Let’s assume that, as a responsible business owner, you’ve established standard operating procedures for your employees to follow—including the tools they can officially use in the course of their tasks. That said, there is always the chance that someone encountered an issue and independently investigated and “fixed” it.
If anyone is using an unapproved tool or an external account to access and manipulate your business data, you have a problem… a problem known as shadow IT.
What is Shadow IT?
Shadow IT (the use of hardware, software, or applications for business purposes without the company's or its IT department's knowledge or approval) is a dangerously prevalent problem for many modern businesses.
Now, before you turn to your team and start throwing around words like “fired” or “litigation,” you should know that the vast majority of shadow IT is introduced to a business with the best of intentions. Generally speaking, a team member will use unauthorized tech—hardware or software—to do their job to the best of their ability. They aren’t thinking about how this could undermine the security you have protecting your business; they’re thinking about how their way could help them accomplish more with the hours they have. Meanwhile, your data could suddenly leak at any time.
Why Does Shadow IT Happen in the First Place?
Let’s step into the shoes of one of your team members for a moment. Let’s say that we have a substantial project to work on that we’re falling behind on, and since we don’t want to be reprimanded for falling behind, we decide to do a little off-the-books work at home. In preparation, we send the project files to our personal email or upload them to our own personal cloud storage.
We’ve suddenly removed the protections that the business network provides to this data, leaving it vulnerable to exposure. This is a big, big deal… but so is the reason why an employee might do this.
In essence, your employee is finding an alternative method that puts your business at risk, but this is usually because an obstacle prevents them from using the approved process.
Maybe they’re trying to email something too large to send as an attachment, not knowing about compressed files, and they use an external tool like Dropbox. Maybe they don’t know how to access the company server through a VPN, so they keep everything in their personal Google Drive and share it with their business account. They’re introducing shadow IT as a solution to a problem, unwittingly exacerbating an even greater, overarching problem.
The Problem: Data Sprawl
As a result of these bad habits, shadow IT frequently leads to data sprawl—the efficient way of saying your business’ information is partially replicated across about a dozen different servers you have no say over or ability to protect. Your data is beyond your control and is almost certainly vulnerable.
This issue only gets worse if an employee leaves your business. Sure, you can disable their company email and any access to your network, but that does nothing to get your business’ data out of their inboxes and off of their personal devices. You can’t unring that bell, as they say. This enables a departing employee to take some of your data with them.
The Only Way to Prevent Shadow IT is to Work Proactively and Collaboratively
Let’s make one thing clear: much of how IT departments and IT support have operated in the past has encouraged the rise of shadow IT. By cultivating a reputation of saying no to everything and being tough to contact in the first place, many users were motivated to try and solve problems for themselves and keep secrets from the people who were supposed to be there for their benefit.
Fortunately, the businesses of Western Kentucky have a better option: working with us.
We operate as business technology consultants, monitoring your network for current and potential issues. We swiftly resolve any we find before they manifest into larger problems.
As a result, we’ll identify any unauthorized applications currently on your systems and investigate why they are there. By communicating with your team members, we’ll determine the pain point causing enough friction for them to seek an alternative and come up with an option that works… without undermining your security in the process.
Want to Illuminate Your IT and Be Rid of Any Shadows? Reach Out to Us!
You and your team need to be allies to win the war against shadow IT. By supporting them and providing the resources and training they need for success, you can give your business the best chance of success. We can be another ally in all this.
Ready to take better control of your business? Give us a call at 800.618.9844 to get started!
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