to proprietary information. 

Furthermore, the AI’s reliance on historical data for output generation increases the risk of unintentional data leakage. Take a look at some of the potential risks associated with cloud-based AI tools: 

Data Privacy Concerns: Cloud-based tools often process and store code in remote servers. If these servers are compromised, the code and potentially sensitive information can be exposed to unauthorized parties. 

Intellectual Property Theft: Developers’ proprietary code can be intercepted or misused if security measures are not robust enough, leading to potential theft of intellectual property. 

Compliance Issues: Most businesses across different industries are bound by strict data protection regulations. Storing code and data in cloud services can complicate compliance with these regulations, especially if the data crosses international borders. 

Compromised Data Quality: A major risk of using cloud-based AI systems is the potential compromise of data quality. When relying on these services, you may lose control over the data used to train and operate AI models, which can make it challenging to ensure and trust the accuracy of their outputs. This issue is particularly concerning with complex or opaque models where validation becomes even more difficult.

Dependence on External Security: The security of cloud-based tools often hinges on the protocols set by the service provider, which may not always match an organization’s specific security standards.

To mitigate these risks in light of these security challenges, many organizations are turning to local large language models (LLMs) as an alternative to cloud-based AI tools. 

Compared to cloud-based tools, local LLMs process data on-prem, minimizing the risk of data transmission over the internet and potential interception. This approach is particularly relevant and should be implemented for businesses in industries handling large amounts of sensitive data such as finance and healthcare, ensuring strict adherence to regulations that safeguard data against external servers. 

The Benefits of Running Local LLMs

Enhanced Data Privacy: By operating LLMs on local servers, organizations can ensure that sensitive code and data remain within their own infrastructure. This minimizes the risk of exposure to external threats and reduces the likelihood of data breaches.

Control Over Security: Local LLMs allow organizations to implement and manage their own security protocols. This means they can tailor their security measures to their specific needs, rather than relying on third-party providers. 

Compliance with Regulations: Local deployment simplifies compliance with data protection regulations by keeping data within jurisdictions where legal requirements can be more easily managed. This is particularly crucial for organizations operating under stringent data privacy laws.

Reduced Dependency on External Services: Running LLMs locally reduces reliance on external cloud providers, decreasing the risk associated with potential vulnerabilities or outages in their infrastructure.

Customizability and Flexibility: Organizations can fine-tune and optimize local LLMs to better fit their specific development environments and requirements, improving both performance and security.

Understanding the various benefits of running LLMs locally is only the first step; effectively deploying and managing local LLMs requires addressing a range of technical, financial, and operational considerations. As we explore the process of implementing local LLMs, it’s essential to examine how organizations can overcome the challenges involved and leverage these benefits to their fullest potential.

Steps to Implementing Local LLMs

Step 1 

Infrastructure Assessment: Evaluate current IT infrastructure to ensure it can support the deployment and maintenance of local LLMs. This includes hardware capabilities and network requirements.

Step 2

Model Selection and Training: Choose an LLM that aligns with the organization’s particular objectives. Depending on the use case, this may involve training a model on specific codebases or integrating pre-trained models.

Step 3

Security Measures: Implement robust security measures for local deployments, including encryption, access controls, and regular security audits.

Step 4

Integration and Testing: Seamlessly integrate local LLMs into existing development workflows and conduct thorough testing to ensure performance and security before deployment. 

Step 5

Continuous Monitoring and Updates: Regularly monitor the performance and security of local LLMs, making sure that the system is updated to address any emerging threats or vulnerabilities.

Challenges and Considerations

As much as LLMs offer impressive capabilities and enhanced data protection, the journey of implementing them locally is fraught with challenges. Organizations are often confronted by several obstacles, including:

Infrastructure Requirements: Running LLMs locally demands significant computational resources and robust infrastructure. Organizations need to invest in high-performance hardware and maintain it, which can be costly and resource-intensive. 

