Definition
The use of cryptographic protocols, primarily TLS/SSL, to secure data packets as they move between disparate components of an AI system, such as the flow from a user client to a RAG orchestrator, and from the orchestrator to a remote Vector Database or LLM provider. This prevents man-in-the-middle attacks from intercepting proprietary document chunks or sensitive user prompts during network transmission.
Secures data 'on the wire' during API calls, as opposed to data 'at rest' on a disk or inside a vector index.
"An armored courier truck transporting sensitive document fragments through a public highway tunnel between two high-security facilities."
- Encryption at Rest(Complementary security measure for stored vector embeddings)
- mTLS (Mutual TLS)(A common implementation for secure Agent-to-Agent communication)
- PII Masking(A preprocessing step often performed before data enters transit to an external LLM)
Conceptual Overview
The use of cryptographic protocols, primarily TLS/SSL, to secure data packets as they move between disparate components of an AI system, such as the flow from a user client to a RAG orchestrator, and from the orchestrator to a remote Vector Database or LLM provider. This prevents man-in-the-middle attacks from intercepting proprietary document chunks or sensitive user prompts during network transmission.
Disambiguation
Secures data 'on the wire' during API calls, as opposed to data 'at rest' on a disk or inside a vector index.
Visual Analog
An armored courier truck transporting sensitive document fragments through a public highway tunnel between two high-security facilities.