Harmonic AI Governance and Control (DLP for GenAI)

Harmonic Security was founded in August 2023 by Alastair Paterson and Bryan Woolgar-O'Neil and operates through Harmonic Security Limited in London and Harmonic Security Inc. in San Francisco. It tackles the problem of employees pasting confidential data into ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and hundreds of other AI tools, which legacy DLP based on regular expressions handles poorly.

The platform collects AI activity at the browser, desktop app, IDE and MCP layer, uses purpose-built small language models to classify each prompt or file in context, and categorizes usage by business task. Policies then log, warn, coach or block in about 200 ms, by tool, account, data type and user role. Products are tiered as Explore for visibility, Guide for endpoint coverage and inline coaching, and Command for MCP discovery and agent permissions. Customers named on the site include Advisor360, Monolithic Power Systems and Apax.

• AI usage discovery: Prompt-level visibility across more than 1,000 AI applications with risk scores.
• Context-aware classification: Small language models detect sensitive data that has no fixed pattern.
• Inline enforcement: Logs, warns, coaches or blocks per tool, data type, user and action.
• Endpoint and IDE coverage: Extends control to desktop apps, command-line tools and copilots.
• MCP and agent governance: Discovers MCP clients and servers and sets read, write and execute permissions.
• Identity enrichment and alerts: Uses Entra, Okta or Google Workspace and sends webhooks to SIEM and SOAR.

A Vietnamese law firm or bank can let staff use ChatGPT or Copilot while blocking uploads of client contracts and ID numbers. A semiconductor or software company can stop engineers from pasting proprietary source code into personal AI accounts. An insurer can produce an inventory of AI tools in use for its board and regulator.

Companies can allow approved AI tools while blocking only risky submissions such as source code, deal terms or customer data. The vendor states 96% greater accuracy than legacy DLP and inline decisions in about 200 ms, so users are not slowed down. Deployment through Intune, Jamf or Kandji gives a first AI usage inventory on day one. Coaching messages nudge staff toward the sanctioned enterprise assistant instead of personal accounts.

Many knowledge workers now use generative AI, often through personal accounts that sit outside corporate control, and AI features are being embedded into everyday SaaS tools. Analysts describe AI usage control as an emerging market. In Vietnam, the Personal Data Protection Law in force from 2026 raises the stakes for companies whose staff paste customer data into public AI tools.

Founded in August 2023; seed funding in October 2023 and Series A in October 2024. Board and investors listed include N47, Bain Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures and In-Q-Tel. States SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA attestation, with EU and US hosting.