Scalability Issues: Unlike cloud-based solutions that easily scale according to demand, local LLMs may face limitations in scalability. Adjusting to varying data loads can be cumbersome and might require substantial upgrades. 

Expertise Requirements: Utilizing local LLMs requires specialized expertise for implementation and management. Organizations must either upskill their current workforce or hire new talent with the necessary knowledge, which can be a significant investment. 

Integration Challenges: Integrating local LLMs with existing systems and workflows can be complex. Organizations may face difficulties in aligning the local model with their current technology stack and operational processes. 

Shakudo: A Powerful Tool for LLM Localization

Shakudo exists as an overarching operating system dedicated to solution integrations that streamline and enhance organizations' data management capabilities. As a Kubernetes-based solution compatible with any cloud or on-premises server, Shakudo enables companies to deploy and operate data and AI tools swiftly.

Using Shakudo to run local LLMs, including the latest models like Llama 3.1, Mixtral 8, and Nous-Hermes, offers several compelling advantages for organizations looking to leverage large language models effectively.

Dashboard of Shakudo, the operating system for data an AI

Streamlined Infrastructure Management

The Shakudo platform is designed to simplify the complex task of hosting and managing open-source LLMs. This is crucial since setting up and maintaining the infrastructure for local LLMs can be resource-intensive and technically challenging for many organizations. Shakudo operates tools like Airbyte for data integration and MinIO for object storage seamlessly, ensuring a robust and efficient infrastructure.

Enhanced Security Features

The platform supports compliance with local data protection regulations by offering tools to manage and secure localized data, ensuring that models are developed and deployed in accordance with regional legal requirements. Shakudo incorporates security-focused components like Trivy for vulnerability scanning and Coraza for web application firewall protection.

Flexibility and Customization

Shakudo offers tools and frameworks for fine-tuning LLMs on localized datasets. This customization process helps the model better grasp local dialects, idiomatic expressions, and cultural nuances, improving its relevance and accuracy. The platform integrates with Dify for AI application development and LangChain for building applications with LLMs.

The infrastructure is also designed to handle large-scale training and fine-tuning tasks efficiently. This scalability ensures that localized models maintain strong performance even with large datasets. Shakudo supports distributed computing frameworks like Apache Spark and Dask for handling big data processing tasks.

Continuous Monitoring and Maintenance

Shakudo facilitates collaboration between data scientists, engineers, and local experts on a unified platform to ensure that the localization process incorporates diverse perspectives and insights. This collaborative approach helps produce models and feedback that are accurate, secure, and in compliance with regulatory requirements. The platform integrates with Mattermost for team collaboration and Langfuse for LLM observability, enabling teams to monitor and improve model performance over time.

To learn more about Shakudo's services and discover how you can securely deploy data tools and run LLMs locally without the need for DevOps, contact our experts or schedule a demo.

Shakudo Team

Shakudo unites all of the data tools and services into a single platform, allowing your team to develop and deploy solutions with ease.
Whitepaper

The Copilot Security Breach 

Since Microsoft Copilot launched as a prominent AI tool within Microsoft 365 applications to help users generate content and manage data, the integration has brought notable security concerns particularly related to data privacy and the risk of data breaches. 

Recent cybersecurity research has uncovered a significant vulnerability in Microsoft Copilot Studio that could potentially be exploited to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Detailed in the National Vulnerability Database under CVE-2024-38206, the vulnerability involves a technique that allows attackers to extract instance metadata from a Copilot chat message, including managed identity tokens. With these access tokens, attackers could gain unauthorized access to internal resources, such as Cosmos DB instance, which allow them to read or alternate exciting data. 

While the vulnerability does not enable direct access to information across different tenants, it could potentially lead to data breaches when multiple customers are allowed to share the same infrastructure.

The vulnerability involves a technique that allows attackers to extract instance metadata from a Copilot chat message, including managed identity tokens.

