Akamai Technologies, Inc., a leading company in cybersecurity and cloud computing services, has announced the launch of Firewall for AI, an innovative solution designed to protect artificial intelligence-based applications from emerging threats. This tool offers multi-layered protection against unauthorized queries, adversarial attacks, and large-scale data scraping.
With the rapid adoption of technologies such as large language models (LLMs), AI agents, and other AI-driven tools, organizations are experiencing a profound transformation across multiple sectors. However, this advancement also brings about new security risks, such as model extraction, API abuse, and input manipulation attacks, for which traditional solutions like web application firewalls (WAFs) are not fully equipped.
In response to this challenge, Akamai has developed Firewall for AI as part of its strategy to provide robust and context-specific defense for AI. Combined with other recent tools like API LLM Discovery, this new firewall equips clients with a comprehensive set of security features specifically designed to protect AI-based environments, thereby enhancing their infrastructure against advanced threats.
According to Francisco Arnau, Akamai’s Regional Vice President for Spain and Portugal: “Traditional security solutions do not stop the threats stemming from AI. Security must be a priority for companies increasingly adopting AI to boost their productivity, and Firewall for AI represents a turning point in this regard. Protecting AI-based applications isn’t just about blocking attacks; it’s about enabling innovation without compromising security or performance. With Firewall for AI, companies’ models, data, and intellectual property are safeguarded against the most innovative threats.”
Introduction to Firewall for AI: Protecting AI Models Against Emerging Threats
AI models contain valuable proprietary knowledge and sensitive data sets, making them prime targets for attackers. Akamai Firewall for AI is a security solution specifically designed to protect AI-based applications, LLMs, and AI-based APIs from emerging cyber threats. By safeguarding incoming AI queries and outgoing AI responses, Akamai Firewall for AI addresses security gaps introduced by generative AI technologies.
Key Features of Firewall for AI:
Multi-layered protection: Blocks adversarial inputs, unauthorized queries, and large-scale data scraping to prevent model manipulation and data leakage.
Real-time threat detection: Utilizes adaptable security rules to dynamically respond to evolving AI-based attacks, including instruction injection and model exploitation.
Compliance and data protection: Ensures the security of AI-generated results and ensures compliance with industry regulations and certifications.
Flexible deployment options: Implemented via Akamai’s Edge, REST API, or reverse proxy, allowing seamless integration within existing security frameworks.
- Proactive risk mitigation: Monitors AI outputs to prevent harmful content, hallucinations, and unauthorized data leakage.
Expanding AI-based Security Features
To further secure the implementation and safe adoption of AI, Akamai also introduces API LLM Discovery, an enhancement to the Akamai API Security platform that automatically detects and classifies AI generative and LLM API endpoints, continuously updating security policies to prevent unauthorized access and abuse.