Shadow IT results from pressure faced by companies to increase productivity and quickly respond to customers’ needs. This is beneficial in the short term but decentralizes technology, creating a gap between business and IT departments. This can lead to a multitude of cybersecurity risks.

This article by Steve Cobb discusses how shadow IT can lead to cybersecurity risks and put company data at high stakes. Shadow IT has become a more pervasive problem since the pandemic as people worked remotely. The most significant cybersecurity risks are:

1. Holes in security:

Different departments' usage of various SaaS tools makes it harder for the IT teams to monitor the security environment, thus making it easier for threat actors to access critical information.

 2. Low visibility:

Shadow IT makes it impossible to detect any threats because employees use personal devices, software, and services that IT departments cannot see.

3. Increased possibility of data loss:

Employees who use personal devices and company data are usually stored on their software rather than the company’s software, which leads to data loss and unprotected information.

4. Compliance issue:

Shadow IT creates heavy data flow that can lead to a compliance issue. Unapproved software can also lead to potentially hefty fines.

5. Disrupted workflow:

When employees use different SaaS tools, it becomes difficult to collaborate with other departments when they all use various tools for the same purpose.

Click here to gain more insight into the cybersecurity risks posed by shadow IT.

This article by David Wilkinson talks about the potential threat you can face while sharing your data with partners. Exchanging data is the riskiest part of data activities. Things to look out for before sharing your data are:

1. Privacy:

Some vendors suggest that data use agreements offer full disclosure of data, but without proper technical safeguards, there is no assurity of privacy. To overcome this,
companies should use privacy-enhancing technologies (PETS) to gain insight into their data without breaching privacy.

2. Identity:

Companies build different data models and disparate customer information for data privacy. Therefore, using data exchanging tools is essential to build a robust identity framework. In addition, identity resolution is necessary to get the most out of shared data.

3. Cost:

Instead of sharing data monthly, weekly, or even every day, which would be expensive, companies need to look for vendors that offer federation analytics options. SQL queries and machine learning could occur using this federation analytics without centralizing data.

4. Vendor lock-in:

IT leaders should take assistance from a third-party Saas management vendor to provide data translation and connectivity across clouds instead of downplaying the inevitability of multi-cloud markets.

5. Long time-to-value:

Look for vendors who would abstract away complexity and provide legal, data ethics, and infrastructure expertise. Their primary focus should be on data privacy. 

To have an in-depth read on the five risks of sharing data, click here.

Job dynamics, challenging jobs, worker mobility, hybrid workforce, and un-stereotypical career paths are the recent trends shaping tech labor dynamics in 2022. With the growth rates of tech companies’ adaptation of a diverse and dynamic workplace is significant.

Tech occupations are in high demand and will only grow going forward. Robert Terres has combined the top five tech workforce trends that will help boost tech businesses.  

1. Jobs are becoming dynamic:

Recent requirements of the tech companies have boomed the employment rates. As jobs become more dynamic, one primary strategy is to reskill existing employees and build their profiles.

2. Jobs that are challenging:

Top tech employees need to constantly feel like they're engaging their minds and continually staying sharp. To do so, employees look for jobs that challenge them to keep them on their feet and keep them motivated.

3. Increased worker mobility:

The growth in tech companies is likely to attract the talent market. Nearly half of tech

professionals are looking for new employment opportunities, focusing on workers who are actively looking for jobs and those open to considering new options.

4. Hybrid workforce is the new trend:

During the pandemic, many companies had one thing in common: working in a hybrid environment, which expanded the talent search for companies. But, on the other hand, remote hiring restricts suitable employees around the world.

5.New generation, new career paths:

With the growing trends, recruiters also search for something un-stereotypical rather than employee profiles. In the current onboarding process, recruiters look for employees with unique and non-traditional career paths.

Click here to have an in-depth read about the latest trends at tech workforces in 2022.

CIOs fail to support the growing trends and demands of hybrid work as it requires suitable investments, a new mindset, and widespread cultural changes.

In this article by Stephanie Overby, she talks about the post-pandemic era of work-from-anywhere, how CIOs fail to keep up with these trends, and how employees expect more flexibility and ability to work remotely. She also lists how IT companies struggle to support a hybrid work environment. Here are a few of them.

1. Continuing to follow the pandemic style of work environment rather than evolving with the post-pandemic hybrid style of the work environment. Bob Lamendola points out how IT companies had to acquire work from home during the pandemic actively. Still, in this era, companies should focus on maintaining the work from home and remote work style of the work environment.