Understanding the Risks

Cloud-based AI tools, such as Copilot, pose security risks primarily due to the transmission and storage of sensitive data on remote servers, which can expose data to unauthorized access and potential breaches. These tools often rely on third-party services, creating another layer of possible failure or exploitation when cloud providers implement insufficient security measures, further increasing the risk of unauthorized access to proprietary information. 

Furthermore, the AI’s reliance on historical data for output generation increases the risk of unintentional data leakage. Take a look at some of the potential risks associated with cloud-based AI tools: 

Data Privacy Concerns: Cloud-based tools often process and store code in remote servers. If these servers are compromised, the code and potentially sensitive information can be exposed to unauthorized parties. 

Intellectual Property Theft: Developers’ proprietary code can be intercepted or misused if security measures are not robust enough, leading to potential theft of intellectual property. 

Compliance Issues: Most businesses across different industries are bound by strict data protection regulations. Storing code and data in cloud services can complicate compliance with these regulations, especially if the data crosses international borders. 

Compromised Data Quality: A major risk of using cloud-based AI systems is the potential compromise of data quality. When relying on these services, you may lose control over the data used to train and operate AI models, which can make it challenging to ensure and trust the accuracy of their outputs. This issue is particularly concerning with complex or opaque models where validation becomes even more difficult.

Dependence on External Security: The security of cloud-based tools often hinges on the protocols set by the service provider, which may not always match an organization’s specific security standards.

To mitigate these risks in light of these security challenges, many organizations are turning to local large language models (LLMs) as an alternative to cloud-based AI tools. 

Compared to cloud-based tools, local LLMs process data on-prem, minimizing the risk of data transmission over the internet and potential interception. This approach is particularly relevant and should be implemented for businesses in industries handling large amounts of sensitive data such as finance and healthcare, ensuring strict adherence to regulations that safeguard data against external servers. 

The Benefits of Running Local LLMs

Enhanced Data Privacy: By operating LLMs on local servers, organizations can ensure that sensitive code and data remain within their own infrastructure. This minimizes the risk of exposure to external threats and reduces the likelihood of data breaches.

Control Over Security: Local LLMs allow organizations to implement and manage their own security protocols. This means they can tailor their security measures to their specific needs, rather than relying on third-party providers. 

Compliance with Regulations: Local deployment simplifies compliance with data protection regulations by keeping data within jurisdictions where legal requirements can be more easily managed. This is particularly crucial for organizations operating under stringent data privacy laws.

Reduced Dependency on External Services: Running LLMs locally reduces reliance on external cloud providers, decreasing the risk associated with potential vulnerabilities or outages in their infrastructure.

Customizability and Flexibility: Organizations can fine-tune and optimize local LLMs to better fit their specific development environments and requirements, improving both performance and security.

Understanding the various benefits of running LLMs locally is only the first step; effectively deploying and managing local LLMs requires addressing a range of technical, financial, and operational considerations. As we explore the process of implementing local LLMs, it’s essential to examine how organizations can overcome the challenges involved and leverage these benefits to their fullest potential.

Steps to Implementing Local LLMs

Step 1 

Infrastructure Assessment: Evaluate current IT infrastructure to ensure it can support the deployment and maintenance of local LLMs. This includes hardware capabilities and network requirements.

Step 2

Model Selection and Training: Choose an LLM that aligns with the organization’s particular objectives. Depending on the use case, this may involve training a model on specific codebases or integrating pre-trained models.

Step 3

Security Measures: Implement robust security measures for local deployments, including encryption, access controls, and regular security audits.

Step 4

Integration and Testing: Seamlessly integrate local LLMs into existing development workflows and conduct thorough testing to ensure performance and security before deployment. 

Step 5

Continuous Monitoring and Updates: Regularly monitor the performance and security of local LLMs, making sure that the system is updated to address any emerging threats or vulnerabilities.

