AI Email Assistants: The Security Checklist You Need Before Buying

## Before You Connect AI to Email

Your email contains customer PII, deal information, internal strategies, and sometimes things that definitely shouldn't be in writing. Before you connect an AI tool to it, you need to ask the right questions.

We built this checklist from conversations with IT and security leads who've evaluated AI email tools and shared what they wish they'd asked upfront.

Category 1: Data Handling

1. Is email content stored?

Some tools store email history for training, analytics, or "memory" features. Others process in real-time and don't retain content.

**Ask:** "Do you store email content? For how long? Can it be deleted on demand?"

2. Where is data processed?

Data residency matters for compliance. Know where your data goes.

**Ask:** "Where are your servers? Does data cross borders? Can we specify a region?"

3. Who has access to your data?

This includes the vendor's employees, their AI provider, and any subprocessors.

**Ask:** "Who can access customer data? What's the access control policy? Do you use subprocessors?"

Category 2: AI Model Considerations

4. Is your data used for model training?

This is critical. Many AI providers use customer data to improve models unless explicitly opted out.

**Ask:** "Is our data used to train AI models—yours or your provider's? Is there a written opt-out?"

5. Which AI provider do you use?

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others have different data policies. Know the chain.

**Ask:** "What's your AI provider? What tier/agreement do you have with them?"

6. How are prompts and responses logged?

Even if email isn't stored, prompt logs might contain sensitive content.

**Ask:** "Do you log AI prompts or responses? What's the retention policy?"

Category 3: Authentication & Access

7. How do you authenticate?

OAuth 2.0 should be the minimum for email access. No password storage.

**Ask:** "What authentication method do you use? Do you ever store email credentials?"

8. What permissions do you request?

Principle of least privilege. Does the tool need full mailbox access, or just compose?

**Ask:** "What Gmail/Outlook scopes do you request? Why is each one necessary?"

9. Can access be revoked instantly?

When an employee leaves, you need to cut access immediately.

**Ask:** "How do we revoke user access? Is there admin control for team-wide offboarding?"

Category 4: Compliance & Certifications

10. What certifications do you have?

SOC 2 Type II is standard for SaaS. GDPR compliance is required for EU data.

**Ask:** "Do you have SOC 2? Can we see the report? What's your GDPR status?"

11. Do you have a security page/trust center?

Mature vendors publish their security practices openly.

**Ask:** "Where can I find your security documentation?"

12. What's your incident response process?

Breaches happen. What matters is how they're handled.

**Ask:** "What's your incident response policy? How quickly do you notify customers?"

Red Flags to Watch For

• Vague privacy policies that don't address AI/LLM data handling
• "We take security seriously" with no specifics
• No DPA available for GDPR compliance
• Consumer-tier AI provider agreements (vs enterprise)
• Unwillingness to share SOC 2 or similar documentation

How SuperPilot Handles These

For transparency, here's how we address each category:

• **Data:** Email content processed in real-time, not retained. Knowledge base content stored with user control.
• **AI:** Anthropic Claude with enterprise agreement. Zero-retention mode. No training on customer data.
• **Auth:** OAuth 2.0 only. Minimal Gmail scopes. Instant revocation via admin panel.
• **Compliance:** SOC 2 in progress. DPA available. GDPR-compliant.

Full details at [/security](/security).

Want to evaluate SuperPilot for your team? [Contact us](mailto:security@inboxsuperpilot.com) for a security review call or start with a [free trial](/signup).