Tackling cybersecurity today: Your top challenge and strategy

Shadow IT used to be a fringe problem, a rogue Dropbox account here, a personal Gmail there. Now, it’s everywhere. One customer said it best: “We don’t have a Shadow IT problem. We are Shadow IT.” That stuck.

It’s not malice. It’s urgency. People move fast. Procurement doesn’t. So teams swipe cards, spin up tools, and get on with it. The intentions are good. The risks are massive.

We’ve seen it firsthand. One fintech company found customer data spread across five unsanctioned collaboration tools. A healthcare team discovered sensitive files in an AI image generator. These weren’t outliers; they were the norm. The real threat wasn’t just data loss. It was invisibility.

Taming shadow IT: How we’re tackling one of cybersecurity’s biggest hidden threats

At TrustCloud, we see Shadow IT as more than just an inconvenience, it’s an invisible layer of risk that can quietly erode security and compliance. The rise of cloud-based tools and hybrid work has made it easier than ever for employees to adopt new apps or services without formal review. While the intent is often to move faster or collaborate better, these unapproved tools open doors to data exposure, regulatory gaps, and untracked vendor risk.

Our approach is to bring Shadow IT into the light. Using TrustCloud’s platform, organizations can automatically discover unmanaged applications, flag unauthorized connections, and map them to the relevant compliance controls. This proactive visibility is paired with real-time alerts and governance workflows, ensuring that every tool, whether sanctioned or not, is accounted for.

The goal is not to punish productivity but to align it with security. By giving security and IT teams a single source of truth for all applications and vendors, we reduce the unknowns that attackers exploit. In short, TrustCloud turns Shadow IT from a blind spot into a managed asset, helping organizations stay agile without sacrificing compliance or safety.

The complexity of shadow IT: A Persistent cybersecurity challenge

At TrustCloud, we recognize that Shadow IT has become one of the most critical and complex cybersecurity challenges facing modern organizations. As companies adopt cloud-first strategies and embrace hybrid and remote work models, the boundary between approved and unapproved technology has blurred. Employees now have easier access to thousands of SaaS tools, collaboration platforms, and personal devices, often bypassing procurement and IT processes to meet immediate needs. While this can drive agility and innovation, it also creates an unmanaged layer of risk that traditional security controls struggle to address.

Shadow IT’s impact goes beyond convenience. Unvetted tools can expose sensitive data, introduce compliance gaps, and create hidden third-party dependencies. The stakes are even higher in regulated industries, where a single misstep can result in financial penalties or reputational damage. Analysts like Gartner predict that by 2027, nearly three-quarters of employees will adopt technology outside the IT team’s visibility, a staggering shift that leaves cybersecurity and compliance teams racing to maintain control.

TrustCloud’s approach is to replace blind spots with clarity. Our platform helps organizations continuously discover unsanctioned applications, assess their associated risks, and map them to frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA. Automated workflows flag anomalies, while TrustCloud’s TrustRegister and TrustLens give security leaders the tools to manage vendors, enforce policies, and provide real-time assurance to stakeholders.

By combining visibility, governance, and automation, TrustCloud turns Shadow IT from an unmanaged threat into an opportunity for stronger, more resilient operations. It’s about enabling productivity without compromising trust, something every modern business needs to thrive.

Read the “Cybersecurity and technology controls: Safeguarding digital assets” article to learn more!

The challenge of shadow IT: Why it’s a cybersecurity minefield

From file-sharing apps to unsanctioned APIs and personal devices, this wave of unapproved technology, known as Shadow IT, is expanding faster than many organizations can track. While often driven by good intentions, speed, convenience, or collaboration, Shadow IT creates hidden entry points, compliance gaps, and unmonitored third-party risk.

Without visibility and controls, every unsanctioned tool becomes a potential weak spot, complicating threat detection, increasing exposure to regulatory penalties, and making incident response far more challenging. For security and compliance teams, managing Shadow IT isn’t just about locking things down; it’s about regaining oversight and trust in an environment where technology adoption is decentralized and constant.

Read the “Robust vulnerability management practices: Unlocking cybersecurity excellence” article to learn more!

