{"id":28614,"date":"2019-08-22T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T15:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/dont-worry-about-shadow-it-shadow-iot-is-much-worse\/"},"modified":"2019-08-22T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T15:21:00","slug":"dont-worry-about-shadow-it-shadow-iot-is-much-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/dont-worry-about-shadow-it-shadow-iot-is-much-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t worry about shadow IT. Shadow IoT is much worse."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

For years, IT departments have been railing about the dangers of shadow IT and bring-your-own-device. The worry is that these unauthorized practices bring risks to corporate systems, introducing new vulnerabilities and increasing the attack surface.<\/p>\n

That may be true, but it\u2019s not the whole story. As I\u2019ve long argued, shadow IT may increase risks, but it can also cut costs, boost productivity and speed innovation. That\u2019s why users are often so eager to circumvent what they see as slow and conservative IT departments<\/a> by adopting increasingly powerful and affordable consumer and cloud-based alternatives, with or without the blessing of the powers that be. Just as important, there\u2019s plenty of evidence of that enlightened IT departments should work to leverage those new approaches<\/a> to serve their internal customers in a more agile manner.<\/p>\n

Also on Network World:<\/strong> 5 key enterprise IoT security recommendations<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Shadow IoT takes shadow IT to the next level<\/h2>\n

So far so good. But this reasoning emphatically does not carry over to the emerging practice of shadow IoT<\/a>, which has become a growing concern in the last year or so. Basically, we are talking about when people in your organization connect internet-connected devices (or worse, entire IoT<\/a> networks!) without IT\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

Those renegades are likely seeking the same speed and flexibility that drove shadow IT, but they are taking a far bigger risk for a much smaller reward. Shadow IoT takes shadow IT to another level, with the potential for many more devices as well as new types of devices and use cases, not to mention the addition of wholly new networks and technologies.<\/p>\n

Why shadow IoT is worse than shadow IT<\/h2>\n

According to a 2018 report from 802 Secure<\/a>, \u201cIoT introduces new operating systems, protocols and wireless frequencies<\/a>. Companies that rely on legacy security technologies are blind to this rampant IoT threat. Organizations need to broaden their view into these invisible devices and networks to identify rogue IoT devices on the network, visibility into shadow-IoT networks, and detection of nearby threats such as drones and spy cameras.\u201d<\/p>\n