Challenges and Considerations

As much as LLMs offer impressive capabilities and enhanced data protection, the journey of implementing them locally is fraught with challenges. Organizations are often confronted by several obstacles, including:

Infrastructure Requirements: Running LLMs locally demands significant computational resources and robust infrastructure. Organizations need to invest in high-performance hardware and maintain it, which can be costly and resource-intensive. 

Scalability Issues: Unlike cloud-based solutions that easily scale according to demand, local LLMs may face limitations in scalability. Adjusting to varying data loads can be cumbersome and might require substantial upgrades. 

Expertise Requirements: Utilizing local LLMs requires specialized expertise for implementation and management. Organizations must either upskill their current workforce or hire new talent with the necessary knowledge, which can be a significant investment. 

Integration Challenges: Integrating local LLMs with existing systems and workflows can be complex. Organizations may face difficulties in aligning the local model with their current technology stack and operational processes. 

Shakudo: A Powerful Tool for LLM Localization

Shakudo exists as an overarching operating system dedicated to solution integrations that streamline and enhance organizations' data management capabilities. As a Kubernetes-based solution compatible with any cloud or on-premises server, Shakudo enables companies to deploy and operate data and AI tools swiftly.

Using Shakudo to run local LLMs, including the latest models like Llama 3.1, Mixtral 8, and Nous-Hermes, offers several compelling advantages for organizations looking to leverage large language models effectively.

Dashboard of Shakudo, the operating system for data an AI

Streamlined Infrastructure Management

The Shakudo platform is designed to simplify the complex task of hosting and managing open-source LLMs. This is crucial since setting up and maintaining the infrastructure for local LLMs can be resource-intensive and technically challenging for many organizations. Shakudo operates tools like Airbyte for data integration and MinIO for object storage seamlessly, ensuring a robust and efficient infrastructure.

Enhanced Security Features

The platform supports compliance with local data protection regulations by offering tools to manage and secure localized data, ensuring that models are developed and deployed in accordance with regional legal requirements. Shakudo incorporates security-focused components like Trivy for vulnerability scanning and Coraza for web application firewall protection.

Flexibility and Customization

Shakudo offers tools and frameworks for fine-tuning LLMs on localized datasets. This customization process helps the model better grasp local dialects, idiomatic expressions, and cultural nuances, improving its relevance and accuracy. The platform integrates with Dify for AI application development and LangChain for building applications with LLMs.

The infrastructure is also designed to handle large-scale training and fine-tuning tasks efficiently. This scalability ensures that localized models maintain strong performance even with large datasets. Shakudo supports distributed computing frameworks like Apache Spark and Dask for handling big data processing tasks.

Continuous Monitoring and Maintenance

Shakudo facilitates collaboration between data scientists, engineers, and local experts on a unified platform to ensure that the localization process incorporates diverse perspectives and insights. This collaborative approach helps produce models and feedback that are accurate, secure, and in compliance with regulatory requirements. The platform integrates with Mattermost for team collaboration and Langfuse for LLM observability, enabling teams to monitor and improve model performance over time.

To learn more about Shakudo's services and discover how you can securely deploy data tools and run LLMs locally without the need for DevOps, contact our experts or schedule a demo.

| Case Study

Addressing the New Copilot Security Breach: The Case for Local LLMs

Copilot’s recent breach reveals major cloud AI risks. Learn why C-suite execs are shifting to local LLMs for tighter data security & control.
| Case Study
Addressing the New Copilot Security Breach: The Case for Local LLMs

Key results

About

industry

Data Stack

Airbyte
Data Integration
MinIO
Data Storage
Coraza
Security
Trivy
Security
Dify
Large Language Model (LLM)
LangChain
Large Language Model (LLM)
Apache Spark
Distributed Computing
Dask
Distributed Computing
Mattermost
Communication
Langfuse
Large Language Model (LLM)
Llama 3
Large Language Model (LLM)

The Copilot Security Breach 

Since Microsoft Copilot launched as a prominent AI tool within Microsoft 365 applications to help users generate content and manage data, the integration has brought notable security concerns particularly related to data privacy and the risk of data breaches. 

