If you are a chief information security officer (CISO) in a midsized or large organization, you might be familiar with this problem: The marketing department just launched a campaign and is collecting customer information on an unverified partner system. In addition, another business unit is launching a digital sales channel and has established its own processing and data storage. Of course, all these activities bypass the current security strategy and take place without security or even IT involvement.

As a security leader, you are under intense pressure to transform your security strategy and digitize your traditional business model. Security is often a secondary concern at best and, at worst, considered a burden or even a roadblock. These factors have contributed to the rise of shadow IT, which has become a serious risk and can lead to exposed data, vulnerable systems and policy violations.