According to a global study conducted by McAfee, about 80 per cent of the employees use unauthorised SaaS applications at their workplace. Further, about 35 per cent of all SaaS applications used within the enterprise are non-approved, thereby leading to a phenomenon called Shadow IT.
Microsoft office 365 is the most widely used unauthorised application by about 9 per cent of the employees followed by Zoho (8 per cent), LinkedIn and Facebook (7 per cent each). On an average 15 per cent of the users have experienced issues regarding security, access, or liability while using unauthorised SaaS application.
The survey findings indicate that IT professionals use Shadow IT more than business users. About 39 per cent of respondents claimed that they use unauthorised SaaS applications as it allows them to bypass IT processes, while 18 per cent stated they use shadow IT as various IT restrictions at the workplace make it difficult for them to carry out their responsibilities.
McAfee points out that the cloud also makes it relatively easy for employees to acquire and deploy SaaS applications without getting due approvals from the IT department. As a result, many applications are used by corporate employees and others (such as contractors or business partners) without the participation or approval of the corporate IT department.
McAfee asserts that without appropriate knowledge, employees may choose SaaS providers or configurations that do not measure up to corporate standards for data protection and encryption. They may not realise that their use of such applications may amount to violation of regulations concerning handling and storage of private customer data, thereby leaving the company liable for breaches.