Recent cybersecurity research has uncovered a significant vulnerability in Microsoft Copilot Studio that could potentially be exploited to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Detailed in the National Vulnerability Database under CVE-2024-38206, the vulnerability involves a technique that allows attackers to extract instance metadata from a Copilot chat message, including managed identity tokens. With these access tokens, attackers could gain unauthorized access to internal resources, such as Cosmos DB instance, which allow them to read or alternate exciting data. 

While the vulnerability does not enable direct access to information across different tenants, it could potentially lead to data breaches when multiple customers are allowed to share the same infrastructure.

The vulnerability involves a technique that allows attackers to extract instance metadata from a Copilot chat message, including managed identity tokens.

Understanding the Risks

Cloud-based AI tools, such as Copilot, pose security risks primarily due to the transmission and storage of sensitive data on remote servers, which can expose data to unauthorized access and potential breaches. These tools often rely on third-party services, creating another layer of possible failure or exploitation when cloud providers implement insufficient security measures, further increasing the risk of unauthorized access to proprietary information. 

Furthermore, the AI’s reliance on historical data for output generation increases the risk of unintentional data leakage. Take a look at some of the potential risks associated with cloud-based AI tools: 

Data Privacy Concerns: Cloud-based tools often process and store code in remote servers. If these servers are compromised, the code and potentially sensitive information can be exposed to unauthorized parties. 

Intellectual Property Theft: Developers’ proprietary code can be intercepted or misused if security measures are not robust enough, leading to potential theft of intellectual property. 

Compliance Issues: Most businesses across different industries are bound by strict data protection regulations. Storing code and data in cloud services can complicate compliance with these regulations, especially if the data crosses international borders. 

Compromised Data Quality: A major risk of using cloud-based AI systems is the potential compromise of data quality. When relying on these services, you may lose control over the data used to train and operate AI models, which can make it challenging to ensure and trust the accuracy of their outputs. This issue is particularly concerning with complex or opaque models where validation becomes even more difficult.

Dependence on External Security: The security of cloud-based tools often hinges on the protocols set by the service provider, which may not always match an organization’s specific security standards.

To mitigate these risks in light of these security challenges, many organizations are turning to local large language models (LLMs) as an alternative to cloud-based AI tools. 

Compared to cloud-based tools, local LLMs process data on-prem, minimizing the risk of data transmission over the internet and potential interception. This approach is particularly relevant and should be implemented for businesses in industries handling large amounts of sensitive data such as finance and healthcare, ensuring strict adherence to regulations that safeguard data against external servers. 

The Benefits of Running Local LLMs

Enhanced Data Privacy: By operating LLMs on local servers, organizations can ensure that sensitive code and data remain within their own infrastructure. This minimizes the risk of exposure to external threats and reduces the likelihood of data breaches.

Control Over Security: Local LLMs allow organizations to implement and manage their own security protocols. This means they can tailor their security measures to their specific needs, rather than relying on third-party providers. 

Compliance with Regulations: Local deployment simplifies compliance with data protection regulations by keeping data within jurisdictions where legal requirements can be more easily managed. This is particularly crucial for organizations operating under stringent data privacy laws.

Reduced Dependency on External Services: Running LLMs locally reduces reliance on external cloud providers, decreasing the risk associated with potential vulnerabilities or outages in their infrastructure.

Customizability and Flexibility: Organizations can fine-tune and optimize local LLMs to better fit their specific development environments and requirements, improving both performance and security.

Understanding the various benefits of running LLMs locally is only the first step; effectively deploying and managing local LLMs requires addressing a range of technical, financial, and operational considerations. As we explore the process of implementing local LLMs, it’s essential to examine how organizations can overcome the challenges involved and leverage these benefits to their fullest potential.

