In a significant advancement for AI security, Praetorian has unveiled Augustus, a cutting-edge open-source vulnerability scanner designed to protect Large Language Models (LLMs) from a growing array of adversarial threats. With over 210 attack strategies targeting 28 LLM providers, Augustus promises to enhance the security landscape for enterprises integrating Generative AI into their operations.
Innovative Security Features
Augustus is crafted to bridge the divide between academic research tools and practical security testing solutions. Unlike existing tools that often require complex setups, Augustus is a straightforward, portable solution compiled as a single Go binary. This approach eliminates typical challenges associated with Python-based tools, allowing for seamless integration into continuous deployment pipelines.
Additionally, Augustus leverages Go’s concurrency primitives to facilitate fast, parallel scanning operations. This capability ensures it outperforms predecessors in terms of speed and resource efficiency, making it a compelling choice for security teams.
Comprehensive Attack Library
At its core, Augustus functions as an attack engine, automating AI model testing with an extensive library of over 210 vulnerability probes. These probes span 47 attack categories, including jailbreaks, prompt injections, and data extraction techniques. Such comprehensive coverage ensures a robust defense against potential vulnerabilities in AI models.
Augustus features a unique “Buff” system, enabling testers to dynamically transform probes. This system supports paraphrasing, language translation, and encoding in various formats, enhancing the tool’s ability to identify weak points in model safety filters.
Widespread Compatibility and Integration
Designed for the modern security stack, Augustus supports a wide range of LLM providers out of the box. This includes major platforms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Vertex AI, as well as local inference engines. Its architecture emphasizes reliability with built-in rate limiting and retry logic, ensuring smooth operation during extensive assessments.
Results are exportable in various formats, such as JSON and HTML, facilitating easy integration into existing vulnerability management systems. Augustus represents the second release in Praetorian’s “12 Caesars” series, following the LLM fingerprinting tool, Julius.
Available under the Apache 2.0 license, Augustus can be downloaded or built from source via GitHub. This tool marks a significant step forward in securing AI technologies, offering a practical and efficient solution for cybersecurity professionals.
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