Cyber news, tools & one smart career path from your Cyber Bestie.
5 min read
Quick Reality Check
Your private ChatGPT convos might be live, public, and just a Google search away.
What happened:
ChatGPT’s “shared links” feature made it easy to send conversations to friends, but many are now appearing in Google searches. Some include full legal names, emails, phone numbers, and personal content.
Why it matters:
Even if users didn’t mean to overshare, a single checkbox (“Make discoverable”) made those links public. OpenAI disabled the “discoverable” feature and began working to remove indexed conversations from search engines. However, some links may remain in search results temporarily due to caching and delays in Google re-indexing. So..it's a privacy nightmare.
Read more here or watch my take on it here.
60-Second Protection Fix
Keep Your Data Private When Using AI
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Turn Off Chat History: Settings → Data Controls → Toggle Chat History & Training OFF. (Stops OpenAI from using your chats to train models).
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Use Temporary Chats: With history off, your chats aren’t saved or used for training.
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Clear Old Chats: Settings → General → Clear Conversations
Regularly delete chats, especially those with sensitive info. -
Beware of Caches: Deleted chats or shared links may still appear in search engine results.
Exploring a New Career? Check Out GRC (aka “The Cyber Strategists”)
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) teams are the architects of cybersecurity strategy, and their absence is felt when things go wrong. Take the story above about OpenAI: that’s exactly the kind of risk GRC helps prevent. By setting clear policies, assessing privacy risks, and enforcing strong controls, GRC helps organizations like OpenAI ensure data is handled securely and trust is maintained. From audits to compliance, they turn potential breaches into non-events. If you’ve ever asked, “How do we prevent the next big mistake?”, GRC could be your answer.
Learn more about GRC in my Free Intro Course: Cyber Paths 101
Cyber Paths 101 walks you through all 14 cybersecurity domains (including GRC) so you can explore each role and see which one fits you best..
Ready to go deeper? Join our Cyber Career Club to grow your skills, find your footing, and build with a community that’s rooting for you every step of the way.
Must-Have Tool
Since we're already talking about your info on the web, it's never a bad time to tighten things up. Incogni helps delete your personal info from data broker sites that buy, sell, and store it, often without your knowledge or consent.
Try it here and take your privacy back.
What You Missed This Week
5 things you should never share while online dating. In light of the recent Tea app data breach, these are some tips that I personally follow as a cybersecurity expert.
Click here to watch the video.
What We're Hearing From You!
Thank you for all your shares! This is such a necessary public service for us all. 🙏 @deusmarca.studio
Thank you! I appreciate you helping spread the word as we shine a light on privacy and safety.
Let’s keep building together!
Stay protected,
Cybersecurity Girl
Know someone who’d enjoy this? Pass it along! And if you have thoughts or feedback, just hit reply, I’d love to hear from you.
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