The need for Shadow I.t.
In the modern working age, it’s common for individual business departments to source and adopt their own software to improve efficiency and/or deliver a better outcome.
Think the Marketing department sourcing software to enhance customer data, the HR department using a tool to manage job applications or the Finance department looking to automate expenses.
With such a vast array of software available today, it’s a fantastic era for efficiency and innovation. However, it causes a headache for anyone involved with compliance – particularly if an organisation has data security accreditations to uphold.
That’s because external software often stores or processes data. But, without a log of all software adopted and their intended use, the Compliance team are unable to gauge risk. That makes it impossible to demonstrate the necessary due diligence to comply with regulation like the UK GDPR or achieve accreditations like ISO27001.
It’s possible to log software manually but, in many organisations, that can be a lengthy process and, in all businesses, it relies on the goodwill of all employees to flag new software every time.
The alternative is to automate the process with a simple and cost-effective solution like Shadow IT.
What is Shadow I.T.?
The Shadow in Shadow IT is a common reference to business applications used in the background, without corporate awareness.
Atlas Cloud’s Shadow IT is a monitoring service that seamlessly integrates with corporate devices to detect and flag software used by all employees. It automatically categorises more than 31,000 cloud-based apps, making it easy for managers to risk assess.
The advanced capabilities empowers managers to:
- Quickly assess everything in one place and in real-time
- Easily enforce policies, blocking access to against-policy software
- Detect and respond to security alerts where deemed relevant
It’s a simple and cost-effective solution for current Microsoft 365 customers as it’s built into Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, a Microsoft 365 add-on, meaning no separate systems or billing.
SHADOW I.T. EXPLAINED
Getting the most out of Shadow I.T.
Unlocking the ability to monitor software in this way means security-conscious organisations can better enforce, or tighten, their current policies which ultimately protects corporate data.
That means no regulatory grey areas, ensuring full compliance with laws and elimination of risk of fines.
But adopting Shadow IT also means full control over company intellectual property. Without it, an organisation can’t be sure an employee about to leave is accessing unauthorised software that can transfer or store data; with it, managers are not only aware, but can block it anything has happened.
