SHADOW IT:
How Employees Using Unauthorized Apps Could Be Putting Your Business At Risk
Youremployeesmightbethebiggest cybersecurityriskinyourbusiness–andnot justbecausethey’repronetoclickphishing e-mailsorreusepasswords.It’sbecause they’reusingappsyourITteamdoesn’teven knowabout.
ThisiscalledShadowIT,andit’soneofthe fastest-growingsecurityrisksforbusinesses today.Employeesdownloadanduse unauthorizedapps,softwareandcloudservices –oftenwithgoodintentions–butinreality they’recreatingmassivesecurity vulnerabilitieswithoutevenrealizingit.
What Is Shadow IT?
ShadowITreferstoanytechnologyused withinabusinessthathasn’tbeenapproved, vettedorsecuredbytheITdepartment.Itcan includethingslike:
Employeesusing personal Google
Drives or Dropbox accounts tostore andshareworkdocuments.
Teamssigningupfor unapproved project management tools likeTrello, AsanaorSlackwithoutIToversight.
Workersinstalling messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram oncompany devicestocommunicateoutsideof officialchannels.
Marketingteamsusing AI content generators orautomationtoolswithout verifyingtheirsecurity.
Why Is Shadow IT So Dangerous?
BecauseITteamshavenovisibilityorcontrol overthesetools,theycan’tsecurethem–whichmeansbusinessesareexposedtoall kindsofthreats.
Unsecured Data-Sharing –Employees usingpersonalcloudstorage,e-mail accountsormessagingappscan accidentallyleaksensitivecompany information,makingiteasierfor cybercriminalstointercept.
No Security Updates –ITdepartments regularlyupdateapprovedsoftwareto patchvulnerabilities,butunauthorized appsoftengounchecked,leavingsystems opentohackers.
Compliance Violations –Ifyour businessfallsunderregulationslike HIPAA,GDPRorPCI-DSS,using unapprovedappscanleadto noncompliance,finesandlegaltrouble.
Increased Phishing And Malware Risks –Employeesmightunknowingly downloadmaliciousappsthatappear legitimatebutcontainmalware orransomware.
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Account Hijacking –Usingunauthorized toolswithoutmultifactorauthentication (MFA)canexposeemployeecredentials, allowinghackerstogainaccessto companysystems.
Why Do Employees Use Shadow IT?
Mostofthetime,it’snotmalicious.Take,for example,the“Vapor”appscandal,anextensive adfraudschemerecentlyuncoveredbysecurity researchersIASThreatLabs.
InMarch,over300maliciousapplications werediscoveredontheGooglePlayStore, collectivelydownloadedmorethan60million times.Theseappsdisguisedthemselvesas utilitiesandhealthandlifestyletoolsbut weredesignedtodisplayintrusiveadsand, insomecases,phishforusercredentialsand creditcardinformation.Onceinstalled,they hidtheiriconsandbombardeduserswith full-screenads,renderingdevicesnearly inoperative.Thisincidenthighlightshoweasily unauthorizedappscaninfiltratedevicesand compromisesecurity.
Butemployeescanalsouseunauthorized appsbecause:
Theyfindcompany-approvedtools frustratingoroutdated.
Theywanttoworkfasterandmore efficiently
Theydon’trealizethesecurityrisks involved
TheythinkITapprovaltakestoolong–so theytakeshortcuts.
Unfortunately,theseshortcutscancostyour businessBIGwhenadatabreachhappens.
HowToStopShadowITBeforeIt HurtsYourBusiness
Youcan’tstopwhatyoucan’tsee,sotackling ShadowITrequiresaproactiveapproach
Here’showtogetstarted:
1.CreateAnApprovedSoftwareList
WorkwithyourITteamtoestablishalistof trusted,secureapplicationsemployeescanuse Makesurethislistisregularlyupdatedwith new,approvedtools
2.RestrictUnauthorizedApp Downloads
Setupdevicepoliciesthatpreventemployees frominstallingunapprovedsoftwareon companydevices.Iftheyneedatool,they shouldrequestITapprovalfirst
3.EducateEmployeesAboutTheRisks
EmployeesneedtounderstandthatShadowIT isn’tjustaproductivityshortcut–it’sasecurity riskRegularlytrainyourteamonwhy unauthorizedappscanputthebusinessatrisk.
4.MonitorNetworkTrafficFor UnapprovedApps
ITteamsshouldusenetwork-monitoringtools todetectunauthorizedsoftwareuseandflag potentialsecuritythreatsbeforetheybecomea problem.
5.ImplementStrongEndpointSecurity
Useendpointdetectionandresponse(EDR) solutionstotracksoftwareusage,prevent unauthorizedaccessanddetectanysuspicious activityinrealtime
Don’tLetShadowITBecomeA
SecurityNightmare
ThebestwaytofightShadowITistoget aheadofitbeforeitleadstoadatabreachor compliancedisaster
Wanttoknowwhatunauthorizedappsyour employeesareusingrightnow?Startwitha NetworkSecurityAssessmenttoidentify vulnerabilities,flagsecurityrisksandhelpyou lockdownyourbusinessbeforeit’stoolate.
