Giacomo Lanzi
Shadow IT: an overview
The practice of shadow IT is the use of computer systems, devices, software, applications and services without the explicit approval of the IT department. In recent years, it has grown exponentially with the adoption of cloud-based applications and services.
While shadow IT could improve employee productivity and drive innovation, it can also introduce serious security risks to the organization due to data breaches, potential compliance breaches and more.
Why users practice shadow IT
One of the main reasons employees apply shadow IT is simply to work more efficiently. A 2012 RSA study reported that 35% of employees believe they need to bypass their company’s security policies just to get their job done right. For example, an employee may discover a better file sharing application than is officially allowed. Once you start using it, the use may spread to other members of your department.
The rapid growth of cloud-based consumer applications has also increased the adoption of shadow IT practices. The days of packaged software are long gone; Common applications such as Slack and Dropbox are available with a simple click, and corporate data is easily copied beyond work applications to employee personal devices, such as smartphones or laptops, especially in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) working conditions .
Shadow IT: Security Risks and Challenges
The point is that if the IT department is not aware of the use of an application, they cannot support or guarantee that it is secure. Industry analyst firm Gartner predicted, in 2018, that by 2020, one-third of successful attacks businesses experience focus on their shadow IT assets.
While it is clear that the practice will not go away, organizations can minimize risks by educating end users and taking preventative measures to monitor and manage unauthorized applications.
Not all shadow IT is inherently dangerous, but some features like file sharing and storage and collaboration (for example, Google Docs) can cause sensitive data leaks. This risk goes beyond applications alone: the RSA study also reports that 63% of employees send work documents to their personal email to work from home, exposing data to networks that cannot be monitored.
In times like the one we are experiencing, in which teleworking is encouraged and, in some cases, the only possible solution, it is essential to have an eye for the applications in use on employees’ computers.
Benefits of Shadow IT
Despite the risks, shadow IT has its advantages. Getting IT approval can take time that employees can’t afford to waste.For many employees, approval is a productivity bottleneck, especially when they can get a fix in minutes.
Having IT behaving like an Orwellian “Big Brother” doesn’t always help productivity. Discerning cases of positive shadow IT can be the best compromise. Finding a middle ground can allow end users to research solutions that work best for them. This gives IT time to control user data and permissions for applications. If end users do not need to request new solutions, the IT department has been given time to focus on more critical tasks.
Proactive defense
Whatever the reason why shadow IT occurs, if the IT department is unaware of it, the risk of breach is high. What the corporate cyber security departments should do is implement automated traffic and behavior control systems.
The solution offered by a SOC as a Service is the most complete in this respect. It allows you to keep an eye on all the devices in the system and also monitor user behavior.
Thanks to the Nextgen SIEM and UEBA systems, in fact, the collection of usage data is easy and manageable in real time. The data collected is enriched and aggregated to give analysts the most complete view possible and allow rapid intervention. Meanwhile, the UEBA system checks that there are no anomalous behavior by users or suspicious outgoing data traffic.
Shadow IT, while not usually a malicious attack, is a practice that should be discouraged and, as it is risky, stopped in the bud.
Useful links:
Share
RSS
More Articles…
- The SOAR benefits: simplifying investigation and response
- Security Code Review: How the service works
- Integration of the automated response: the automations in SOCaaS
- Coordination between CTI and SOC: how to further raise the defenses
- New Cloud Server: redundant internet
- Quality certificate for the SOCaaS of SOD
- Managed Detection and Response: a new preventive approach
- CLUSIT: our collaboration for better services
Categories …
- Backup as a Service (17)
- Acronis Cloud Backup (11)
- Veeam Cloud Connect (4)
- Cloud Conference (3)
- Cloud CRM (1)
- Cloud Server/VPS (22)
- Conferenza Cloud (4)
- ICT Monitoring (5)
- Log Management (2)
- News (21)
- ownCloud (4)
- Privacy (7)
- Secure Online Desktop (14)
- Security (170)
- Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) (6)
- Ethical Phishing (8)
- Penetration Test (5)
- SOCaaS (55)
- Vulnerabilities (84)
- Web Hosting (15)
Tags
Dark Reading
- How CISOs Can Work With the CFO to Get the Best Security Budget March 17, 2023CISOs can and should push back when they're presented with budget costs that affect the business. Here's how.
