The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) released its official guidance on ‘shadow IT’ on July 27, 2023. Commonly referred to within corporate and IT circles, ‘shadow IT’ denotes unidentified assets utilized within an organization for business-related purposes, inclusive of specific cloud technologies. These assets often operate outside the purview of corporate asset management, detached from IT processes and protocols, and amounting to a shadowy presence within an organization’s IT ecosystem.
The recent guidance introduced by NCSC seeks to enlighten organizations on these concealed assets, encouraging strategies to discover and effectively manage such elements, thereby integrating them into established IT policies and procedures.
Such assets possess the potential for both opportunities and vulnerabilities, primarily that their unrecognized status can often lead to benign neglect, resulting in potential security risks. Acknowledging their existence and the potential gaps they may create within an organizational structure is crucial in protecting against possible threats. By maintaining appropriate situational awareness, organizations can mitigate the risks linked to shadow IT, safeguarding the integrity of their infrastructure, data, and overall operations.
Hence, this guidance is seen as a directional beam within the cluttered and complex world of IT resource management, helping organizations recognize, address, and appropriately manage these concealed assets, ultimately contributing to a more robust and secure IT environment.