2. Securing adequate investment from senior business leaders could be challenging as they first have to accept that a hybrid work environment is a new trend.

3. Remote connectivity is one of the most significant employee experience imbalances in the hybrid workplace, overlooking technology imbalance.

4. When cultural norms are not addressed in a hybrid workplace, it can cause failure.

5. The hybrid era requires IT companies to be nimble. Unfortunately, many IT companies fail to be quick and adaptive, leading to the failure to support a hybrid workplace.

6. Technology alone is not the solution for all difficulties; CIOs must partner with the HR department for a successful hybrid workforce.

7.  Unable to keep up with the pace of change can become challenging for CIOs to have an efficient hybrid workplace.

8. Not having enough employee engagement can lead to the failure of the entire company. Upchurch says that to have an efficient work environment, employees should be heard and understand what additional resources might be necessary.

9. Retention of IT is critical for motivating and supporting IT techs. But, according to Avanade’s White, you can’t drive a differentiated experience unless you deal with it the old-fashioned way.

Click here to give a full read to understand how CIOs may fail to support the hybrid style of the work environment. 

Technology investments often play a vital role in the success of a company. However, it is up to the vendor management team to support their CIO and help make sure the digital transformation vision is implemented. Gordon Wong and Nikhil Pujari have written on three strategies that can help CIOs improve vendor management. 

• Utilizing automation can free up vendor management bandwidth and capacity.

• Bots are designed to assist in data management by collecting vendor data from various legal and contractual forms then combining it into a central database. This database can then generate reports based on the data.

• It would be worthwhile for CIOs to consider enabling vendors to generate service reports for them. The vendor relationship manager will then be free to provide higher-level services.

• Encouraging vendors to suggest future technologies can unlock a massive opportunity for both parties. In addition, this gap may represent a considerable opportunity to actively engage with vendors on strategic projects which will drive future value.

• The vendor management team can focus on their product and build new capabilities which will help them succeed faster.

• Teams need to use the latest data and metrics to calculate vendor ROI 

• Building new capabilities in compliance and proactive risk management would be valuable. How can contractual obligations like cybersecurity requirements or innovation clauses be monitored better?

You can read the full article here.

The beginning of the year is when the whole world comes together with a new set of priorities. An IT leader's time is limited, and the requirement to prioritize high-priority issues from all the other things that clutter your day is a balancing act. John Edwards, a writer for CIO.com, has emphasized the top 8 priorities for CIOs in 2022 based on the thoughts from CIOs worldwide.

This is what he has written:

• CIOs need to cooperate with their fellow CISOs and other IT leaders to tackle the cybersecurity talent shortage. They should make developing and training a deep talent pool their top priority for 2022.

• Manual processes should be automated and digitalized.

• To build a thriving organizational culture, CIOs in 2022 should use automation to empower staff and create more efficient workflows.

• Committing to sustainability by developing strategies to save electricity, consume energy, and achieve carbon neutrality.

• CIOs should evaluate and integrate new cloud technologies.

• Business leaders need to take privacy seriously to protect the data of their employees, clients, and other business associates.

• As healthcare organizations continue to warn of new and existing virus variants, CIOs should ensure the safety of work-from-home and onsite employees.

You can read the full article here.

Though the pandemic has started to subside slowly, companies are still reluctant to open up their office with a 100% workforce. They are either functioning with a complete remote or hybrid model. So, SaaS has still not lost its prominence and is playing a vital role in the day-to-day functioning of companies. With SaaS adoption increasing, there is a fear of SaaS sprawl that is also seen among IT leaders. That is when the SaaS Management Platform comes into the picture. Manually handling so many apps can be extremely taxing and time-consuming and cause errors. SaaS Management Platforms automate the whole process giving you complete visibility on the apps present in your SaaS landscape. Everything is presented to you in a single centralized dashboard, from usage stats to spend.

With many SMPs in the market, Keith Shaw, contributing writer to Computerworld, has written on how to choose the right SaaS management platform.

Here is what he has written:

• Line-of-business managers, small teams, and individual employees can quickly and effortlessly adopt SaaS applications, which has led to a proliferation of SaaS apps.

• App redundancies have increased as different departments sign up for the same apps without knowing they already exist.

• With its numbers increasing, IT cannot have a note of its compliance, usage, and value to the organization.

• SaaS Management Tools or SMPs help companies tackle these issues.