Shadow IT encompasses everything from unauthorized SaaS applications and file-sharing tools to hardware devices and unsanctioned APIs. Here’s why it’s a particularly thorny issue:

1. Lack of Visibility
   Employees adopt tools without IT approval, leaving security teams blind to a vast array of entry points. These tools may bypass logging and monitoring systems, creating blind spots in threat detection.
2. Compliance Risks
   Data shared via unsanctioned platforms can violate data protection regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2. A simple file upload to an unauthorized cloud service can cause compliance breaches and hefty penalties.
3. Data Leakage
   SaaS tools used without proper vetting may not encrypt data adequately, leading to potential exposure of sensitive corporate information or customer data.
4. Vendor Risk Exposure
   Many of these unauthorized tools come from third-party vendors with unknown security postures. This widens the attack surface and increases third-party risk exponentially.
5. Complex Incident Response
   When breaches occur via shadow IT, the root cause becomes harder to trace and remediate because there are no records or oversight.

Read the “Cybersecurity risks: a comprehensive guide for GRC professionals in 2025” article to learn more!

Our strategic approach to tackling shadow IT

Shadow IT isn’t a single problem; it’s a web of behaviors, tools, and cultural drivers. At TrustCloud, we treat it as both a visibility challenge and a trust-building opportunity. Our strategy is not only about deploying strong controls but also about empowering teams to work faster, smarter, and more securely.

1. Continuous Discovery Through CASB and Endpoint Monitoring
   The first step to solving any problem is to make the invisible visible. To this end, we’ve deployed a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) that sits between our users and cloud service providers. This enables us to:
   1. Monitor traffic for unauthorized app usage.
   2. Enforce real-time policies for access control.
   3. Discover risky apps based on usage frequency and data volume.
      We also leverage endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions that can track application usage across corporate devices, flagging any anomaly that deviates from our known list of approved apps.
      Tool examples: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Cloud
2. Inventory Management and Software Asset Discovery
   We maintain an active Software Asset Inventory, enriched by data from asset discovery tools and endpoint management platforms. This repository is continuously reconciled against known authorized applications.
   This inventory not only provides visibility but also supports risk quantification; we assign a score to each discovered app based on its security rating, access privileges, and data handling practices.
   Tools used: Axonius, ServiceNow IT Asset Management
3. Data Classification and Access Control
   To protect sensitive data from being mishandled by unauthorized apps, we’ve implemented data classification and DLP (Data Loss Prevention) systems.
   These systems automatically tag data (e.g., PII, financial, and health records) and enforce controls that:
   1. Prevent upload of sensitive data to shadow SaaS tools.
   2. Alert IT/security teams when policy violations occur.
   3. Block access to high-risk destinations.
      Key resources: Microsoft Purview, Symantec DLP, Forcepoint
4. User Education and Engagement
   Technical controls are only part of the equation. Employees often turn to Shadow IT because they are unaware of the risks or find the official tools cumbersome. To address this, we’ve built a proactive communication strategy that includes:
   1. Quarterly “Tech Talk” sessions to introduce employees to secure alternatives.
   2. Internal campaigns with examples of shadow IT breaches and their impact.
   3. Gamified learning modules where employees earn rewards for identifying and reporting risky tools.
      We also publish a catalog of approved SaaS tools with clear descriptions of their use cases and links for easy onboarding.
5. Security Champions and Peer Enforcement
   We’ve piloted a Security Champions Program, where representatives from various departments act as first responders for IT concerns. These champions are trained to:
   1. Provide feedback on tools their teams need.
   2. Vet new tools through IT before adoption.
   3. Educate their teams on risks associated with unapproved apps.
      This peer-enforcement model bridges the gap between central IT and business units, creating shared accountability.
6. Frictionless Request Process for New Tools
   Often, employees turn to shadow IT out of frustration with bureaucratic procurement processes. To reduce this friction, we streamlined our SaaS tool request workflow:
   1. Integrated with Slack and email for easy submission.
   2. Automatic triage using an AI assistant that assesses vendor security posture.
   3. Fast-track for apps with SOC 2/ISO 27001 certifications.
      This responsiveness encourages employees to “go by the book” rather than circumvent it.

