Shadow IT—unauthorized applications such as Dropbox or Whatsapp that are used in offices to help workers better collaborate and work—poses an existential threat to an organization’s cybersecurity efforts. Employee use of these applications can blur the line between personal and professional technology uses and increase the chances cybercriminals will access an organization’s networks through exploiting and hacking their employees.
But shadow IT is not solely a security shortcoming that needs to be secured. It is also one of clearest signs that an organization is failing to support or allow open communication and collaboration between its IT department and other in-house teams. Such interaction is an essential, but often forgotten, competent of any organization’s cybersecurity efforts.
