Cybersecurity Glossary
Shadow IT
Tools and services staff adopt for work without anyone approving or securing them.
What Shadow IT means
Shadow IT appears when the approved tools are awkward: a personal cloud drive for a large file, a free chat tool for a project, a personal account for an application the organisation has not bought. It is usually well intentioned and it puts company data outside your control.
Why Shadow IT matters for small businesses and nonprofits
Data ends up in accounts you cannot reach, cannot back up and cannot revoke when the person leaves. Banning it rarely works; making the approved path easier does.
What to do about Shadow IT
- Find out what is actually in use before writing rules about it
- Provide a fast route to request a tool, so the approved path is not the slow one
- Focus control on where company data may live rather than on which apps exist
Not sure where you stand on this?
We review your current setup against the basics, tell you plainly what is covered and what is not, and give you a ranked list with effort and cost. No jargon and no scare tactics.