Companies are getting shadow IT under control more and more.

Companies are increasingly working to tackle shadow IT, according to research by Duo Security, which is part of Cisco. The average number of organizations that protect cloud apps with their services has increased by 189 percent compared to a year ago.

Shadow IT uses public cloud services without the knowledge of an organization’s IT department. For example, an employee uses a public cloud service that has not been approved by the organisation to store documents so that he can continue to work on them at home.

Not only are cloud apps now better and more often protected, but the use of obsolete devices is also decreasing. As a result, companies are better protected against malware, writes ITProPortal.

Duo Security further states that half of all requests for access to protected apps came from outside the company’s walls. That’s a possible risk of attack.

Take back control

For years, security teams have had little visibility into the cloud applications accessible to users and the personal devices they use, says Wendy Nather, Head of Advisory CISOs at Duo Security.

The findings in this report show that security leaders are taking back control of these apps and devices, thanks to a zero-trust approach to security. In many cases, this approach even allows organisations to adapt quickly to imminent dangers.

Shadow IT great danger

Only two years ago, Shadow IT was considered to be a great danger by several companies. For example, in an Intel survey in 2017, 65 percent of IT professionals said Shadow IT was a major threat to the security of cloud services.

This is a major risk for companies. If they don’t have full transparency about how cloud providers are used, they run the risk of unauthorized access to data, improper handling and storage of data, and erroneous deletion of data. This while more and more data is stored in the cloud.