Shadow IT Discovery
Employees adopt SaaS apps faster than IT can approve them, creating blind spots that bypass security controls.
Orixcom Shadow IT Discovery gives security teams continuous visibility into unsanctioned app usage,
assesses risk, and helps apply policies to allow, restrict, or block access without disrupting business operations.
Why choose Shadow IT Discovery with Orixcom
Cloud app discovery
Identify every cloud and SaaS application in use across your network, including personal devices. Maintain a continuously updated inventory of sanctioned and unsanctioned apps.
Risk scoring and categorisation
Assess each discovered app against compliance, security, and data handling criteria. Assign a risk score so security teams can prioritise which apps to allow, restrict, or block.
Generative AI app visibility
Discover which generative AI tools employees are using across the workforce. Apply allow, restrict, or block policies to manage adoption alongside data protection controls.
Sanctioned and unsanctioned app control
Differentiate approved corporate apps from unsanctioned alternatives in use. Apply policies that restrict or block high-risk apps without disrupting legitimate work.
Granular app controls
Move beyond allow or block. Restrict specific actions within an app, such as uploads, downloads, or sharing, to balance productivity with security.
Data loss prevention (DLP)
Inspect content moving to cloud apps and apply policies to prevent sensitive data exposure. Stop unauthorised uploads to risky or unapproved destinations.
Access to tenant
controls
Allow access to corporate tenants of approved apps while blocking personal accounts. Prevent data from moving between sanctioned and unsanctioned instances of the same service.
Compliance monitoring and policy enforcement
Log app usage, policy decisions, and risk events for audit and reporting. Enforce acceptable use and data protection policies consistently across the workforce.
Where Shadow IT Discovery delivers impact
Eliminate unknown SaaS exposure
Identify the cloud and SaaS apps in use across your workforce before they become entry points for data loss or compliance breaches.
Impact
Close blind spots created by unsanctioned cloud and SaaS adoption.
Control usage of sanctioned apps
Allow approved cloud services while restricting actions that introduce data leakage or unauthorised sharing across users.
Impact
Keep sanctioned applications productive without losing data protection.
Govern generative AI adoption
Bring visibility and policy to the generative AI tools employees use, before sensitive data is exposed to unapproved services.
Impact
Manage AI adoption with visibility, control, and policy-driven oversight.
Maintain audit
visibility
Log every app usage, risk score, and policy decision to support audit and reporting.
Impact
Reduce compliance gaps with continuous tracking of application usage and policy enforcement.
How Shadow IT Discovery works
Discover every app
Gain complete visibility into every cloud and SaaS application, including unsanctioned services accessed from personal and unmanaged devices.
Assess risk
Analyse each application’s risk profile based on security, compliance, and data protection criteria to identify the services that pose business risk.
Apply intelligent policies
Apply granular policies based on app risk, user identity, and tenant ownership to allow, restrict, or block user access with confidence.
Enforce in real time
Stop risky activity in real time by enforcing policies whenever users interact with cloud and SaaS applications, while maintaining a seamless user experience.
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FAQs
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
What is Shadow IT Discovery?
Shadow IT Discovery is the process of identifying cloud and SaaS applications used by employees without IT approval. It gives security teams visibility into unsanctioned apps, scores their risk, and supports decisions to sanction, restrict, or block them.
What is app discovery and control?
App discovery identifies every cloud and SaaS application in use across an organisation. App control applies policy to those apps – allowing approved usage, restricting risky actions, or blocking access entirely based on risk score and compliance requirements.
Why does app discovery matter for enterprise security?
Employees adopt cloud apps faster than IT can review them. Without Shadow IT Discovery, sensitive data can move to unvetted services, bypassing DLP, identity, and compliance controls. App discovery closes that blind spot before it becomes a data breach or audit finding.
Can app discovery and control block unsanctioned apps?
Yes. Once an app is discovered and scored, policy can block it entirely, restrict specific actions such as uploads or sharing, or allow access only through the sanctioned corporate tenant.
Does app discovery work for remote and hybrid users?
Yes. Cloud-delivered Shadow IT Discovery inspects traffic from users regardless of location — office, home, or mobile — so visibility and policy remain consistent. It works alongside SWG to enforce safe access from any network.
How does app discovery help with generative AI risk?
Generative AI apps are a fast-growing category of shadow IT. Discovery identifies which AI tools employees are using, scores them on data handling and compliance risk, and applies policy to allow, restrict, or block access. DLP extends control to the files and data being shared with AI apps.
See every app. Control every risk
Discover shadow IT, assess application risk, and enforce access policies
with confidence
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