Bottom line: Our approach at TrustCloud is about more than control; it’s about building trust. By combining automation, risk intelligence, and a culture-first mindset, we convert Shadow IT from a hidden liability into a managed, auditable part of our operations.

Read the “Stay ahead with powerful insights on cybersecurity risks in 2025” article to learn more!

Hybrid data fabric aggregates and normalizes feeds to build an assurance and GRC data lake

Don’t struggle with 1000s of vulnerability smoke signals from your security tools. Aggregate feeds from your cloud, on-premises and bespoke apps, and combine them with inventories from your security tools and document repos to continuously measure the control effectiveness and operational status of your entire IT environment.

Resources we’ve leveraged

At TrustCloud, our strategy for tackling Shadow IT is rooted in staying informed, aligning to best practices, and continuously improving our controls. We believe that strong outcomes depend on the right mix of intelligence, frameworks, and technology.

Industry insights are critical to staying ahead of trends. We regularly review Gartner reports to understand market movements in CASB adoption, SaaS management platforms, and emerging risks. These reports help shape our roadmap and ensure our strategy reflects the evolving threat landscape.

To set clear technical standards, we align with CIS Benchmarks, using them to define baseline configuration settings for cloud and SaaS tools. These benchmarks keep our environment hardened and consistent.
Of course, TrustCloud itself plays a central role. We use our platform to continuously assess third-party risk, automate vendor questionnaires, and streamline SaaS onboarding. This reduces manual work and ensures each new tool is vetted before it becomes a risk.

Finally, we rely on proven frameworks like NIST SP 800-171 and ISO 27001, and guidance from CISA advisories, to keep policies sharp and proactive. Together, these resources create a dynamic foundation for controlling Shadow IT while supporting agility.

Measuring success

At TrustCloud, we believe that any security strategy is only as good as its outcomes. To gauge the impact of our Shadow IT program, we track key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect both security and user experience.

Our core KPIs include:

1. Reduction in unapproved SaaS usage: We monitor trends to ensure fewer tools are bypassing IT controls, showing better governance and adoption of approved solutions.
2. Average time to evaluate and approve requests: Speed matters. We measure how quickly IT can assess, vet, and approve new SaaS tools to keep employees productive.
3. Number of incidents tied to unsanctioned tools: Fewer security alerts or breaches linked to unknown apps means our visibility and prevention strategies are working.
4. Employee Net Promoter Score (NPS): We track feedback on IT processes to ensure teams view them as helpful rather than restrictive.
5. Adoption rate of approved alternatives: Higher usage of sanctioned tools signals alignment between security and business needs.

The results are promising: a 32% drop in Shadow SaaS usage and a 55% improvement in processing times over six months. These metrics confirm that balancing control with enablement strengthens both security and employee trust.Summing it up

Summing it up

Shadow IT isn’t just a technical challenge; it’s a human one. It emerges from innovation gaps, communication barriers, and productivity pressures. Solving it requires not only robust tools but also a shift in mindset: from control to collaboration, from punishment to partnership.

Our journey is still ongoing, but by focusing on visibility, enablement, and cultural alignment, we’re turning a historically reactive problem into a proactive, strategic strength. Shadow IT will never be eliminated, but with the right approach, it can be managed without compromising productivity or security.

The challenge

Shadow IT represents a growing risk vector in today’s decentralized, app-driven work environment. From compliance violations to data leakage, its impact can be severe if left unchecked.

Our approach

We’ve implemented a multi-layered defense that includes:

1. Discovery and Monitoring: CASB, EDR, and asset management tools to uncover and track unsanctioned tech use.
2. Data Protection: Classification and DLP to stop sensitive data from leaking.
3. Cultural Change: Education, security champions, and improved communication.
4. Process Optimization: A frictionless, responsive SaaS request workflow.
5. Partnership and Governance: Leveraging frameworks like NIST, ISO 27001, and platforms like TrustCloud to ensure third-party risk alignment.

Resources

1. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
2. AxoniusTrustCloud for vendor risk assessments
3. Gartner and CISA publications

Outcomes

1. Reduced unauthorized tool usage.
2. Faster approval of secure tools.
3. Improved cross-functional collaboration on IT governance.

FAQs