Library › Cybersecurity AI › IT and security teams

Decide if a vendor's breach notice affects you

  • For IT and security teams
  • You practice Keeping the AI to your sources
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

A vendor sent a breach notice. Check it against your data inventory and write exactly 3 lines starting 'Affected:' (Yes, No or Unclear), 'Our data involved:' and 'Action:'. Base it only on the notice and the inventory, not on worst-case guesses. Plain text, under 80 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Worst-case thinking. The AI follows the colleague's take and says contracts may be exposed. Try: Say: "Base it only on the notice and our inventory."
  • Missing your data. Without matching against the inventory, the AI says 'possibly affected' and stops. Try: Ask: "Name which of our uses and data are involved."
  • No clear answer. The AI writes paragraphs that never say yes or no. Try: Give the shape: "Affected: Yes, No or Unclear, then Our data involved:, then Action:"
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 80 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Ask for less than the limit and cap each line: "each line under 15 words, under 60 words total."
  • Letting markdown in. AI adds bold and headings by default, and in the ticket they show up as stray symbols. Try: Add: "Plain text only, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Uses your inventory
  • Asks for a clear answer
  • Avoids worst-case guesses
  • Sets a word limit
  • Asks for plain text

Practice this now ↑

Related exercises