• They thrive as a source of truth for all SaaS-related transactions, usage, spending, etc.

• Now SaaS management companies have started giving additional features, such as application security, vendor management, cost optimization, and onboarding/offboarding configuration for employees.

• Many vendors now even provide SaaS app recommendation services.

Experts say organizations should consider SaaS management software

• If they find a surge in subscription expenses

• If multiple departments start buying the same software 

• If the security folks express concern over whether the apps that are used are secure and compliant with regulations,

• If Managing software purchases in a spreadsheet is becoming tiring

The Key SaaS Management Platform features to look out for are

• Automated app discovery

• Managing and automating the recurring administration functions

• Enforcing app and data security policies

• Provide role-based access controls

• Create a catalog of approved apps

• Monitor employee wise SaaS usage and adoption

• Direct integrations with apps for accurate usage stats

• Identity and access management\

• SaaS app recommendation services

You can read the full article here.

According to a survey, 29% of SaaS spending is either unutilized or wasted. With companies spending most of their budget on software solutions to enhance their day-to-day workflows, this kind of wastage can create a significant impact on SaaS budgets. Roberto Torres has written an article for CIODive on how companies can save themselves from SaaS spend wastage. 

Here is what he has written:

• As businesses rely more on digital tools, software use "is growing even faster and more dynamically.

• Companies frequently grapple with cost drain from mismatched SaaS spending. And total waste is probably larger than what they estimate.

• Software sprawl across the organization is a problem, and SaaS spend can get complicated with so many parties.

• More than one-quarter of companies expect the number of people involved in software purchasing decisions to increase in 2022.

• Proper planning can help companies from overspending.

• Organizations with top digital performance reap benefits from higher technology spend, including cutting back on general and administrative costs.

• When it comes to employee experience, there are various factors to take into account. One of the main priorities for younger generations of employees is which tool they use. It's essential to make sure that you're providing the necessary features and functionality.

You can read the full article here.

Though Shadow IT is a global issue for almost all sectors, finance will be the most affected due to the sensitive information it holds about individuals. With growing concern for Shadow IT already on the rise, specific SaaS governance measures must be followed by the IT, or else the business can face severe consequences. Ben Bulpett has written about these consequences and how the financial sector can safeguard against these in an article for InternationalBanker.com.

Here is what he has written:

• Recent research has found 3 to 4 times more SaaS apps in use at a company than the IT department is aware of, on average.

• This problem has been exacerbated by the shift to working from home and the new hybrid workforce, with employees working outside the purview of the IT team. 

• Though all companies face the issue of Shadow IT, financial services are the ones at higher risk due to the amount of sensitive data the industry holds on individuals.

• One minor security lapse, like an app going unnoticed for a long time and then becoming unprotected, is enough to lure hackers in.

• Not only could it be hugely damaging to banks’ reputations, but it could also bring heavy financial losses to those in the industry.

• Shadow IT may be costing organizations as much as $350,000 per year in breach-related risk costs.

• With the spreadsheet approach for managing the SaaS stack, you never know when another application is added. Therefore, it is time-consuming and can go inaccurate. 

• A finance director sharing a root level folder with an outside party can expose a lot of critical information like financial statements, salaries, profit and loss statements, and much more. 

• Overcoming Shadow, IT requires organizations to shine a light directly on their SaaS access risk. Technology such as identity security can achieve that by identifying ungoverned SaaS apps and then extending the right security controls to ensure only the right people have access to those apps.

• Deeper visibility into the full scope of ungoverned SaaS applications means identifying vulnerabilities and keeping the perimeters protected from hackers.

You can read the full article here.

Though the threat of Covid may have subsided, the idea of remote working is here to stay. Employees have been reported to have success with remote work environments, and productivity levels are generally higher. Unfortunately, the rise in remote work has also led to an increase in cybercrimes. Rob Rattray writes on CRN about the changes that need to be done in security strategies to fit in the remote and hybrid workspace.

This is what he has written:

• A recent survey conducted by Capterra has shown that 38% of employees are just as productive at home, with 44% saying they are even more effective than they are in the office. But the remote workforce also raises new security challenges. 

• Despite the positives of cloud –– more secure, more flexible, and more cost-effective in the long run, 75 percent of IT professionals agree that it has a darker side as well when it comes to security.

• Implementing cloud-first and hybrid-cloud strategies is a way to strengthen security in a remote workforce.

• It is critical to have a good edge security posture and to be vigilant with maintaining that security.

