The Invisibility Threat

Three hundred and five. That's the average number of SaaS applications run by an enterprise, according to research by Zylo. 

If you’re part of a small or medium-sized business reading this, then your figure may be a good chunk smaller than this. But can you be sure you’re aware of all of them and have them all protected accordingly?

The old adage of ‘you can’t protect what you can’t see’ has never rung truer in an area where technology estates are becoming more and more fragmented all the time. From SaaS applications and cloud storage, to the rapid growth of unsanctioned AI use, there is more and more that sits beyond the oversight — and therefore control — of the security team.

And if IT and security teams in larger organisations are struggling to cope with the security risks of shadow IT, then the challenge for smaller businesses with more limited security resources is even greater.

The modern trend towards greater flexibility and autonomy in business IT procurement and deployment isn’t going to change any time soon. And there’s plenty that security and IT teams can do to adapt. But before making any changes to security or governance, it’s essential to establish 100% visibility over your entire tech estate first.

This topic is sponsored by Palo Alto Networks, whose commitment to making enterprise-grade security accessible to mid-market organisations helped bring this discussion to the community.