From an IT and cybersecurity perspective, shadow IT is an issue that must be managed to maintain visibility of the network and ensure its security. But what about employees who rely on these assets to do their job and managers who turn a blind eye to such methods? Surely they see some benefit in shadow IT. But does that benefit outweigh the risk?
Further, in instances of shadow IT, organizations do not have a single source of truth when it comes to data. This means that data analysis and reporting may be inaccurate, inconsistent or incomplete. This can erode the quality of insights produced from that data, as well as introduce compliance issues.
How Shadow IT could put your organization at risk
Even in the most advanced organizations, some instances of shadow IT are inevitable. To that end, businesses need to find ways to effectively identify those cases and manage the risk. Businesses can take the following steps to reduce the use of shadow IT and limit its risk:
In addition to improving productivity, shadow IT makes your business more resilient and empowers your employees to work from anywhere. But the downside is that the lack of clear processes and oversight enables them to do this outside of the proper IT channels.
Typical organizations have 3 to 4 times more SaaS apps in use than IT knows about. Many of these apps have their own access controls and security that are not consistent with your policies. Some, especially consumer SaaS solutions that are popular among employees, lack controls altogether. Either situation leads to shadow IT risks.
First steps to managing shadow IT risks is to gain visibility into your SaaS ecosystem, then monitoring it and applying policy-driven access controls. Making identity the core of your risk management and bringing your SaaS apps under a centralized management and government process can help solve both the access and the security risks of shadow IT.
The modern workplace is evolving, and many organizations see remote and hybrid models as the way of the future. The cloud makes this transformation possible, but you have to address the implications. As SaaS services continue to fuel your innovation, your shadow IT risks will continue to challenge your security.
SailPoint SaaS Management enables you to take control over hidden and unauthorized SaaS applications so you can mitigate your data and security risks while boosting compliance. SailPoint also helps you manage spend, optimize usage and automate processes to improve overall efficiency.
While some unsupported SaaS applications seem harmless, others might encourage sharing sensitive data between groups or recording calls for transcription services. IT staff needs to know what apps are in use and how they might put your company at risk of data breaches and other liabilities.
KMicro offers a host of cybersecurity solutions to help businesses gain control over and visibility into their shadow IT. We can help you identify the applications your employees are using without your knowledge, consolidate your cloud services and get everyone back on the same page.
Even if you lock down your company-issued equipment, it can be difficult to get people to stop using their own solutions, computers, tablets, or other devices to get some work done at home. They might upload work files to DropBox or OneDrive. They might simply copy files onto a USB flash drive. That may seem innocent enough, but should that flash drive contain a virus or an exploit, it could introduce a massive problem for you to resolve.
For example, your organization might still be using Lotus Notes, but your users report that they can get more done with Google Workspace. With Workspace apps like Google Docs, an employee can begin work on a document on a desktop or laptop, and then continue to work on it with a tablet or a smartphone.
If you truly want to reduce security risks, educate your users. Make sure your employees understand the risks involved, and why unauthorized tools and software must be avoided. Then, show them how to solve their problems securely, using approved tools and methods.
According to Cisco, 80% of end users use software not cleared by IT, 83% of IT staff admit to using unsanctioned software or services, and only 8% of all enterprises actually know the scope of shadow IT within their organization!
In the long run, CIOs need to develop comprehensive procedures for approving cloud applications that are fast and efficient so that employees will not need to go around the system in a rogue manner. When employees are given a choice on what devices and applications they can use, it improves productivity, drives innovation and increases morale. So, embrace shadow IT in a way that manages risk and keeps your organization safe and compliant.
And the effects of the pandemic are likely to remain. Cloud is expected to make up 14.2% of the total global enterprise IT spending market by 2024, and dominate enterprise budgets in the future. However, rapid innovation also creates risks. Failing to optimize cloud processes as you continue to add to your cloud architecture can cause costly overhead to your business down the line. And this only becomes more detrimental without the ability to detect it.
To achieve this, enterprise organizations get support from a trusted cloud management provider. An expert team can audit your entire cloud infrastructure using powerful reporting, management, and optimization tools. This helps your business uncover full transparency over cloud resources and spend, reduce costs, and unlock long-term control over your cloud estate.
A cloud audit will help your business immediately identify where cloud resources are being used incorrectly. Whether cloud spend has grown over time without internal teams realizing or you're overpaying for inefficient cloud vendors or services, an audit can provide a single view of your entire cloud estate. To instantly flag cloud-based shadow IT that appears in your network.
As part of an audit, your cloud management provider will provide helpful suggestions and opportunities to optimize the cloud environment. This will ensure that your cloud infrastructure is operating at maximum efficiency, without the unmonitored baggage of shadow IT.
A cloud management provider can work as an extension of your IT department to regain control of your cloud inventory management. Enterprise organizations generate huge volumes of cloud resource information, but this is only useful when put into the right format.
Additionally, as you gain better visibility of your cloud to reduce shadow IT, you also benefit from better cost controls. Cloud inventory management delivery can be integrated into your general ledger, helping eliminate time-consuming manual processes for internal IT staff. Improving cost visibility and highlighting cost saving opportunities.
Achieving better visibility of your cloud estate is essential to reduce instances of shadow IT. However, in-house IT teams are already confined to the pressure of their day-to-day tasks, and managing IT support across your employees. Add to this the duty of optimizing cloud processes and the task naturally drops to the bottom of their to-do list.
A cloud management provider can help you monitor processes, identify cloud inefficiencies, and eliminate cloud waste. Your IT department will experience improved visibility of cloud resources and usage in your organization. And your chosen expert cloud-accredited partner will continuously handles reporting, management, and optimization processes for you.
To protect against Shadow IT one needs a mixed approach to data security that engages people, process, and technology. This can be particularly tricky since it requires not only locating the unauthorized technology, but also requires behavioral changes across your organization. To defend your organization against Shadow IT, and most importantly, protect your data, we recommend the following five steps:
Shadow IT is not new. There have been countless examples of widespread shadow IT use over the years. In the early 2000s, for example, many organizations were reluctant to adopt Wi-Fi for fear that it could undermine their security efforts. However, users wanted the convenience of wireless device usage and often deployed wireless access points without the IT department's knowledge or consent.
Of course, IT pros eventually figured out how to secure iPads and Wi-Fi and eventually embraced the technology. However, shadow IT use does not always come with a happy ending. Users who engage in shadow IT use can unknowingly do irreparable harm to an organization.
In fact, a 2020 study found that 80% of workers admitted to using unauthorized SaaS applications. This same study also found that the average company's shadow IT cloud could be 10X larger than the company's sanctioned cloud usage.
Given the ease with which a user can deploy shadow IT resources, it is unrealistic for IT to assume that shadow IT isn't happening or that they will be able to detect shadow IT use. As such, the best strategy may be to educate users about the risks posed by shadow IT. A user who has a limited IT background may inadvertently introduce security risks by engaging in shadow IT. According to a Forbes Insights report 60% of companies do not include shadow IT in their threat assessments.
Of course, educating users alone is not sufficient to stopping shadow IT use. There will always be users who choose to ignore the warnings. Likewise, giving in to user's demands for using particular technologies might not always be in the organization's best interests either. After all, there is no shortage of poorly written or outdated applications that could pose a significant threat to your organization. Never mind applications that are known for spying on users.
One of the best options for dealing with shadow IT threats may be to adopt zero trust. Zero-trust is a philosophy in which nothing in your organization is automatically assumed to be trustworthy. User and device identities must be proven each time that they are used to access a resource. 2ff7e9595c
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