• Security-focused features such as malware prevention, data encryption by default, two-factor authentication, and VPN access should be implemented.

• Though BYOD policies are popular in the workplace, due to the relative cost savings, compromised employee devices can cost you heavily in the long run if security is not implemented correctly.

• The fundamentals of IT security in a remote work environment are cloud-first architecture, managed networks, secure device usage backed by access management techniques, and enterprise-grade security systems.

• Educating your team on new protocols, systems, and security implications is the essential tool in your Cybersecurity arsenal. You'll need to update your current security training materials to reflect a remote-first strategy.

What We Think

CIOs must find the right balance between giving employees enough freedom to choose the tools they work with and ensuring that what is being purchased doesn’t affect their security. Therefore, they must research and invest in tools that allow them to find this sweet spot, something that can discover and manage the software ecosystem irrespective of who has purchased the software and what device it’s being used on.

You can read the full article here.

According to a study by ManageEngine's 2021 Digital Readiness Survey, the remote work and hybrid workforce due to the pandemic have made businesses reevaluate their security practices. R Dallon Adams has written about how the U.S. is handling the situation in an article for TechRepublic. 

This is what he has written:

• 81% of U.S. IT leaders say that remote work due to the pandemic has increased their security challenge.

• 97% of stateside companies have taken relevant security actions due to employees working from home. 

• The security strategies that are implemented to protect data include "raising awareness among employees(77%), employee cybersecurity training (68%), "monitoring employee devices (47%). 

• The top security threats in the U.S. are phishing (62%), endpoint network attacks (49%), and malware (39%).

• (96%) said they were planning to "stick with remote work for at least the next two years.

• U.S. has excelled in limiting shadow IT" based on all app purchases requiring IT approval (33%).

• In contrast, two-thirds of North American companies failed to have visibility over their company's SaaS stack.

You can read the full article here. In addition, the full report can be found here.

The emergence of SaaS has shifted from the traditional software buying, which was done by IT. Now anyone in an organization can sign up for SaaS applications. An unmonitored SaaS library can push a company into the trap of SaaS sprawl. That too, after the pandemic, remote work culture has contributed majorly to this ongoing SaaS sprawl crisis, with enterprise being the most affected victims. Roberto Torres has written about the same in his article for CIODive.

Here is what he has written:

• An analysis found that most departments are using between 40 and 60 different applications. Industry-wide, departments are using, on average, around 200 other apps. Security, engineering, and IT departments are using the most apps.

• Applications bought and managed by departments enjoy higher average engagement rates than apps provisioned directly by IT departments.

• When a company invests in a SaaS product outside of IT, they're expanding their security risk surface and massive impact on the business budget.

• Three-quarters of IT leaders say security is their top concern regarding SaaS sprawl, according to a survey published by Zluri and Pulse. 

• Companies with most SaaS tools outside of IT control have to deal with unregulated SaaS budgets and higher ownership costs due to missed renewals.

• Business users who have trouble with backlogs in their technology projects often turn to deploy solutions without IT oversight. Rather than wait for in-house applications to be ready for use already, they will often pull off-the-shelf software available to them that is quicker to deploy.

• To combat SaaS sprawl, the first step is to audit every app used across the company. Then, once you know what's used and who uses it, evaluate your costs and behaviors.

You can read the full article here

Chief information officers have long been the gatekeepers to enterprise technology revenue. However, as the role of the chief information officer is expanding and as there has been an explosion of software applications that they need to navigate, their responsibilities have changed. Joe Williams writes for Protocol about what CIOs feel about handing over the tech stack decision-making to the other IT leaders. 

• Years back, when software meant just on-prem, vendors from SAP and Oracle used to spend weeks convincing CIOs to purchase their contracts. 

• Now providers are increasingly targeting non-technical roles with solutions. A new trend is reaching out to the line of business leaders and other lower-level staff instead of the traditional tech decision-makers

• This has become the starting point for shadow IT feel many CIOs

• 27% in leadership positions for IT say that their company relies on traditional IT now to become a data-driven enterprise. Over the next five years, they are expected to diminish this number by 17%.

• The proliferation of SaaS is the best example of this shift. Vendors are increasingly successful in building products designed for specific industries or job tasks and then expanding to other departments.

• But it's also posing a quandary for CIOs who are grappling with how much buying power to delegate outside their immediate purview.

