Users installing whatever apps and cloud services they want?
Shadow IT: Unauthorized Everything
Company data flowing to unvetted services. No visibility into where sensitive information lives. Compliance auditors will ask: How do you control data exfiltration?
When Users Become Their Own CTO
Users sign up for cloud services with company email addresses
Unauthorized collaboration tools storing company data
Personal file sync services (Dropbox, Google Drive) syncing work files
Browser extensions with broad permissions installed freely
No idea which services have access to company data
Marketing team needs to share large video files. Your official solution is too slow. Someone discovers WeTransfer. Then someone else finds Dropbox. Another person uses their personal Google Drive. Each person uses their company email to sign up. Now company data is scattered across three unauthorized cloud services, stored who-knows-where, with no data retention policy, no access controls, and no way for IT to revoke access when someone leaves. Consider a legal services firm we audited: they discovered 47 different cloud services in use across 60 employees. Most were signed up with company email addresses. Some stored client data, including privileged legal documents on consumer cloud storage with zero encryption or access logging. The data protection officer asked: How do we do a GDPR Subject Access Request when we don't even know where data is stored? They couldn't answer.
The Hidden Cost of User Autonomy
Data Exfiltration Without Visibility
Company data flows to unauthorized services. Sensitive files in personal cloud storage. Confidential information in unapproved collaboration tools. Intellectual property synced to consumer services. IT has no inventory of where data lives, no way to enforce retention policies, and no visibility into potential data breaches.
Compliance Nightmares
GDPR requires knowing where personal data is processed. ISO 27001 requires asset inventory including information systems. NIS2 requires security controls on data storage. Shadow IT violates all of these. Auditors ask: Where is your customer data stored? Answer: Officially in our CRM, but actually also in 47 unauthorized services we just discovered.
Security Outside Your Control
Each shadow IT service is a potential breach vector. Consumer-grade security. No MFA enforcement. Weak passwords. Shared accounts. No audit logging. One compromised service means data exposure, and you might not even know which service until the breach notification arrives. Your security controls stop at your managed infrastructure, and shadow IT lives beyond that boundary.
Offboarding Leaves Data Access Open
Employee leaves. You disable their work account, revoke VPN, wipe their device. But their personal Dropbox account with company files? Still active. Their WeTransfer account? Still accessible. Their accounts on 15 other shadow IT services? All still functioning. Offboarding becomes impossible because you don't know what to offboard.
Visibility and Approved Alternatives
We implement network and endpoint monitoring to detect shadow IT usage, combined with approved alternatives that meet user needs. Need large file transfer? Here's the approved service. Need collaboration? Here's the company-managed tool. MDM policies prevent unauthorized app installation. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) monitors for data flowing to unapproved destinations. Users get tools that work, and IT gets visibility and control.
Real-time detection of unauthorized services
Approved alternatives that meet actual user needs
Prevent installation of unauthorized apps
Monitor data flows to unapproved destinations
Complete inventory of where company data lives
Enforceable security and compliance policies
Related Services
MDM Implementation
Centralized device management with Jamf Pro, Mosyle, Kandji, Intune, and Omnissa
Learn more →
Security & Compliance Consulting
GDPR, ISO 27001, and security audits your general IT team can't handle
Learn more →
Assessments & Audits
Current state analysis: find what's broken before it breaks you
Learn more →
Discover What's Running in the Shadows
Book a 20-minute call to discuss shadow IT assessment.
