Exfiltration

Exfiltration is data leaving where it should have stayed. For AI API credentials the common paths are a public repository push, a client bundle, a mobile binary, CI logs, and infostealer malware targeting .env files and shell history on developer machines.

The last is worth taking seriously, because it bypasses every code-level control: no amount of .gitignore discipline helps if the machine itself is compromised.

Which is the argument for a hard spend limit as the backstop — it is the one control that holds regardless of how the credential got out.