• Employees outside of IT have become more knowledgeable on the subject of technology, which is a reflection of the increase in the number of applications across job functions and the various education initiatives.

• Businesses understand the need for better communication between systems, so the rise of Shadow IT has become more relevant.

• Some organizations have reacted to the excessive use of shadow IT by reorganizing the company chart and promoting closer collaboration between top technologists and other business unit leaders.

• It's clear some CIOs are trying to embrace shadow IT, and some IT managers are trying to block access to a shadow IT system. Unfortunately, this means vendors will need to train sales reps on both scenarios.

What We Think

CIOs should implement a SaaS governance policy in their organizations. This will help CIOs and business unit leaders to work together through the software’s lifecycle right from procurement to termination.

You can read the full article here.

As more employees still work from home, the technical skills gaps among employees have grown, according to a survey by Pluralsight that surveyed more than 600 technology executives and practitioners. In addition, four in 10 found that the gap has widened in cybersecurity and cloud computing. Katie Melone writes about the same for CIO Dive.

Here is what she has written:

• The skills gap is a growing issue. One of the options that enterprises have is hiring skilled people or upskilling their current employees, but in this tight labor market, upskilling is more appealing.

• But upskilling challenges leadership. Workers say being too busy, budget constraints, and a distracting environment impede efforts to grow their skills.

• Many employers invest in upskilling tools to make the learning process easier for their employees, but these tools are not always used. While 62% of organizations provide their employees with online opportunities to improve their skills, only half of them have used the device in the last 12 months.

• One of the ways a company can overcome a skills gap is by retraining its existing employees on business-critical skills. 

• Cloud giants, such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft, offer free cloud training and certification programs to help businesses get workers up to speed on the latest skills.

You can read the full article here.

The sentiment that 'you should spend more to save more' might be true for certain things like couponing or retail discounts, but it can't be applied to investments in technology. Katie Malone has written on CIO Dive about how CIOs around the world are seeing tech investments. 

This is what she has written:

• The success of IT investments relies on close communication with other stakeholders and tying the investment to the business outcomes. Therefore, IT leaders should focus more on business effectiveness than just cost savings to grasp the full potential of new technologies.

• Businesses utilizing IT investments usually start by looking at quick-return opportunities, which create a self-funding solution. Unfortunately, this means that the savings trickle in over time and require upfront spending.

• If you're interested in streamlining your process, you should start by identifying manual hand-offs in the workflow and automating them.

• The process of investments in technology leading to cost-savings overtime isn't always linear. Many factors could affect savings.

• For example, automation might not take away an integral part of the company but improve efficiency or productivity instead.

• Focus on effectiveness, and you'll see that you're able to invest in better technologies.

What We Think

Although ROI plays an important role in all tech decisions, CIOs must look beyond costs for a few initiatives like security. For example, technologies implemented to enhance the security of an organization might not show immediate cost returns. But, not having them in place might prove to be catastrophic in the long run in case of a cybersecurity attack.

You can read the full article here.

A recent report published by Gartner says the usage of Collaboration tools in enterprises has grown 44% since 2019. Gartner predicts that by 2021, one-third of enterprise meetings will take place in person. The decline was driven by the rise of collaboration tools and the incentivization of stay-at-home orders.  Enterprise tool choice can influence operations. From security to transformation, a company's ability to collaborate impacts performance.  Roberto Torres writes about the impact it is creating on IT. 

This is what he has written:

• For technology executives, increased adoption moved collaboration solutions to a more central location in the tech stack. 

• As these software applications become more interlinked and interoperable, some form of a cross-functional team will be needed. This will be for governance and administration as well as other parts of a business.

• The fact that applications such as collaboration or email are mostly cloud-based has shifted how those applications are managed.

• It doesn't mean companies don't need to manage those applications; it's just that how they were managing it earlier has changed to a more self-sustained, automation-driven way of working.

• But with the need for more IT support, some vendors are now providing training for admins. Slack, for example, started a certification program in July 2020 and has certified over 500 administrators.

• Suppose organizations have platform-specific IT professionals with a close working relationship in the future. In that case, all IT professionals will be working a lot closer to their colleagues who provide other services.

What We Think

As people use more and more softwares and as they become more complicated, many more organizations will start offering courses and other additional IT help to help customers feel at ease with the software.

You can read the full article here.

According to an ISACA survey, security teams report directly to the CISO in half (48%) of organizations, whereas 25% report to the CIO, followed by 12% that report to the CEO. However, the survey indicated that security teams reporting directly to the CISO might have some business-oriented benefits instead of the CIO. Samantha Schwartz has written on CIODive about the benefits of reporting directly to CISO.

