The National Cyber Security Centre has warned that a growing misunderstanding about a new type of artificial intelligence vulnerability could lead to major data breaches affecting UK organisations. The security agency said many developers and cyber professionals were drawing the wrong parallels between so‑called prompt injection attacks in generative AI systems and the long‑established problem of SQL injection in traditional web applications. Prompt injection involves malicious instructions that influence how a large language model behaves. SQL injection involves malicious database queries that exploit flaws in how applications handle user input. The NCSC said these two attack types differ in important ways. It said those differences affect how organisations should manage the risk. In new guidance, the centre said prompt injection attacks against systems built on large language models may not be fully preventable. It contrasted this with SQL injection, which software engineers can often block through strict separation of data and instructions and careful query handling. The NCSC said that large language models do not reliably separate instructions from data. It said attackers can exploit this behaviour by embedding instructions inside content that looks like ordinary text. The organisation warned that a belief that prompt injection can be solved through a single technical fix could leave systems exposed. It said this view could repeat earlier periods when firms underest