Understand the damage Shadow IT can cause to your business!

[shukla7789]

One of the most common problems within an organization, which often goes unnoticed by the company's top management, is Shadow IT.

According to Cisco , 80% of a company's employees use some type of Shadow IT. And Randori 's State of Attack Surface Management 2022 report found that 7 out of 10 organizations were compromised because of this practice .

Some activities, such as sharing work files on a personal Dropbox account and holding a Skype meeting when the company uses WebEX without approval from the IT department, are classic examples of Shadow IT.

This shows that, often, not even employees are aware of the extent of the problem. And, to avoid it, it is necessary to understand it thoroughly. In this article, we will show you what Shadow IT is and how you can avoid it in your company.

What is Shadow IT?
Shadow IT is a term that refers to the use of IT systems, devices, software, applications and services without the explicit approval or knowledge of an organization's Information Technology team.

These unsanctioned solutions involve, for example, the use of fantuan database software, personal cloud storage , and even the implementation of complete systems.

The reasons for Shadow IT are diverse, but generally stem from employees or departments who feel that the solutions officially provided by the company do not meet their needs adequately or quickly enough.

While this practice may help solve problems in the short term, it can create security and compliance concerns in the long term, as well as increase the risk of system incompatibilities and operational inefficiencies.

How to identify Shadow IT?
Identifying Shadow IT can be challenging, as it is done outside of a company’s official IT operations and often without the knowledge of those responsible for those operations.

However, here are some ways an organization can try to identify the use of this practice:

Network Usage Analysis
Network traffic monitoring tools can be used to identify unapproved services being accessed. For example, if employees are accessing unapproved cloud storage services, this can be detected through network traffic analysis .