Shielding the core of LLM: technical overview of Imperva AI Application Security

Generative artificial intelligence integration into business processes has become a standard: today, the majority of organizations worldwide utilize technologies based on large language models (LLM). However, the use of AI creates a new attack surface that cannot be protected by traditional security tools.

A specialized shield for LLM interfaces

Imperva AI Application Security is a solution designed to protect a company's homegrown applications that use LLMs or GenAI at the backend. It acts as an intelligent shield in front of chatbots, virtual assistants, and API-driven business automation systems.

The solution directly addresses threats in the 2025 OWASP Top 10 for LLM and GenAI, offering a level of protection that traditional WAFs or network tools simply cannot match.

Critical functionality for AI security

The Imperva toolkit provides deep data inspection and real-time security policy enforcement:

• Blocking prompt injections: Dynamic detection and neutralization of attempts to manipulate AI behavior through user input.
• Preventing data leakage: Analysis of model responses to block the accidental disclosure of personal (PII) or proprietary data.
• Securing system prompts: Prevention of the leakage of internal instructions and security logic hidden from attackers.
• Safe output handling: Verification of AI responses before they reach the user to prevent the delivery of malicious, inaccurate, or harmful information.
• Resource control: Detection and prevention of abuse, such as excessive API calls, which protects against uncontrolled growth in AI costs.

Why traditional protection is insufficient

It is important to understand the difference in security approaches for effective risk management:

Legacy security tools

• Object of protection: Network perimeter and endpoints.
• Limitation: They do not recognize LLM logic and cannot intercept new classes of risks introduced by AI integration.

Imperva AI Application Security

• Object of protection: The AI interface within homegrown business applications.
• Advantage: Adaptive risk scoring and data inspection after all application-level modifications.

Business value and integration

The solution supports any major LLM provider, whether third-party services or proprietary models, ensuring flexible deployment in any environment. As part of the Imperva WAAP platform, it allows for AI security management through a single pane of glass.