Insider Risk Management & Data Protection

DeepSeek Data Security: How Mimecast Incydr Safeguards Your Sensitive Information

Mimecast Incydr releases detection for DeepSeek GenAI to protect and prevent loss of IP and other sensitive corporate data through unsanctioned use of the application

Jan 28, 2025

Key Points

DeepSeek’s popularity and affordability increase the risk of unintentional data exposure through unsanctioned GenAI usage within organizations.
Due to its broad data collection, including personal and sensitive information, DeepSeek raises potential compliance and privacy risks for organizations.
Mimecast Incydr offers granular controls to block risky data-sharing activities with GenAI tools like DeepSeek, ensuring better data protection.

The rise of generative AI (GenAI) tools has reshaped how society works and innovates. But with this acceleration in artificial intelligence comes risk, and the latest entry in the GenAI race has raised concerns for security leaders.

DeepSeek AI, a fast-growing Chinese startup, has rapidly gained attention with its cutting-edge AI model and assistant. Offering capabilities that rival or surpass industry leaders like ChatGPT, DeepSeek’s GenAI is 20-50x cheaper to run and now top-rated on platforms like Apple’s App Store. While its popularity continues to soar, its use within organizations presents a growing threat to the confidentiality of sensitive corporate data and personal information.

For CISOs, the challenge is clear: how do we prevent employees from mishandling or leaking sensitive data to an unsanctioned AI tool like DeepSeek?

Understanding the Risk: GenAI and Data Exposure

GenAI tools like DeepSeek are designed to generate vast amounts of text outputs from user prompts, which can lead to unintended data exposure. Employee mishandling of data on GenAI platforms increasingly puts corporate data at risk. According to the 2024 Data Exposure Report, 86% of security leaders fear employees are leaking user data to GenAI tools, potentially exposing sensitive information to competitors. For example, a simple act of prompting a GenAI bot to craft a more enticing email about upcoming product announcements can expose confidential corporate roadmap data to the public domain.

AI tools like DeepSeek are reshaping the workplace, bringing both innovation and new security challenges. Discover what DeepSeek’s rapid adoption means for your data and why solutions like Mimecast Incydr are essential for managing employee-driven AI security risks.

WATCH: DeepSeek: The Rapid Evolution of AI

DeepSeek’s Privacy Policy

DeepSeek’s privacy policy raises privacy concerns for organizations adopting artificial intelligence at scale, especially around data privacy and employee use of unsanctioned apps. For models like DeepSeek R1, the policy indicates a broad collection that can include:

Prompts and chat history
Uploaded files
Text and audio inputs
Device and OS details
Keystroke patterns
IP addresses
Any personal information shared in the app

Unlike some platforms, users may not be able to opt out of certain data sharing. The policy states data may be stored on servers in China, which can create jurisdiction and compliance friction.

For security leaders, this shifts the focus to AI governance during AI development, since centralized storage and detailed telemetry may widen exposure to malicious actors as AI technology adoption grows.

Mimecast Incydr: An IRM and Data Protection Solution Built for the GenAI Era

To address this growing challenge, Mimecast today unveils new detections for its Incydr product which allow security teams to efficiently pinpoint and respond to events where data from sensitive business sources moves to the new GenAI tool DeepSeek.

The new release builds upon a robust set of existing GenAI protections, including:

Comprehensive GenAI Coverage: Incydr continues to offer protections for other popular GenAI tools like ChatGPT (including the desktop app), Google Gemini, Jasper, and Perplexity, ensuring a broad defense strategy.
PRISM Risk Prioritization: Incydr’s PRISM system scores and prioritizes GenAI use, surfacing the most critical risks for automated controls or security team investigation.
Granular Controls: Incydr can identify and block both copy/paste and file upload activities to unsanctioned GenAI tools, providing the controls needed to mitigate data leaks before they happen.
Microtraining for Employees: Education remains a key intervention to reduce human risk. Incydr offers microtraining nudges to guide employees on secure GenAI use, as well as corrective nudges to address risky behaviors as they happen.

Why DeepSeek Matters to Security Teams

DeepSeek’s GenAI is not just another productivity tool, it’s a disruptor. With the company’s claims of superior performance and cost-efficiency compared to U.S.-based AI models, DeepSeek is quickly gaining traction. Its rapid rise signals a need for heightened vigilance in protecting intellectual property (IP) and other sensitive data. For CISOs, the risks posed by unsanctioned GenAI usage are too significant to ignore. Incydr’s GenAI capabilities help organizations strike the right balance between innovation and protection.

The average cost of an insider data leak is $15M USD. As GenAI adoption accelerates, unmonitored usage can quietly expose sensitive data, often before security teams realize there's a breach.