AI Glossary
Prompt injection
Also known as: Indirect prompt injection
Prompt injection is an attack where malicious text, from a user or a document, tries to make the LLM ignore its original instructions and do something else.
Direct and indirect
- Direct: the user types “ignore previous instructions and…”.
- Indirect: the malicious instruction hides in a web page, email or PDF the system reads.
Reducing the risk
- Treat all retrieved content as data, never as instructions.
- Give the model only the tools and permissions it strictly needs.
- Require human approval for irreversible actions.
- Monitor and log inputs and outputs.
There’s no perfect defense: design the system assuming injection will happen.
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AI for SREs
Your LLM returned HTTP 200. And it was wrong. Learn to run AI with SRE discipline.