Summary: A practical guide explaining shadow IT, its risks, how to detect it, and the best strategies to control it.
Shadow IT is one of the fastest-growing challenges your organization can face. It is especially relevant as cloud services, personal devices, and remote work introduce more tools outside traditional IT oversight. While some of these help employees work more efficiently, shadow IT exposes businesses to security risks, data leakage, and compliance gaps.
This guide explains what shadow IT is, why it matters, how to identify it in your environment, and what steps your business can take to prevent risks.
Shadow IT is the practice of using devices, applications, cloud services, or other IT resources without the knowledge or approval of the IT department. It ranges from unauthorized third-party software to personal devices connecting to company systems.
However, shadow IT doesn’t usually happen with evil intent. In most cases, employees are simply trying to work more efficiently. The problem is that these tools create blind spots that security teams can’t protect against.
A typical organization has hundreds of approved cloud services—and almost ten times as many operating under the radar. On average, enterprises rely on around 300 SaaS applications, with over half adopted without IT authorization. This creates blind spots across the environment, increasing exposure to data leaks, misconfigurations, and compliance risks.
Several trends have accelerated the risks of shadow IT throughout the years:
Cloud tools are easy to sign up for, often requiring only an email address and a password. Without centralized oversight, employees may store files, transfer data, or collaborate in unsecured environments.
Employees rely heavily on personal devices and external services to stay productive. This includes their own laptops, messaging apps, and file-sharing platforms.
IT departments prioritize safety and compliance, which can mean longer approval cycles. Employees bypass these delays by choosing whatever tools solve their immediate problems.
When IT-provided tools lack features or usability (for example, no real-time editing, slow remote access, or outdated user interface), employees search for more convenient alternatives—often unaware of the risks of shadow IT.
Teams such as marketing, development, design, and sales use specialized tools that IT departments may not be familiar with. This leads to unauthorized SaaS applications spreading across the organization.
Together, these factors mean that shadow IT is no longer an occasional issue — it’s an ongoing challenge that every modern organization must manage proactively.
A common real-life example can be this: a marketing team signs up for a free project-management app because their official tool feels too rigid. Within weeks, campaign briefs, customer data, and internal files end up stored in that external platform, without IT ever knowing it exists. What started as a quick productivity fix quietly creates a new security risk.
Shadow IT appears in familiar, everyday situations such as:
Each of these situations creates potential pathways for data compromise, misconfigurations, or unauthorized access.
Once unsanctioned tools are in use, the impact can quickly extend beyond individual teams.
Because these risks often develop quietly, the first step toward reducing them is understanding where shadow IT exists and how it shows up in everyday work.
Detecting unauthorized IT requires visibility and continuous monitoring. Organizations typically identify it through:
Unusual DNS queries, unknown applications communicating externally, or unexpected cloud connections often indicate the presence of shadow IT. This method helps the IT department detect risky behaviors early, even when employees are unaware that they are using unsanctioned tools.
Reviewing SaaS activity logs helps reveal accounts or services the IT department didn’t authorize. These audits also highlight how widely certain cloud platforms are adopted, allowing IT teams to decide whether to block, replace, or formally approve them.
Security teams can spot unauthorized software installed on devices, especially on personal ones used for work. Continuous endpoint visibility also helps detect outdated, vulnerable, or high-risk apps before they can cause security incidents.
Subscriptions or app purchases that fall outside approved tools can reveal shadow IT adoption within departments. Finance and procurement data often surface patterns (such as recurring monthly charges) that point to tools employees consider essential but never submitted for approval.
Direct conversations often uncover tools teams rely on unofficially. Surveys also help IT understand why employees turned to shadow IT in the first place, exposing gaps in functionality, usability, or speed in current systems.
Taken together, these methods show where shadow IT appears and why employees adopt it. The next step is turning this insight into a structured, repeatable way to find and manage shadow IT across your organization.
To move from ad-hoc discovery to consistent shadow IT detection, companies should:
This structured approach turns scattered signals—logs, network data, invoices, and feedback—into a clear picture of shadow IT. With better visibility, IT teams can prioritize high-risk areas, stop shadow IT from spreading, and address potential data exposure early.
Don’t treat symptoms—detect issues
Proactive network monitoring from NordLayer prevents problems before they occur
Organizations need a balanced strategy that secures the environment while maintaining productivity. Below are seven practical measures.
Set clear guidelines on which tools are allowed, which require approval, and how employees should request new IT solutions. Policies must be easy to understand and aligned with business goals to ensure adoption.
Use automated tools to track devices, SaaS applications, and network activity. Continuous monitoring helps detect hidden risks and prevent shadow IT from spreading unnoticed.
CASBs provide deep visibility into cloud usage. They help IT department inspect traffic, detect unsanctioned cloud solutions, enforce policies, and protect sensitive data across the cloud ecosystem.
Strong access controls ensure that only authorized users and devices can reach company resources. This limits risks from personal devices and helps prevent unauthorized apps from accessing sensitive data.
Most shadow IT arises from convenience, not negligence. Regular training helps employees understand the risks of unauthorized IT and guides them toward safer alternatives.
MFA reduces the risk of compromised credentials by requiring multiple forms of verification. Even if employees use personal or unmanaged software, MFA provides an additional layer of security.
Ensure all employees’ devices—including personal ones—are protected with antivirus, EDR, encryption, and secure remote access solutions. Strengthened endpoint security limits the chances of data loss or exposure.
These steps help reduce shadow IT risks, but having dedicated security controls in place can significantly strengthen your visibility and protection.
NordLayer gives organizations practical tools to spot and control shadow IT without slowing down workflows.
DNS Filtering blocks access to malicious or unapproved domains before users reach them. By controlling which destinations employees can connect to, IT teams can limit the use of risky cloud apps and reduce everyday shadow IT.
Application Blocker uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to block specific applications, protocols, or categories at the network level when users connect through Virtual Private Gateways. It helps stop the use of unauthorized or high-risk tools—like consumer VPNs—without disrupting approved workflows.
NordLayer’s upcoming Enterprise Browser is designed to give IT teams policy-based control over how employees access SaaS and web applications, especially in hybrid or bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments. It focuses on enforcing access and data-handling controls directly in the browser.
Together, these solutions help organizations maintain oversight, reduce exposure to unauthorized software, and let employees work safely across cloud services.
Shadow IT introduces security, compliance, and operational risks. Because unsanctioned tools operate outside IT visibility, they can expose sensitive data, weaken access controls, and create blind spots in threat monitoring.
It can. When employees use tools that haven’t been reviewed for compliance, organizations may unknowingly violate regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, or industry-specific standards, especially if personal or customer data is involved.
Over time, shadow IT can lead to data leaks, misconfigurations, inconsistent workflows, and increased security incidents. It also makes it harder for IT teams to enforce policies, respond to threats, or maintain a clear view of the organization’s technology landscape.
In the short term, shadow IT may help employees solve problems faster, work around a missing feature, or experiment with new ideas or tools before they are officially adopted by the IT department. However, these situations usually highlight unmet needs rather than advantages.
The goal is to identify where shadow IT exists, understand why it’s being used, and bring those needs into a secure, approved environment.
Agnė Srėbaliūtė
Senior Creative Copywriter
Agne is a writer with over 15 years of experience in PR, SEO, and creative writing. With a love for playing with words and meanings, she crafts content that’s clear and distinctive. Agne balances her passion for language and tech with hiking adventures in nature—a space that recharges her.
Subscribe to our blog updates for in-depth perspectives on cybersecurity.