- Microsoft Azure Warns on Killnet's Growing DDoS Onslaught Against Healthcare March 17, 2023DDoS cyberattack campaigns from the pro-Russian group have spiked significantly.
- Prancer Announces Integration With ChatGPT for Enhanced Security Assessments March 17, 2023
- Microsoft Outlook Vulnerability Could Be 2023's 'It' Bug March 17, 2023Snowballing PoC exploits for CVE-2023-23397 and a massive attack surface means almost business user could be a victim.
- Technology Firms Delivering Much-Sought Encryption-in-Use March 17, 2023If the approaches stand up to scrutiny, companies may soon be able to encrypt most databases in a way that allows using data without needing to decrypt to plaintext.
- Low-Budget 'Winter Vivern' APT Awakens After 2-Year Hibernation March 17, 2023The "underreported" APT has returned to focus after attacks promoting Russian and Belarusian government interests and going after targets with humor, zest, and scrappiness.
- The Ethics of Network and Security Monitoring March 17, 2023The chances of getting hacked are no longer low. Companies need to rethink their data collection and monitoring strategies to protect employee privacy and corporate integrity.
- Meta Proposes Revamped Approach to Online Kill Chain Frameworks March 17, 2023A more holistic model beyond MITRE et al is needed to help defenders better identify and understand commonalities in different online threat campaigns, the Facebook parent company says.
- Leveraging Behavioral Analysis to Catch Living-Off-the-Land Attacks March 16, 2023Attackers are increasingly staying under the radar by using your own tools against you. Only behavioral AI can catch these stealthy attacks.
- $3B Crypto-Mixer Money Laundering Operation Seized by Cops March 16, 2023The 'ChipMixer' cryptocurrency service for cybercriminals was shut down by law enforcement, and its alleged operator has been charged.
Full Disclosure
- Defense in depth -- the Microsoft way (part 83): instead to fix even their most stupid mistaskes, they spill barrels of snakeoil to cover them (or just leave them as-is) March 17, 2023Posted by Stefan Kanthak on Mar 16Hi @ll, with Windows 2000, Microsoft virtualised the [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT] registry branch: what was just an alias for [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes] before became the overlay of [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes] and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes] with the latter having precedence: Note: while [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes] is writable only by...
- [CFP] Security BSides Ljubljana 0x7E7 | June 16, 2023 March 17, 2023Posted by Andraz Sraka on Mar 16MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNmddmNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMN..-..--+MMNy:...-.-/yNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMy..ymd-.:Mm::-:osyo-..-mMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MM:..---.:dM/..+NNyyMN/..:MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Mm../dds.-oy.-.dMh--mMds++MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM My:::::/ydMmo..-hMMMmo//omMs/+Mm+++++shNMN+//+//+oMNy+///ohM MMMs//yMNo+hMh---m:-:hy+sMN..+Mo..os+.-:Ny--ossssdN-.:yyo+mM...
