Shadow Cloud Services: Seeing the Light

February 12, 2015 Off By David
Object Storage

Grazed from MidsizeInsider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

What lurks in the shadows? For many midsize companies, it is the specter of unapproved cloud services leveraged by end-users needlessly putting both corporate data and cloud-based networks at risk. As it becomes clear just how far shadow cloud services extend, a question emerges: Can IT professionals regain control, or is this free-for-all here to stay?

Behind Closed Networks

According to a recent article from CIO, "many companies contain workstations with software that is not approved by the Information Technology (IT) department; instead, it has been adopted and installed by individuals or even, in some cases, entire departments." Simply put, not just employees but entire business units are now willing to circumvent IT policies they find too restrictive, and the open nature of public cloud services makes this a simple task…

Of course, such unsanctioned use comes with real risk. For example, DevOps work done with unapproved services puts sensitive data beyond the reach of corporate firewalls and other security measures. E-discovery requests also become problematic, since IT professionals do not have knowledge of data use from start to finish. In addition, asset management is an issue, since productivity may spike without a definitive cause, making budgetary discussions more complicated. Ultimately, ignoring shadow cloud services is not an option, but controlling them can prove difficult…

Read more from the source @ http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/shadow-cloud-services-seeing-the-light#.VN0CEVPF9xs