NITDA warns Nigerians against sharing sensitive data with ChatGPT, Gemini

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has warned organisations and their staff against entering personal, classified or confidential information into public artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot.

NITDA issued the warning in an advisory posted on X on Saturday through its Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team, CERRT.NG.

The agency said using public AI tools for work such as drafting documents, research and other tasks could expose organisations to data protection and cybersecurity risks.

Public AI tools may expose sensitive information

NITDA warned that information entered into public AI platforms may no longer remain fully under the control of the organisation that provided it.

The agency said such information could be stored, logged or used by service providers for various purposes, including training AI models.

It warned that workers using public AI tools could accidentally expose Personally Identifiable Information, classified government information or confidential organisational data.

NITDA said exposing personal information could amount to a data breach and may violate data protection laws, potentially leading to legal consequences.

The agency also warned that sharing classified, official use or confidential information with external AI providers could threaten national security and public trust.

It added that organisations and their employees could face disciplinary or legal consequences if sensitive information is improperly disclosed.

NITDA recommends safer use of AI

NITDA advised organisations and their employees not to enter confidential, classified, official use or personal information into public AI platforms.

It recommended that organisations use only AI tools approved for official work.

The agency also advised users to remove, anonymise or pseudonymise personal and other sensitive information before entering it into AI platforms.

NITDA urged users to carefully review the privacy and data handling policies of AI platforms before using them.

It also advised workers not to upload internal documents unless they have specific permission to do so.

The agency called on organisations and their staff to comply with existing AI, information security and data protection policies when using AI tools.

Growing concerns over data security

The warning comes amid growing concerns about the risks organisations face from employee mistakes, cyberattacks and poor data protection practices.

A report published by Nairametrics in August, based on Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, found that ordinary employee mistakes accounted for eight per cent of data breaches.

The report also found that sending information to the wrong recipient accounted for 64 per cent of errors.

NITDA has continued to issue warnings about emerging cybersecurity threats.

In May, the agency warned organisations and individuals about DeepLoad, an AI powered malware capable of stealing browser stored passwords and other sensitive information.

In June, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission announced plans to review the Nigeria Data Protection Act to address emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data and robotics.