Appeasing the Oasis of Unknown: Shadow IT Discovery

In a sea of millions of apps, which one is the biggest fish to fry? Firewall and proxy logs catch the traffic of users, but identifying what needs attention in such comprehensive logs can be overwhelming. Shadow IT discovery offers the ability to narrow down the search to apps that should be more closely monitored and controlled.

The security of an application is crucial in determining how much access to your corporate information you want the app to have. Most recently, DoorDash suffered a data breach where an unauthorized third party obtained the sensitive data of roughly 5 million people. Evidently, allowing anyone or any application into your company’s information poses significant security concerns. Nonetheless, the use of unknown apps can lead to a progressively more productive workplace, with these innovative technological solutions helping to facilitate work. 

Shadow IT discovery allows security admins to monitor activity; discovery reports consolidate traffic into transparent views of app usage and can yield further information about the apps as well. Bitglass’ own solution proudly boasts an automated ranking system to help admins triage the riskiest apps. This system takes into account network traffic and also ~50 app attributes, covering information from an app’s compliance certifications to its encryption methods. 

Coupling Shadow IT discovery with the granular controls of CASBs (cloud access security brokers), like Bitglass’, provides an exhaustive layer of security for any application. Through discovery reports, when an app in use is found to have security concerns, it can then have policies applied to it to protect sensitive data. For example, if an app is found to have a low trust rating through shadow IT discovery, DLP policies to block uploads of sensitive content can be enforced. Consequently, using shadow IT discovery is the first step in finding and saving the Nemos in this sea of still brilliant technology.

To learn about cloud access security brokers (CASBs) and how they can protect your enterprise from data leakage, malware, and more, download the Top CASB Use Cases below.