“Can you make this email sound more professional?”
Your receptionist pastes a client’s email, with their name, address and medical or financial details, into a free chatbot.
The risk: Client personal information is now sitting on a server you don’t control.
“Just summarise this spreadsheet for me.”
An accountant uploads a client’s financials to a public AI tool to save an hour before a deadline.
The risk: Confidential client data leaves your business, and you can’t get it back.
“What are the salaries of the management team?”
You switch on Microsoft Copilot, and a junior staff member asks it a question they were never meant to have the answer to.
The risk: Copilot shows people everything they have access to, including files that were overshared years ago.
“I’ll just let the AI take notes.”
A staff member signs up for a free AI note-taker that joins and records every Teams meeting, including the ones with clients.
The risk: Sensitive conversations are recorded and stored by a third party nobody has vetted.
“This browser extension writes my emails for me.”
A handy AI add-on gets installed with permission to read every web page, email and document your staff open.
The risk: You’ve given an unknown company a window into your entire business.
“It’s me. I need this payment made today.”
Your accounts team gets a call that sounds exactly like you, asking for an urgent transfer to a new supplier.
The risk: AI voice cloning makes payment fraud far more convincing, and far easier to fall for.