Securing the AI Ecosystem Begins at the Model Layer

The CIS-backed AI LLM Companion Guide provides actionable cybersecurity guidance for securing the model layer of AI systems, emphasizing that model inputs should be treated as untrusted, context integrity must be protected, model-related data requires classification and strict retention/encryption controls, deployment types (endpoint, enterprise, SaaS) have different security obligations, and models must be managed in a supply-chain-like manner with versioning and provenance. The guide extends existing CIS Controls to AI environments to help organizations reduce risk without adopting a new framework.