- Full Disclosure - Fastly March 12, 2023Posted by Andrey Stoykov on Mar 11Correspondence from Fastly declined to comment regarding new discovered vulnerabilities within their website. Poor practices regarding password changes. 1. Reset user password 2. Access link sent 3. Temporary password sent plaintext // HTTP POST request POST /user/mwebsec%40gmail.com/password/request_reset HTTP/2 Host: api.fastly.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:108.0) Gecko/20100101 […]
- Full Disclosure - Shopify Application March 12, 2023Posted by Andrey Stoykov on Mar 11Correspondence from Shopify declined to comment regarding new discovered vulnerabilities within their website. Although 'frontend' vulnerabilities are considered out of scope, person/tester foundhimself a beefy bugbounty from the same page that has been listed below, including similar functionality that has not been tested yet. Two emails and several reports, […]
- [CVE-2023-25355/25356] No fix available - vulnerabilities in CoreDial sipXcom sipXopenfire March 7, 2023Posted by Systems Research Group via Fulldisclosure on Mar 06
- SEC Consult SA-20230306-0 :: Multiple Vulnerabilities in Arris DG3450 Cable Gateway March 7, 2023Posted by SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab, Research via Fulldisclosure on Mar 06SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab Security Advisory < 20230306-0 > ======================================================================= title: Multiple Vulnerabilities product: Arris DG3450 Cable Gateway vulnerable version: AR01.02.056.18_041520_711.NCS.10 fixed version: - CVE number: CVE-2023-27571, CVE-2023-27572 impact: medium homepage: https://www.commscope.com...
- OpenBSD overflow March 7, 2023Posted by Erg Noor on Mar 06Hi, Fun OpenBSD bug. ip_dooptions() will allow IPOPT_SSRR with optlen = 2. save_rte() will set isr_nhops to very large value, which will cause overflow in next ip_srcroute() call. More info is here https://github.com/fuzzingrf/openbsd_tcpip_overflow/ -erg
- SEC Consult SA-20230228-0 :: OS Command Injectionin Barracuda CloudGen WAN March 3, 2023Posted by SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab, Research via Fulldisclosure on Mar 02SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab Security Advisory < 20230228-0 > ======================================================================= title: OS Command Injection product: Barracuda CloudGen WAN vulnerable version: < v8.* hotfix 1089 fixed version: v8.* with hotfix webui-sdwan-1089-8.3.1-174141891 or above version 9.0.0 or above CVE number: CVE-2023-26213...
- SRP on Windows 11 March 3, 2023Posted by Andy Ful on Mar 02The correction to: Full Disclosure: Defense in depth -- the Microsoft way (part 82): INVALID/BOGUS AppLocker rules disable SAFER on Windows 11 22H2 (seclists.org) The Kanthak correction to restore SRP functionality on Windows 11 ver. 22H2, works only when Smart App Control is OFF. If it is in Evaluate […]
- NetBSD overflow March 3, 2023Posted by Erg Noor on Mar 02Hi, Trivial overflow in hfslib_reada_node_offset, while loop has no range checks. |size_t hfslib_reada_node_offsets(void* in_bytes, uint16_t* out_offset_array) { void* ptr; if (in_bytes == NULL || out_offset_array == NULL) return 0; ptr = in_bytes; out_offset_array--; do { out_offset_array++; *out_offset_array = be16tohp(&ptr); } while (*out_offset_array != (uint16_t)14); return ((uint8_t*)ptr - (uint8_t*)in_bytes); }| […]
Customers
Twitter FEED
Recent activity
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes L'impatto crescente delle minacce informatiche, su sistemi operativi privati op… https://t.co/FimxTS4o9G
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes The growing impact of cyber threats, on private or corporate operating systems… https://t.co/y6G6RYA9n1
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Tempo di lettura stimato: 6 minuti Today we are talking about the CTI update of our services. Data security is… https://t.co/YAZkn7iFqa
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Il tema della sicurezza delle informazioni è di grande attualità in questo peri… https://t.co/tfve5Kzr09
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes The issue of information security is very topical in this historical period ch… https://t.co/TP8gvdRcrF
Newsletter
Products and Solutions
Partners
Cloud Models
News
- The SOAR benefits: simplifying investigation and response April 18, 2022
- Security Code Review: How the service works April 13, 2022
- Integration of the automated response: the automations in SOCaaS April 11, 2022
- Coordination between CTI and SOC: how to further raise the defenses April 6, 2022
- New Cloud Server: redundant internet March 23, 2022
Google Reviews
About
Copyright © 2011 Secure Online Desktop s.r.l. All Rights Reserved.
VAT: 07485920966 “Cloud Computing services - Software cloud - Cloud server - VPS” Terms of ServicePrivacy Policy
ISO Certifications