How companies can protect customer data (and retain trust) while rapidly developing AI
Every time a major cybersecurity incident hits the headlines, organizations ask the same question: “Could this happen to us?”
Recent coverage across numerous industries, including legal technology, have been a reminder that even well-resourced organizations can face security challenges when vulnerabilities, processes, and response timelines collide. And I can’t help but wonder: in the rush to build more with AI and the race to plug AI into everything, has security become an afterthought?
Security breaches rarely stem from a single catastrophic failure. More often, they arise from small gaps in processes, visibility, or responsiveness to issues. As organizations build AI and ship software faster than ever before, protecting sensitive data requires more than a single security control; it requires a layered, proactive approach to risk management (at a time when every spare second seems to be diverted to “new AI initiatives”).
As Senior Vice President of Operations at Mitratech, I’m often asked how organizations can evaluate whether the technology they rely on is truly secure, and whether they can trust software vendors with their most sensitive data. Being in the legal technology market, you can imagine how highly exposed our industry is when it comes to managing mission-critical information.
The answer isn’t a single product feature or security checkbox. Strong security comes from how systems are built, monitored, and operated every day.
With almost weekly headlines about lapses in security and no slowdown to the AI hype in sight ( for good reason), I wanted to share the questions I hear most often, and how I think organizations should consider approaching them.
Can I trust a software vendor with my organization’s data?
This is one of the most common questions security and legal teams ask when evaluating technology.
The answer should never be “trust us.” Instead, trustworthy vendors demonstrate security through layers of protection.
Think of security like a castle. The wall is only one layer. There’s also a moat, guards monitoring the gates, and locked vaults inside the structure protecting what matters most. And ultimately, the key belongs to the customer.
In modern cloud platforms, those layers should include all or some relevant combination of, you guessed it: people, processes, and technology. Elements like:
- Secure development and deployment practices
- Continuous vulnerability monitoring across code and infrastructure
- Encryption and protection of sensitive data
- Third-party and vendor risk management
All of this, backed up by compliance audits and certifications from independent auditors on a regular basis, think SOC 2 and ISO27001. Just like the castle analogy, if the attacks cross the moat, there’s still a huge wall in front of them. Layers remain in place to protect the treasure, the customer data. Security should never depend on a single control.
How do security vulnerabilities happen in the first place?
One important reality of cybersecurity is this: new vulnerabilities appear constantly.
You’ll hear security professionals often refer to some of these as “zero-day vulnerabilities.” The term comes from the idea that organizations have zero days of warning once the vulnerability becomes known. The moment it’s discovered, attackers may already be attempting to exploit it.
You wake up one morning and find out on the same day (day 0) that a piece of software you know and love has a vulnerability that everyone knows about. It needs immediate attention today.
These vulnerabilities often appear in places like:
- Open-source libraries and development frameworks
- Infrastructure components
- Third-party software dependencies
And let me be clear: no company can prevent vulnerabilities from being discovered.
But before you hit the panic button, what separates secure organizations from insecure ones is their processes for managing through these events, and how quickly and consistently they respond. The right processes turn a potential crisis into routine maintenance. In mature environments, responding to vulnerabilities is simply part of daily operations.
How does modern software development and AI change security risks?
AI and modern developer tools have dramatically increased how quickly software can be built and deployed. Today, developers can:
- Build applications faster
- Ship new features continuously
- Generate large amounts of code with AI assistance
While this accelerates innovation, it also introduces new risks. As security leaders, we have to balance innovation while still keeping a steady hand on governance and adhere to what we’ve promised customers. At Mitratech, we refer to that balance as “managed innovation.”
Historically, code was reviewed manually before deployment. You’d look to your neighbor and do the tech equivalent of asking, “Does this look good?” Without making this a security blog, today’s development speed makes manual review difficult to scale.
Modern security relies on automated controls embedded directly into the development pipeline. Tools like Snyk or GitHub Advanced Security scan code and dependencies for vulnerabilities before software is deployed. If a known risk is detected, the tool can block deployment until it is fixed. If something once safe is now live in production, it can trigger immediate actions. Then there’s cloud security platforms such as Wiz or Rapid7 CloudSec and infrastructure monitoring tools like Microsoft Defender or CrowdStrike help continuously detect vulnerabilities across cloud environments, and third-party dependencies across environments where systems shift and change throughout the day, rapidly. Automation helps enforce secure practices without slowing down innovation.
