ChatGPT

The default shadow AI app, and the one most likely to be running on a personal account before anyone buys a workspace.

What leaks through it

Whatever gets pasted in: config files with live keys, customer records, an internal incident writeup. Uploads carry the whole document rather than the part someone meant to ask about. It arrives through the browser and the macOS desktop app, and the desktop app is the half that extension-based tooling never sees.

• chatgpt.com
• chat.openai.com

Guardrails that stop it

Block and Mask run inline on the request, on the device, before the bytes leave it. Everything after that point is alerting, because no product can un-send a prompt.

• MaskNo secrets in inputALC-001

  An API key inside a pasted config is rewritten to its last four characters before the prompt is sent. The answer still comes back; the key never arrives.

• BlockNo cloud credentialsALC-003

  An AWS, Google, Stripe or Slack key in the prompt stops the request outright rather than masking it. These are the ones you have to rotate afterwards.

• AlertPII in input (basic)ALC-006

  Emails and SSNs in a pasted record raise a finding with the prompt attached, so you know which document went and who sent it.

• AlertInternal host / URL leakALC-005

  Internal hostnames and private IPs in a pasted stack trace, which hands over the map of your estate as debugging context.

Those are the ones worth spelling out for ChatGPT. All 27 rules in the catalog apply, and you can see the full catalog.

What happens to whatever gets through

Model training

Free and Plus conversations may be used to improve models unless the user turns it off in data controls. Team, Enterprise and Edu workspaces are excluded by default.

Retention

Deleted conversations are removed from the account immediately and from backend systems within 30 days, except where retained for legal or safety reasons.

Data residency

US-hosted by default; Enterprise workspaces can request EU data residency.

The vendor’s own controls

• ·SSO and SCIM provisioning (Enterprise)
• ·Workspace-wide training opt-out, on by default
• ·Compliance API for eDiscovery and audit export (Enterprise)

Sources

• OpenAI privacy policy
• Enterprise privacy

Vendor terms last checked August 14, 2026, and summarised from OpenAI’s published documentation. Confirm against the sources above before writing policy around this page.