Prompt injection explained: How attackers hijack your AI tools without touching your network

Indirect prompt injection occurs when attackers embed malicious instructions within the data an AI assistant processes—such as emails, documents, or webpages—to trick it into performing unauthorized actions. This risk is significantly amplified when AI agents are granted access to external tools, which could allow them to inadvertently leak sensitive data or execute unintended commands. To mitigate these threats, organizations should strictly limit AI permissions and require explicit human oversight for all sensitive or external-facing tasks.