Steps to Implementing Local LLMs

Step 1 

Infrastructure Assessment: Evaluate current IT infrastructure to ensure it can support the deployment and maintenance of local LLMs. This includes hardware capabilities and network requirements.

Step 2

Model Selection and Training: Choose an LLM that aligns with the organization’s particular objectives. Depending on the use case, this may involve training a model on specific codebases or integrating pre-trained models.

Step 3

Security Measures: Implement robust security measures for local deployments, including encryption, access controls, and regular security audits.

Step 4

Integration and Testing: Seamlessly integrate local LLMs into existing development workflows and conduct thorough testing to ensure performance and security before deployment. 

Step 5

Continuous Monitoring and Updates: Regularly monitor the performance and security of local LLMs, making sure that the system is updated to address any emerging threats or vulnerabilities.

Challenges and Considerations

As much as LLMs offer impressive capabilities and enhanced data protection, the journey of implementing them locally is fraught with challenges. Organizations are often confronted by several obstacles, including:

Infrastructure Requirements: Running LLMs locally demands significant computational resources and robust infrastructure. Organizations need to invest in high-performance hardware and maintain it, which can be costly and resource-intensive. 

Scalability Issues: Unlike cloud-based solutions that easily scale according to demand, local LLMs may face limitations in scalability. Adjusting to varying data loads can be cumbersome and might require substantial upgrades. 

Expertise Requirements: Utilizing local LLMs requires specialized expertise for implementation and management. Organizations must either upskill their current workforce or hire new talent with the necessary knowledge, which can be a significant investment. 

Integration Challenges: Integrating local LLMs with existing systems and workflows can be complex. Organizations may face difficulties in aligning the local model with their current technology stack and operational processes. 

Shakudo: A Powerful Tool for LLM Localization

Shakudo exists as an overarching operating system dedicated to solution integrations that streamline and enhance organizations' data management capabilities. As a Kubernetes-based solution compatible with any cloud or on-premises server, Shakudo enables companies to deploy and operate data and AI tools swiftly.

Using Shakudo to run local LLMs, including the latest models like Llama 3.1, Mixtral 8, and Nous-Hermes, offers several compelling advantages for organizations looking to leverage large language models effectively.

Dashboard of Shakudo, the operating system for data an AI

Streamlined Infrastructure Management

The Shakudo platform is designed to simplify the complex task of hosting and managing open-source LLMs. This is crucial since setting up and maintaining the infrastructure for local LLMs can be resource-intensive and technically challenging for many organizations. Shakudo operates tools like Airbyte for data integration and MinIO for object storage seamlessly, ensuring a robust and efficient infrastructure.

Enhanced Security Features

The platform supports compliance with local data protection regulations by offering tools to manage and secure localized data, ensuring that models are developed and deployed in accordance with regional legal requirements. Shakudo incorporates security-focused components like Trivy for vulnerability scanning and Coraza for web application firewall protection.

Flexibility and Customization

Shakudo offers tools and frameworks for fine-tuning LLMs on localized datasets. This customization process helps the model better grasp local dialects, idiomatic expressions, and cultural nuances, improving its relevance and accuracy. The platform integrates with Dify for AI application development and LangChain for building applications with LLMs.

The infrastructure is also designed to handle large-scale training and fine-tuning tasks efficiently. This scalability ensures that localized models maintain strong performance even with large datasets. Shakudo supports distributed computing frameworks like Apache Spark and Dask for handling big data processing tasks.

Continuous Monitoring and Maintenance

Shakudo facilitates collaboration between data scientists, engineers, and local experts on a unified platform to ensure that the localization process incorporates diverse perspectives and insights. This collaborative approach helps produce models and feedback that are accurate, secure, and in compliance with regulatory requirements. The platform integrates with Mattermost for team collaboration and Langfuse for LLM observability, enabling teams to monitor and improve model performance over time.

To learn more about Shakudo's services and discover how you can securely deploy data tools and run LLMs locally without the need for DevOps, contact our experts or schedule a demo.

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