List of the Top 25 Shadow IT Discovery Tools in 2025

Reviews and comparisons of the top Shadow IT Discovery tools currently available


Shadow IT discovery tools are specialized software solutions designed to identify and monitor unauthorized or unmanaged technology usage within an organization. These tools scan networks, cloud environments, and endpoints to uncover applications, services, or devices that are not officially sanctioned or managed by the IT department. By providing visibility into shadow IT, they help organizations detect potential security risks, compliance violations, and inefficiencies. They often use methods such as traffic analysis, API integrations, or user behavior tracking to map the usage of unapproved resources. The insights provided enable IT teams to evaluate the risks associated with shadow IT and create strategies for governance, compliance, and security. Ultimately, these tools empower organizations to strike a balance between innovation and control, ensuring that all technology usage aligns with corporate policies.

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    SuperOps Reviews & Ratings

    SuperOps

    SuperOps

    Streamline your MSP operations with AI-driven efficiency today!
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    Company Website
    SuperOps is an innovative all-in-one PSA-RMM platform tailored for driven MSPs aiming for effective growth. Enhanced by AI capabilities and intelligent automation, SuperOps provides an extensive array of features, ranging from IT documentation to project management, guaranteeing that MSPs can find all necessary tools under one roof. Eliminate the hassle of using various disjointed applications—SuperOps enables MSPs to transition away from obsolete, scattered systems with a cloud-native solution designed for ease of use and efficiency. Discover a cohesive, contemporary platform that simplifies operations and transforms the management of IT services into a hassle-free experience, paving the way for enhanced productivity.
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    NinjaOne Reviews & Ratings

    NinjaOne

    NinjaOne

    Streamline IT management with enhanced efficiency and security.
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    Company Website
    NinjaOne streamlines the most challenging aspects of IT management, serving over 20,000 IT teams with enhanced capabilities. By delivering in-depth insights into endpoints, strong security protocols, and a unified control system, NinjaOne increases operational efficiency, protects sensitive information, and reduces IT costs. This all-encompassing platform provides a diverse set of tools for managing and securing endpoints, such as patch management, mobile device supervision, software deployment, remote assistance, backup solutions, and additional features, all made possible through its wide-ranging IT and security integrations. With its ability to adapt to various IT environments and needs, NinjaOne stands out as a vital resource for modern IT teams.
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    Atera Reviews & Ratings

    Atera

    Atera

    Streamline IT operations with intelligent management and automation.
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    Company Website
    Atera is a comprehensive IT management solution that integrates remote monitoring and management (RMM), helpdesk services, and ticketing, all enhanced by Action AI™ to significantly increase efficiency for organizations of any size. Experience the benefits of Atera with a free trial today!
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    Device42 Reviews & Ratings

    Device42

    Device42, A Freshworks Company

    Transform your IT management with powerful data center insights.
    Device42 is a powerful software solution designed for managing data centers and networks, crafted by IT professionals to facilitate the discovery, documentation, and oversight of Data Centers and IT systems as a whole. This tool delivers valuable insights into enterprise infrastructure by effectively mapping out hardware, software, services, and network dependencies. It boasts impressive visual representations alongside a user-friendly interface, complemented by webhooks and APIs for seamless integration. With Device42, planning for network modifications becomes easier, and it helps to minimize mean time to recovery (MTTR) during unforeseen outages, ensuring that you have the necessary tools for maintenance, audits, warranty management, license tracking, lifecycle oversight, inventory management, and asset tracking, including detailed room and rack configurations. Additionally, it allows for integration with various IT management platforms, such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Configuration Management (CM), and IT Service Management (ITSM), providing comprehensive data mapping and more. As a member of the Freshworks family, we are dedicated to enhancing our offerings, ensuring that our global customers and partners receive exceptional solutions and unwavering support, maintaining our long-standing commitment to excellence.
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    Auvik Reviews & Ratings

    Auvik

    Auvik Networks

    Streamline your network management with real-time insights today!
    Utilize Auvik's Shadow IT discovery to detect and handle unapproved applications and devices. Safeguard your network by recognizing unverified tools, maintaining compliance, and thwarting potential data breaches. With Auvik's real-time analytics, you gain comprehensive oversight and authority over your complete infrastructure.
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    JDisc Discovery Reviews & Ratings