Here is what she has written:

• Once a CISO is at the top of the security reporting structure, they'll have more executive buy-in for risk assessments and cybersecurity-business goals alignment. 

• CISOs need to articulate the connection between cybersecurity strategy and business strategy, and CIOs need to be able to do the same with cybersecurity and business goals.

• Over the years, the CISO title has become more prevalent in response to high-profile cyber incidents.

• Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that by 2021, 100% of Fortune 500 companies would have a CISO-equivalent role. However, the report also believes many of the roles will go unfilled due to finding qualified candidates.

• However, despite the CISO role meaning different things for different companies, responsibilities are not confined to these categories. They also cover governance, privacy, risk, emerging technologies, and disaster recovery.

What We Think?

Security works best when the top brass inculcates a collaborative atmosphere. Although the CISO is likely to be involved with security more, there shouldn't be a disconnect between them and the CIOs.

You can read the full article here.

Though 2020 struck the world into the four walls, it was an astounding year for SaaS companies. There were 25 top SaaS unicorns compared to just 10 in the previous year. Sean Cantwell has written about a couple of predictions for 2021, and here is what he says.

• We'll likely continue to see investors bullish about companies in the space since the Fed has initiated a long-term low rate policy. Moreover, such high stock prices will embolden private equity investors.

• Low-code development is changing enterprise development strategies- enterprises can take over four years to deploy projects. Four years is an eternity in the world of technology, and the future may look unrecognized by technology. Industry-leading low-code platforms have shown a dramatic rise in recent years, and it is a trend that will continue; many industry competitors will want to adopt these new tools.

• More and more vendors are making integration easier with the help of automated APIs, which should lead to an increase in marketplaces.

You can read the full article here.

Cloud adoption and the influence of AI have made a strong impact on the growth of software. Gartner has already predicted that nearly $600 billion will be spent on enterprise software this year. In addition, Roberto Torres has written about how the software revolution is taking place quickly in an article for CIOdive. 

Here is what he has written:

• In 2011, when investor and entrepreneur Andreessen first published his op-ed, Gartner estimated total enterprise software spend worldwide at just $269 billion, a growth spurt of 123%.

• This is why it's becoming more and more important for organizations to start thinking about their software strategy. If they don't have one, they won't be able to compete in the future.

• The software is now ubiquitous, finding its way into every company's operations, products, and services. No longer a cost center, it can deliver productivity and innovation.

• Through development tools, the software will be more accessible to everyone, and in many cases, the current baseline of knowledge will be a necessary skill set for many jobs.

• Small businesses can create their own software platforms and then sell them to other companies. This can help them generate a new revenue stream that would be otherwise unattainable.

What We Think?

These days, having the right software stack is almost as important as having the right people in your organization and can be a make or break in its success and sustainability.

You can read the full article here.

The report comes as a wake-up call to CIOs and CISOs, highlighting the significant threat of unchecked and unmanaged data that SaaS providers can access and how it is often underestimated. Duncan Riley elaborates on the report for Siliconangle.

This is what he has written.

• The recent study was derived from an average 1000-person company with data stores of between 500,000 and 10 million assets in SaaS applications made the following conclusion: Companies enabling public sharing may have up to 200,000 of these assets shared publicly.

• Insider threats are a large concern, with an average of 400 encryption keys shared internally to anyone with a link. A fifth of SaaS assets was found to be shared internally with a link, exposing many employees to data points they are not authorized to consume

• Some 8% of employees share assets from their corporation with their personal accounts, exposing many former employees to ongoing company data.

• With external threats, between 1,000 and 15,000 external collaborators, including vendors, contractors, customers, partners, prospects, media, and analysts, were found to have access to company data.

• Though SaaS apps have been designed to promote collaboration, it also surrounds the ever-growing potential dangers in accessing unmanageably large amounts of data; This also presents increased complexity for security teams, who must now pay attention to ongoing data access at scale.

What Zluri Thinks?

SaaS adoption mustn't stop with its implementation. No SaaS vendor will openly accept the access level they have got with your data. That's why IT leaders need to prioritize the relevancy of data access internally and externally. In addition, they need to have automated tools that give timely alerts when critical data is shared in an application, if anyone outside the organization has unauthorized access and if an application doesn’t have the relevant certifications.

You can read the full article here.