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[winjer]

https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/7211030

Agentic browsers, or what many call AI browsers, have the potential to transform how users interact with websites and automate transactions while introducing critical cybersecurity risks. CISOs must block all AI browsers in the foreseeable future to minimize risk exposure.

Block all AI browsers for the foreseeable future: Gartner

: Analysts worry lazy users could have agents complete mandatory infosec training, and attackers could do far nastier things

www.theregister.com

Agentic browsers are too risky for most organizations to use, according to analyst firm Gartner.

The firm offered that advice last week in a new advisory titled "Cybersecurity Must Block AI Browsers for Now," in which research VP Dennis Xu, senior director analyst Evgeny Mirolyubov, and VP analyst John Watts observe "Default AI browser settings prioritize user experience over security."

The analysts' definition of an AI browser encompasses tools like Perplexity's Comet and OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas that include two elements:

• An "AI sidebar" that offers users the chance to summarize, search, translate, and interact with web content using AI services provided by the browser's developer
• An agentic transaction capability that allows the browser to autonomously navigate, interact with, and complete tasks on websites, especially within authenticated web sessions.
• Gartner's document warns that AI sidebars mean "Sensitive user data – such as active web content, browsing history, and open tabs – is often sent to the cloud-based AI back end, increasing the risk of data exposure unless security and privacy settings are deliberately hardened and centrally managed."
  
  The document suggests it's possible to mitigate those risks by assessing the back-end AI services that power an AI browser to understand if their security measures present an acceptable risk to your organization.
  
  If that process leads to approval for use of a browser's back-end AI, Gartner advises organizations should still "Educate users that anything they are viewing could potentially be sent to the AI service back end to ensure they do not have highly sensitive data active on the browser tab while using the AI browser's sidebar to summarize or perform other autonomous actions."

• But if you decide the back-end AI is too risky, Gartner recommends blocking users from downloading or installing AI browsers.
  Gartner's fears about the agentic capabilities of AI browser relate to their susceptibility to "indirect prompt-injection-induced rogue agent actions, inaccurate reasoning-driven erroneous agent actions, and further loss and abuse of credentials if the AI browser is deceived into autonomously navigating to a phishing website."

As most people already know, AI has way too many security and privacy flaws, that makes such deep integration into Brosers or Operating Systems, a major problem.

 

[Poppinfresh]

Who is Gartner and why should anyone care?

My guess? It's a company that is going to try to make $$$ with a product to "secure" AI browsers in the near future.

 

[ssringo]

So, its not the browser specifically, it's the use of outside AI elements? Like, Firefox is fine, but the sidebar that can tap into various AI chatbots is the (potential) problem?

 

[Unknown?]

Who is Gartner and why should anyone care?

My guess? It's a company that is going to try to make $$$ with a product to "secure" AI browsers in the near future.

I don't know who they are but avoiding AI in browsers for reasons stated should be common sense.

 

[winjer]

Who is Gartner and why should anyone care?

My guess? It's a company that is going to try to make $$$ with a product to "secure" AI browsers in the near future.

They are a security consulting firm. Well regarded for it's advices in the IT space.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Who is Gartner and why should anyone care?

My guess? It's a company that is going to try to make $$$ with a product to "secure" AI browsers in the near future.

Your guess would be wrong. This is a common sense recommendation. Don't use ai browsers.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Who is Gartner and why should anyone care?

Google them, get out of Stone Age and you will have your answer.

 

[Poppinfresh]

Google them, get out of Stone Age and you will have your answer.

I'd rather just ask my AI browser

 

[willothedog]

AI told me Gartner are a bad company and should not be trusted in this matter.