    JDisc Discovery

    JDisc

    Gain real-time visibility into your complete IT landscape.
    JDisc Discovery serves as a robust solution for IT asset management and network discovery, offering organizations valuable, real-time visibility into their complete IT landscape. By conducting automated network scans, it efficiently detects and organizes a variety of devices, which ranges from physical servers and workstations to virtual machines and network appliances, thus providing users with a comprehensive asset inventory. The tool meticulously gathers crucial information, encompassing hardware specifications, installed software, system configurations, and the interrelationships among devices, ensuring thorough documentation of the IT environment. One of the standout features of JDisc Discovery is its agentless design. Instead of requiring software installation on each device, it utilizes multiple protocols such as SNMP, SSH, and WMI to collect data, facilitating rapid deployment and ensuring compatibility across an array of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Unix. This adaptability makes it particularly well-suited for varied and evolving IT infrastructures, allowing for effective and unobtrusive data acquisition. Additionally, its user-friendly interface enhances the overall management experience, empowering IT teams to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information.
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    ManageEngine Applications Manager Reviews & Ratings

    ManageEngine Applications Manager

    ManageEngine

    Empowering teams with proactive insights for seamless application performance.
    ManageEngine Applications Manager is a robust solution designed for enterprises to oversee their entire application ecosystem effectively. This platform empowers IT and DevOps teams to gain visibility into all the interconnected components of their application stack. With Applications Manager, monitoring the performance of essential online applications, web servers, databases, cloud services, middleware, ERP systems, communication elements, and various other systems becomes straightforward. It offers a diverse array of features aimed at streamlining the troubleshooting process, significantly reducing mean time to resolution (MTTR). This tool is invaluable for identifying and addressing performance issues proactively, preventing potential disruptions for end users. The platform includes a comprehensive dashboard that can be tailored to display immediate performance metrics. By establishing alerts, the monitoring solution continuously evaluates the application stack for any performance anomalies, ensuring that the relevant personnel are informed promptly. Furthermore, Applications Manager enhances performance data interpretation by integrating advanced machine learning capabilities, transforming raw data into actionable insights that drive performance improvement. This not only aids in maintaining operational efficiency but also supports strategic decision-making processes.
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    Zscaler Reviews & Ratings

    Zscaler

    Zscaler

    "Empowering secure, flexible connections in a digital world."
    Zscaler stands out as a pioneer with its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which utilizes the most expansive security cloud in the world to optimize business functions and improve responsiveness in a fast-evolving landscape. The Zero Trust Exchange from Zscaler enables rapid and safe connections, allowing employees the flexibility to operate from any location by treating the internet as their corporate network. Following the zero trust principle of least-privileged access, this solution provides robust security through context-aware identity verification and stringent policy enforcement. With a network spanning 150 data centers worldwide, the Zero Trust Exchange ensures users are closely connected to the cloud services and applications they depend on, like Microsoft 365 and AWS. This extensive infrastructure guarantees the most efficient routes for user connections, ultimately delivering comprehensive security while ensuring an outstanding user experience. In addition, we encourage you to take advantage of our free service, the Internet Threat Exposure Analysis, which is designed to be quick, secure, and private for all participants, helping organizations pinpoint vulnerabilities and effectively bolster their security defenses. Our commitment to safeguarding your digital environment is paramount, and this analysis serves as an essential step toward enhancing your organization's resilience against potential threats.
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    BetterCloud Reviews & Ratings

    BetterCloud

    BetterCloud

    Empowering IT professionals to streamline and secure SaaS operations.
    BetterCloud stands at the forefront of SaaS Operations, empowering IT professionals to enhance the employee experience, optimize operational effectiveness, and consolidate data security. By leveraging no-code automation to facilitate seamless workflows, numerous innovative organizations such as HelloFresh, Oscar Health, and Square have come to depend on BetterCloud for streamlining processes and enforcing policies throughout their cloud application ecosystems. With over a decade of experience leading the SaaS Operations revolution, BetterCloud caters to the largest global community of SaaSOps specialists. As the organizer of Altitude, the premier SaaSOps conference, and the publisher of The State of SaaSOps Report—an authoritative source of market analysis—BetterCloud has earned recognition as a market leader by customers on platforms like G2 and by esteemed research firms such as Gartner and Forrester. Located in New York City, with a dedicated product and engineering office in Atlanta, GA, and additional innovation centers and remote talent distributed throughout the U.S., BetterCloud is supported by some of the most prestigious technology investors, which include Vista Equity Partners, Warburg Pincus, Bain Capital, and Accel. This extensive backing allows BetterCloud to continue innovating and evolving its offerings in the rapidly changing landscape of SaaS Operations.
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    JumpCloud Reviews & Ratings