What role does human oversight play in cybersecurity today?
Technology alone cannot secure an organization. Security is also a people problem: both your internal employee base (think phishing scams, etc.) and the oversight of your internal security team. This means that developers, engineers, and operators all need to understand:
- How to build secure systems
- How to respond to vulnerabilities
- How to evaluate third-party dependencies
- How to identify emerging risks
- How employees across the organization are trained to recognize and avoid common attack vectors
In other words, strong security programs combine training (functionally and across the entire organization), automated controls, and clear operational processes. Together, these elements create an environment where security becomes part of everyday work, not an afterthought.
Many mature security programs also combine internal security expertise with specialized external partners, including independent auditors, penetration testing firms, and cloud security monitoring platforms that provide additional validation and continuous oversight.
Why should security be central to vendor selection?
Security is one of the most customer-centric things a software company can do, especially in legal and compliance. If you’re trusting a vendor with sensitive information, you shouldn’t have to “hope” they’re careful. You should be able to see that security is built into how they operate every day: how they build, how they monitor, how they respond, and how they train their teams.
And candidly: in an AI-frenzied moment, it’s easy for organizations to put their energy into what’s new and flashy. The customer experience is what happens when something goes wrong, and whether your vendor treats that as a fire drill… or as routine maintenance.
If you ever want to compare notes on what “good” looks like (or what questions to ask in an evaluation), sometimes the fastest way to get clarity is a straightforward conversation at an industry event or during your evaluation cycle.
How do I evaluate vendor security?
Remember the castle? You want clarity on all layers of protection. Here are some examples that should be table stakes in evaluation conversations:
- How do you detect and respond to vulnerabilities?
- What controls prevent insecure code from being deployed? For example, do you use automated static and dependency scanning tools in your CI/CD pipeline that block builds if vulnerabilities are detected?
- How do you manage third-party risks?
- How do you train your internal employees?
- Is customer data encrypted? How do you maintain integrity?
- How do you manage vulnerabilities in third-party libraries and software dependencies?
- Who checks your work? What independent audits or certifications (such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001) validate your security program?
The goal isn’t to eliminate risk entirely; it’s to work with partners who actively manage it and have a proven track record.
The Bottom Line: Find the Vendors Who Have a Track Record You Can Trust
Ideally, you want a vendor with a history of strong security practices. The tolerance level is up to each individual company and its risk appetite.
Cybersecurity isn’t a one-time investment or a single tool. Rather, it’s an ongoing process that combines your tech, people, operational discipline, and risk awareness.
Organizations that approach security this way are better prepared to respond when vulnerabilities inevitably appear.
And these principles aren’t theoretical. They’re followed (albeit with variances) at every modern technology company, including at Mitratech. Our teams build and operate software with the assumption that vulnerabilities will inevitably emerge. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s preparation.
The combination of layered security practices, automated safeguards in the development pipeline, continuous monitoring, strong operational processes & training, and the right team result in rapid responses if and when new threats appear.
And if you’re evaluating legal technology, don’t hesitate to ask these kinds of questions. Any strong vendor should welcome them.
FAQs: Security and Data Protection at Mitratech
How does Mitratech protect customer data?
Mitratech uses layered security practices including secure development processes, automated vulnerability monitoring, infrastructure protections, encryption safeguards, and ongoing risk management designed to reduce exposure to emerging threats.
Can I trust Mitratech with sensitive legal and compliance data?
Trust comes from transparency and operational discipline. Mitratech provides both. We focus on building security into development practices, infrastructure controls, and risk management processes so organizations can have confidence in how their data is protected.
How does Mitratech handle new security vulnerabilities?
Using multiple methods, we continuously monitor for emerging vulnerabilities and follow structured processes to assess exposure, prioritize remediation, and deploy updates quickly while relying on multiple safeguards to reduce risk.
How does Mitratech manage third-party software risk?
Shameless plug here, we drink our own champagne (via Mitratech Prevalent.) Modern software depends on external frameworks and vendors. Mitratech evaluates third-party risks, monitors vulnerabilities across dependencies, and incorporates risk management practices to help reduce exposure across the software ecosystem.
