Salesforce AI Research Proposes a Novel Threat Model: Building Secure LLM Applications Against Prompt Leakage Attacks

Practical Solutions and Value of Addressing Prompt Leakage in Large Language Models (LLMs)

Overview

Large Language Models (LLMs) face a critical security challenge known as prompt leakage, allowing malicious actors to extract sensitive information. This poses risks to system intellectual property, contextual knowledge, and more.

Solutions

Researchers have developed defense strategies like PromptInject framework, gradient-based optimization methods, and parameter extraction to mitigate prompt leakage. Various approaches such as perplexity-based methods, input processing techniques, and API defenses have been evaluated.

Research Findings

A study by Salesforce AI Research evaluates black-box defense strategies in multi-turn interactions, showcasing the effectiveness of defense mechanisms like Query-Rewriting and Instruction defense. Combining multiple defenses significantly reduces the average Attack Success Rate (ASR).

Impact

The study reveals vulnerabilities in LLMs to prompt leakage attacks and emphasizes the importance of implementing defense strategies. It highlights the effectiveness of combining black-box defenses to enhance security in both closed- and open-source LLMs.

AI Implementation

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