The Growth of Shadow IT
Companies commonly create corporate IT policies as part of their security strategies. By defining the list of acceptable software, an organization can gain visibility and control over its potential security risks and deploy SaaS security solutions to mitigate them.
However, corporate IT policies may cause friction in an employee’s workflow. This may be as simple as the company using Microsoft Office 365 when an employee prefers Google Docs or may include measures that make employees’ jobs harder in an attempt to improve security.
Shadow IT is an attempt to evade or overcome these restrictions that are seen as barriers to an employee’s ability to do their jobs. The rise of SaaS solutions has contributed to the growth of shadow IT because these solutions provide employees with convenient, easy-to-use alternatives to approved corporate solutions.
The Importance of Shadow IT Protection
Shadow IT may seem harmless or even beneficial to employees. By using platforms and tools that make them more productive, they might improve the efficiency and profitability of the business. However, Shadow IT also introduces significant risks to the organization.
If corporate data is placed on unapproved services or platforms — such as cloud storage or a messaging platform such as Slack — that data is outside the visibility and control of the corporate IT and security teams. If this platform’s security settings are improperly configured — such as making cloud storage drives publicly visible — then sensitive corporate data may be breached. Shadow IT can also create compliance challenges for an organization if it can’t prove that it controls access to sensitive data or if the use of a particular platform violates data transfer rules such as those defined within the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Shadow IT is a risk in any organization since employees can sign up for unapproved services and move sensitive data onto them. Shadow IT protection is essential to gaining visibility into this unauthorized use of IT services and protecting corporate data against unauthorized access and disclosure.
How to Manage the Risk of Shadow IT
Shadow IT risk is difficult for organizations to manage because, by definition, the risk involves systems that are outside of an organization’s control. Employees may place corporate data on unauthorized systems and services that expose it to cyberattacks.
One common approach to shadow IT risk management is employee education. Often, employees see corporate IT policies largely as a hindrance that makes it more difficult for them to do their jobs. By teaching employees about corporate policies and the reasons for them, organizations can reduce the probability that employees will violate them.
However, employee education is an imperfect solution. Some employees with full knowledge of corporate IT and security policies, as well as their rationales and benefits will still attempt to circumvent them. In these situations, an organization can only manage its shadow IT risks by deploying solutions that can identify the use of shadow IT and enable the company to respond to it.
Managing Shadow IT Risks with Harmony Email and collaboration
One of the common features of SaaS solutions is that they track users’ identities based on their email accounts. Often, a SaaS account username is the user’s email address, and the service will send emails to the user to verify their account and notify them of activities on their accounts.
While an organization may lack visibility into the unauthorized third-party SaaS services that employees may sign up for, they do have control over the corporate email accounts that employees will use to sign up for these services. By scanning email traffic for messages related to unauthorized services — such as a welcome message, a notification, or an email about a received message — an organization can identify cases where it is likely that an employee is using unauthorized IT services for business purposes.
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration has built-in support for shadow IT detection. While inspecting email traffic for other threats, Harmony Email and Collaboration also looks for these telltale signs of shadow IT. If they are detected, an alert is sent to the security team for investigation.
Shadow IT poses a significant threat to corporate cybersecurity, data security, and regulatory compliance. To learn how to manage your organization’s shadow IT risks, sign up for a free demo of Harmony Email and Collaboration today. Alternatively, try it out for yourself with a free trial.
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