Read AI
Read AI is an AI-powered meeting assistant and productivity platform that integrates with primary video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to provide real-time transcription, automated meeting summaries, and deep analytical reports. Its core function is to capture and analyze spoken conversation, using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract key points, action items, and even engagement and sentiment scores.
In the context of cybersecurity, Read AI's deep integration into an organization's most sensitive conversations and communications infrastructure makes it a significant consideration for risk and compliance.
Data and Privacy Risk Exposure
The primary security concern surrounding Read AI is its access to and handling of highly sensitive institutional and personal data.
Confidentiality Risk: The assistant processes, transcribes, and stores the full content of internal meetings, which can include trade secrets, client data, financial figures, or Protected Health Information (PHI). If the platform is not adequately secured or the transcripts are exposed, it represents a catastrophic data leak.
Access Control and Credential Risk: To function, Read AI requires extensive access to user calendars and, depending on the integration, meeting content, essentially acting as a non-human identity within the enterprise network. This makes the security of its integration credentials (such as API keys or tokens) a critical risk. Compromised credentials could allow an attacker to gain access to historical meeting data.
Uninvited Access and Persistence: A common concern is that the tool, once enabled, can use calendar access to automatically join and record meetings even when the inviting user is absent or other attendees are unaware, a behavior that has led some organizations to prohibit its use due to security and privacy risks.
Mitigation and Compliance Posture
Read AI addresses these risks by implementing various controls and pursuing compliance standards.
Data Security and Encryption: The company reports that all measured meeting data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. For its highest-tier enterprise plans, it can offer features like custom data retention policies and single sign-on (SSO) for robust identity management.
Compliance Frameworks: Read AI asserts compliance with major regulatory standards such as SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR, and can implement a Business Associates Agreement (BAA) for HIPAA compliance, which is essential for regulated industries like healthcare and finance.
Consent and Control: The platform is designed with user controls, including explicit notification when it joins a meeting, the ability for any participant to remove it, and a default opt-in policy for training its proprietary models, meaning customer content is not used for model training unless explicitly consented to.
In essence, Read AI is a third-party SaaS vendor that delivers high productivity benefits but requires stringent oversight due to the extreme sensitivity of the institutional data it is designed to capture, making its security and compliance posture a vital part of an organization's overall supply chain risk assessment.
ThreatNG, an external attack surface management and digital risk protection solution, would help an organization externally identify exposures related to its use of the meeting assistant vendor Read AI by focusing on the vendor's digital footprint within the organization's domain records and the broader external environment. ThreatNG can externally identify the presence of Read AI.
External Discovery and Assessment
ThreatNG starts with a purely external, unauthenticated discovery to build an inventory of assets.
Domain Intelligence and Vendor Identification: The Domain Record Analysis within the Domain Intelligence Investigation Module performs Vendor and Technology Identification. Suppose the organization has a domain record, such as a DNS entry or an IP association, pointing to a Read AI service endpoint for integration or management. In that case, ThreatNG will identify and flag the presence of this vendor's technology.
External Assessment Example (Supply Chain & Third-Party Exposure): The Supply Chain & Third-Party Exposure Security Rating is based on findings such as SaaS Identification and the total number of technologies (Technology Stack). The identification of Read AI as a key vendor contributes to this rating. Suppose ThreatNG also finds that the subdomains associated with the Read AI service expose an unsanctioned cloud environment or open cloud buckets. In that case, it directly lowers this rating, highlighting the increased risk associated with the third-party connection.
External Assessment Example (BEC & Phishing Susceptibility): This rating is based on factors including Domain Name Permutations. Since Read AI integrates deeply with email and calendar systems, the organization is highly susceptible to phishing. ThreatNG proactively detects and groups high-risk domain permutations (like "https://www.google.com/search?q=read-ai-login.com" using techniques such as homoglyphs or insertions to help the organization manage potential brand impersonation threats used in Business Email Compromise (BEC) and phishing attacks.
Investigation Modules and Intelligence Repositories
ThreatNG’s modules provide granular detail on how the use of Read AI may be exposing the organization.
Investigation Module Example (Subdomain Intelligence): After identifying the vendor, the Subdomain Intelligence module inspects the associated subdomains. It checks for Content Identification, such as the presence of Admin Pages or exposed API endpoints. If the organization's unique Read AI management dashboard or a custom integration API is publicly exposed on a subdomain, the module flags this potential initial access point for attackers.
Investigation Module Example (Sensitive Code Exposure): The Code Repository Exposure module searches for leaked credentials related to the Read AI integration. This could be a configuration file or a public code snippet containing an exposed Google OAuth Access Token or a Slack Token that Read AI uses to connect to the organization’s communication services. The presence of such an exposed secret is a critical vulnerability.
Helping Example (NHI Email Exposure): Read AI requires email credentials to function. The NHI Email Exposure feature groups exposed email addresses identified as high-value, such as Admin, Security, or Integration. If an Integration email address used for the Read AI setup is found in a compromised credential source, ThreatNG surfaces this high-risk employee-related exposure.
Intelligence Repositories:
Ransomware Groups and Activities (DarCache Ransomware): Since Read AI captures highly confidential meeting data, it represents a high-value target for exfiltration. Suppose a ransomware group is found to be actively discussing the exploitation of a video conferencing integration flaw (like a zero-day in Zoom or Google Meet that Read AI also uses). In that case, ThreatNG tracks the threat actor's activities, allowing the organization to defend its endpoints and justify security investments proactively.
Reporting and Continuous Monitoring
ThreatNG provides Continuous Monitoring of the external attack surface, ensuring any new or changed configuration related to the Read AI service is immediately evaluated.
Reporting: All findings are compiled into Prioritized Reports and reflected in Security Ratings. The embedded Knowledgebase provides contextual Reasoning about the risk and specific Recommendations for reducing it. For example, a report may assign a low Data Leak Susceptibility Security Rating and recommend encrypting a particular file that the Read AI service interacts with.
Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG can work with complementary solutions to enhance its security value.
Complementary Solutions and an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Platform: ThreatNG discovers a Ransomware Event associated with a threat group targeting video conferencing platforms that Read AI integrates with. A complementary EDR platform could then immediately leverage this real-time threat intelligence to search all managed endpoints for any Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) associated with that specific threat group, proactively isolating any suspicious processes before a breach can occur.
Complementary Solutions and a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Tool: ThreatNG's external discovery finds an Open Exposed Cloud Bucket (in AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform) being used by the Read AI service to store meeting transcripts. A complementary CSPM tool could then immediately leverage this external finding to confirm the internal misconfiguration, automatically remediate the bucket's open access policy, and enforce least-privileged access to prevent further data exposure.
