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AI Usage & Risk Assessment (AURA)
Discover how AI is really being used across your organization, including sanctioned and shadow AI, and get practical recommendations to manage the risks.
Your employees are already using AI, often more than you realize, and frequently without IT’s knowledge. Industry research indicates that nearly all organizations now have employees using unsanctioned AI tools, and that a large share of generative AI users access those tools through personal accounts their employer can’t monitor. Every time a customer list is pasted into a free chatbot, a contract is dropped into an AI summarizer, or proprietary code is fed to an unapproved coding assistant, sensitive data leaves your control.
nGuard’s AI Usage & Risk Assessment (AURA) gives you that missing visibility. It is a focused assessment that uncovers how AI is actually being used inside your organization, both the sanctioned tools and the shadow AI that flies under IT’s radar, who is using it, and what data is going into it. Rather than just a list of applications, you get an evidence-based view of your real exposure: the sensitive data at risk, the privacy and compliance implications, and where existing controls fall short, plus prioritized, practical recommendations. The result is a clear, leadership-ready picture that turns AI blind spots into informed, defensible decisions.
A Focused Assessment of Your Real AI Footprint
Assessment Methods
Discover Sanctioned & Shadow AI
The AI Usage & Risk Assessment begins with discovery, because most AI adoption never crosses IT’s desk. Sanctioned platforms are easy to account for; the harder problem is the shadow AI that spreads quietly through day-to-day work and rarely shows up in any tool inventory. nGuard surfaces it by pairing analysis of your IT environment with structured, judgment-free interviews of the people actually using AI, the most reliable way to see how it is really being used. The output is a true baseline of your AI footprint, not an assumption.
Inventory Usage, Users & Data
We build an inventory of how your organization is using AI today: which tools are in use, which departments and people are using them, and, most importantly, what data is flowing into them. Understanding whether employees are entering customer records, source code, financial information, or regulated data into AI tools is the difference between an informed risk decision and a blind spot.
Assess the Associated Risks
With a clear inventory in hand, nGuard evaluates the risks tied to your AI usage: data leakage and exposure, privacy and compliance implications, third-party data retention and model-training concerns, and the security gaps created when tools operate outside your controls. Each finding is framed in terms of real business impact, not abstract theory.
Practical Remediation Recommendations
The AI Usage & Risk Assessment concludes with practical, prioritized remediation recommendations. Rather than simply banning AI, nGuard helps you enable safe adoption: guidance on acceptable-use policies, approved tooling, data handling, monitoring, and the governance steps that turn ungoverned AI into a managed, productive asset.
What the Assessment Uncovers
The AI Usage & Risk Assessment surfaces the full range of AI in use across your organization, the sanctioned tools and the shadow AI most security teams can’t see:
- Embedded SaaS AI features: AI capabilities added to existing CRM, HRIS, ERP, email, and collaboration platforms, often enabled without security review.
- AI meeting assistants: Note-takers and transcription bots that join calls and capture sensitive conversations.
- AI browser extensions: Add-ons with access to pages, data, and increasingly, agent capabilities.
- Coding assistants: Tools that ingest proprietary source code to generate or complete it.
- Employee AI workflows: The consumer chatbots and assistants employees use to draft, summarize, and analyze work.
- Who is using AI: The departments, roles, and individuals driving AI usage.
- What data is involved: Whether customer data, source code, financial records, or regulated data (PII/PHI) is being shared with AI tools.
Why it matters: Shadow AI has become one of the most pressing governance and data-security challenges organizations face in 2026. Most companies know employees use AI; few know which tools, which data, or which risks, and you can’t govern, secure, or test what you can’t see.
See and Manage Your Real AI Footprint
Visibility First, Then Control
Full AI Visibility
The AI Usage & Risk Assessment reveals how AI is actually being used across your organization, giving leadership a complete, accurate picture of both sanctioned tools and shadow AI.
Uncover Shadow AI
Unsanctioned AI rarely appears in a tool inventory. nGuard combines environment analysis with employee interviews to surface the shadow AI most security teams never see.
Understand Your Data Exposure
We identify what data is flowing into which AI tools, customer records, source code, financials, or regulated data, so you can make informed decisions about real risk.
Practical Remediation
nGuard delivers prioritized, actionable recommendations that enable safe AI adoption, not a blanket ban, so your organization captures AI’s benefits while managing its risks.
AI Usage & Risk Assessment FAQ
What is an AI Usage & Risk Assessment?
An AI Usage & Risk Assessment is a focused assessment that discovers how AI is being used inside an organization, both sanctioned and shadow AI, inventories who is using it and with what data, identifies the associated risks, and delivers practical remediation recommendations.
What is shadow AI?
Shadow AI is the use of AI tools without organizational approval or oversight, for example, employees using consumer chatbots, AI browser extensions, AI meeting assistants, or coding assistants that IT hasn’t vetted. It’s a leading data-security and governance concern because sensitive data can leave the organization’s control without anyone knowing.
How does the AI Usage & Risk Assessment compare to nGuard’s other AI assessments?
The AI Usage & Risk Assessment discovers and inventories your real AI usage and its risks; it is the natural starting point. The AI Strategic Security Assessment then evaluates your AI security program and architecture against the CIS Controls. AI Penetration Testing tests specific AI applications for exploitable vulnerabilities. Together they move you from visibility, to governance, to validation.
What types of AI usage does the AI Usage & Risk Assessment discover?
It spans the full range of business AI, from AI features built into the SaaS platforms you already use, to AI meeting assistants, browser extensions, and coding assistants, to the everyday chatbots employees rely on. Just as important, it captures who is using each tool and what data is going into it.
How do you find shadow AI that isn’t in any inventory?
nGuard combines analysis of your IT environments with structured employee interviews (typically 1 to 2 per department). Because shadow AI lives in how people actually work, talking to employees is the most reliable way to surface it.
Do you recommend banning AI?
No. The goal is safe enablement, not prohibition. The assessment’s recommendations focus on visibility, acceptable-use policies, approved tooling, data handling, and monitoring, so your organization can adopt AI productively while managing the risks.
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Security Resources from nGuard
“nGuard has been a proven cybersecurity partner with us for over five years that understands our industry.”
— Joe Warling, Randolph Electric Membership Corporation
“nGuard not only does a thorough pen test, their remediation recommendations and tracking tool was a big help in addressing issues.”
— Allan Patek, Executive Director, Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund
“nGuard’s expertise in cybersecurity, their professionalism and flexibility is the reason why we hire them year after year.”
— Frank M. Furnari, Business Systems Developer, NJCRIB (New Jersey Compensation Rating & Inspection Bureau)
“The staff at nGuard are top-notch cybersecurity professionals. I find their knowledge, guidance, and expertise very helpful during our annual pen tests.”
— David Schultheis, IT Manager, Nine Network of Public Media
“nGuard’s cybersecurity and PCI expertise has been instrumental in helping us improve our cybersecurity posture.”
— Mark Krawczyk, Director of Information Privacy, Purpose Financial
“We have trusted nGuard as our primary cybersecurity consultants for 20 years. Our continued choice of and reliance on nGuard year after year is a testament to the professionalism, expertise, and exemplary service that we continue to experience.”
— Jeremy Noble, VP, Information Services, Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation
“I have used several other large assessors in the past and I recommend nGuard above all others.”
— Scotty Westbrook, IT Director, Sampson Bladen Oil Company
“Through our long-term partnership with nGuard, we gain valuable insight from their advanced cyber-security tests.”
— Lynn Sturkie, Director of Technology Services, Lexington County
Find Your Shadow AI
Let nGuard show you how AI is really being used across your organization, and how to manage the risk.
