Modern QA2026The Layered Security Model — tiles
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11.1The Layered Security Model

A complete AI security testing strategy operates in four layers, each catching different types of vulnerabilities at different stages of the development lifecycle:

  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Layer 1: Shift-Left (Every Commit)                                 |
  | - Semgrep/CodeQL SAST for AI-specific patterns                     |
  | - Dependency scanning (Snyk/Dependabot) for ML library CVEs        |
  | - Secret detection (GitLeaks) for API keys in prompts              |
  | - Unit tests for output sanitization                               |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Layer 2: Pre-Production (Every PR/Deploy)                          |
  | - Prompt injection test suite (direct + indirect)                  |
  | - Jailbreak test suite (role-play, encoding, escalation)           |
  | - Data leakage scanner (PII, system prompt, copyright)             |
  | - RAG security tests (poisoning, citation accuracy)                |
  | - OWASP ZAP DAST scan against staging                              |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Layer 3: Pre-Release (Before GA)                                   |
  | - Red team exercise (human adversarial testing)                    |
  | - Bias and fairness assessment (EU AI Act compliance)              |
  | - Penetration testing (traditional + AI-specific)                  |
  | - Threat model review                                              |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Layer 4: Production (Continuous)                                   |
  | - Output monitoring (PII scanner on live responses)                |
  | - Anomaly detection (unusual query patterns, extraction attempts)  |
  | - Rate limiting and abuse detection                                |
  | - Compliance audit logging                                         |
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