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The Biggest Entrepreneurial Challenge: Delegation
Learninghowtostepaway—andgetoutof yourownway—isoneofthebiggestlessons manyentrepreneursmustlearn.Whenyou startabusiness,you’rerunningeverything. You’rewearingallthehats.However,inorder togrow,youhavetofacethefactthatthere’s onlysomuchtimeinaday.Yousimplydon’t havetimetoworkinthetrenchesandscale thebusiness.
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Thereareafewfactorsthatarekeytoa healthycompanyculture.Anopenlineof communicationisoneofthebiggest. Listeningtowhatyourteamneeds—evenif it’sunconventional—andgivingitafairshot
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IS YOUR PRINTER THE BIGGEST SECURITY THREAT IN YOUR OFFICE?
IfIaskedyoutonamethebiggestcybersecurity threatsinyouroffice,you’dprobablysay phishinge-mails,malwareorweakpasswords. ButwhatifItoldyouthatyourofficeprinter–yes,theonequietlyhumminginthecorner–couldbeoneofthebiggestvulnerabilitiesin yourentirenetwork?
Itsoundsridiculous,buthackersloveprinters. Andmostbusinessesdon’trealizejusthowmuch ofasecurityrisktheypose–untilit’stoolate.In 2020,Cybernewsranwhattheycalledthe “PrinterHackExperiment.”Outofasampleof 50,000devices,theysuccessfullycompromised 56%oftheprinters,directingthemtoprintouta sheetonprintersecurity.That’snearly28,000 compromiseddevices–allbecausebusinesses overlookedthis“harmless”pieceofoffice equipment.
Wait, WHY Target Printers?
Becauseprintersareagoldmineofsensitivedata. Theyprocesseverythingfrompayrolldocuments andcontractstoconfidentialclientinformation. Andyet,mostbusinessesleavethemwide-open toattack.
Here’swhatcanhappenwhenahackergains accesstoyourprinter:
Printers store sensitive data –Everytime youprint,scanorcopyadocument,your printerkeepsadigitalcopy.Manyprinters havebuilt-inharddrivesthatstoreyears’ worthofdocuments,includingpayrollfiles, contractsandemployeerecords.Ifahacker gainsaccess,theycanstealorevenreprint thosefileswithoutyourknowledge.
Default passwords are a hacker’s dream –Mostprinterscomewithdefaultadmin loginslike“admin/admin”or“123456.” Manybusinessesneverchangethem,making iteasyforcybercriminalstotakecontrol.
They’re an open door to your network –PrintersareconnectedtoyourWiFiand companynetwork.Ifcompromised,they canbeusedasanentrypointtoinstall malwareorransomware,orstealdatafrom otherdevices.
Print jobs can be intercepted –Ifyour printjobsaren’tencrypted,hackerscan interceptdocumentsbeforetheyevenreach theprinter.Thatmeansconfidential contracts,legaldocumentsandevenmedical recordscouldbeexposed.
They can spy on your business –Many modernprintershavebuilt-instorageand evenscan-to-e-mailfeatures.Ifahacker compromisesyourdevice,theycanremotely accessscanneddocuments,e-mailsand storedfiles.
Outdated firmware leaves the door wideopen –Likeanydevice,printersneed securityupdates.Butmostbusinessesnever updatetheirprinters’firmware,leavingthem vulnerabletoknownexploitations.
Data mining from discarded printers –Printersthatwereimproperlydisposedofcan beagoldmineforcybercriminals.Residual datastoredondiscardedprinterscanbe minedforsensitiveinformation!Thiscan resultinpotentialsecuritybreaches.Printers needtohavetheirstoragewipedcleanto avoidbeingvulnerabletodatabreachesand legalliabilities.
How To Protect Your Printers From Hackers
Nowthatyouknowprinterscanbehacked, here’swhatyouneedtodoimmediately:
1. Change The Default Password –Ifyour printerstillhasthedefaultlogincredentials,
changethemimmediately.Useastrong,unique passwordlikeyouwouldforyoure-mailorbank account.
2. Update Your Printer’s Firmware –Manufacturersreleasesecuritypatchesfora reason.Logintoyourprintersettingsandcheck forupdatesorhaveyourITteamdothisforyou.
3.EncryptPrintJobs–EnableSecurePrintand end-to-endencryptiontopreventhackersfrom interceptingprintjobs.
4. Restrict Who Can Print –Useaccess controlssoonlyauthorizedemployeescansend printjobs.IfyourprintersupportsPINcodes, requirethemforsensitiveprintjobs.Youcan alsoaddaguestoption.
5. Regularly Clear Stored Data –Someprinters letyoumanuallydeletestoredprintjobs.Ifyours hasaharddrive,makesureit’sencrypted,andif youreplaceaprinter,wipeordestroythehard drivebeforedisposal.
6. Put Your Printer Behind A Firewall –Just likecomputers,printersshouldbeprotectedbya firewalltopreventunauthorizedaccess.
7. Monitor Printer Activity –IfyourITteam isn’talreadytrackingprinterlogs,nowisthe timetostart.Unusualprintactivity,remote accessattemptsorunauthorizedusersprinting sensitivedocumentsshouldberedflags.
Printers Aren’t Just Office Equipment – They’re Security Risks
Mostbusinessesdon’ttakeprintersecurity seriouslybecause,well,it’saprinter.But cybercriminalsknowthatbusinessesoverlook thesedevices,makingthemaneasytarget.
Ifyou’reprotectingyourcomputersbutignoring yourprinters,you’releavingahugeholeinyour cybersecuritydefenses.