    JumpCloud

    JumpCloud

    Empower your business with seamless identity and access management.
    Around the globe, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can achieve unparalleled freedom of choice by collaborating with JumpCloud. By utilizing its cloud-based open directory platform, JumpCloud streamlines the management and security of identities, access, and devices, allowing IT teams and managed service providers (MSPs) to efficiently support a variety of operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. This innovative solution enables users to manage identities either directly or through their chosen HRIS or productivity tools, while also granting access to numerous on-premises and cloud applications with a single, secure set of credentials. To explore the full potential of this comprehensive platform, consider starting a free 30-day trial of JumpCloud today and experience the benefits firsthand. Embrace the future of IT management and watch your business thrive.
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    CloudEagle.ai Reviews & Ratings

    CloudEagle.ai

    CloudEagle.ai

    Streamline SaaS management, enhance compliance, and maximize savings.
    CloudEagle.ai empowers IT, security, and procurement teams to oversee, regulate, and renew all their SaaS applications from a unified platform. In addition to simplifying SaaS management and governance, CloudEagle.ai has facilitated over $2 billion in transactions and helped companies such as RingCentral, Shiji, and Recroom save a collective $150 million. With over 500 direct connectors and effortless, no-code workflows integrated with Slack, IT and security teams achieve complete visibility into all applications, optimize employee onboarding and offboarding processes, conduct access reviews, manage license harvesting, and handle renewals efficiently. This comprehensive approach not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures that organizations remain compliant and cost-effective in their SaaS usage.
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    Lansweeper Reviews & Ratings

    Lansweeper

    Lansweeper

    Uncover, manage, and control your IT assets effortlessly.
    Lansweeper enables you to uncover your IT assets and establish a comprehensive IT Asset System of Record. By utilizing the Lansweeper Deepscan IP scanner engine, you can efficiently audit every asset within your organization’s network. This allows you to create a detailed inventory encompassing all hardware, software, and users. You can perform scans on devices running Windows, Linux, or Mac operating systems. Additionally, you can monitor all your licenses, serial numbers, and warranties from prominent brands like Dell, IBM, and HP. The tool also identifies unauthorized local administrators and consolidates user data from Office 365 and Active Directory. It provides information such as the netbios domain, checks for Windows updates, and much more. With Lansweeper, you can uncover hidden assets in your IT environment and gain comprehensive control over your network. Initiate your journey in IT asset management by signing up for a free trial today, and experience the benefits firsthand.
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    AssetSonar Reviews & Ratings

    AssetSonar

    AssetSonar

    Maximize IT efficiency and compliance with our powerful solution!
    Our robust IT asset management system guarantees software compliance, minimizes hardware downtime, prepares you for audits, and reinforces software adherence. With features like IT asset administration, software license monitoring, and prompt notifications, you gain comprehensive insight into your IT landscape. Additionally, we seamlessly connect with service desk platforms like Jira and Zendesk, as well as device management solutions including Jamf and SCCM, providing you with a unified perspective on your IT assets. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to access this valuable tool at no cost! Get started today and take control of your IT management.
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    Zygon Reviews & Ratings

    Zygon

    Zygon

    Streamline SaaS security management with enhanced visibility and control.
    Comprehensive and efficient management of security for SaaS environments is essential. Zygon's adaptable workflow engine streamlines your control tasks, including usage justifications, access requests, access reviews, security alerts, and much more. Transition from cumbersome spreadsheets to a collaborative approach in managing SaaS Security. With Zygon, you gain visibility into the applications utilized by your employees and their individual usage patterns. The platform simplifies access requests, reviews, onboarding, and offboarding processes, making them quick and easy while alleviating the burden on IT. From tackling Shadow IT to maintaining a clear inventory, Zygon ensures that every account within your organization is detected. It automatically compiles a comprehensive list of all applications employees utilize, irrespective of whether they log in through email or SSO. Eliminate the element of surprise from shadow IT and say farewell to the hassle of keeping a manual record. By embracing Zygon, you empower your organization with enhanced visibility and control over your SaaS applications, ultimately strengthening your security posture.
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    Attaxion Reviews & Ratings

    Attaxion

    Attaxion

    Automate vulnerability management and strengthen your security posture.
    We assist security teams in automating the management of their comprehensive external attack surface, which streamlines vulnerability oversight and highlights shadow IT. With Attaxion, you can identify and assess all external assets and vulnerabilities prior to potential exploitation by attackers. You can effectively map out your entire attack surface while gathering actionable intelligence on vulnerabilities that directly informs and directs your remediation efforts. Enjoy a real-time inventory of all your internet-exposed assets, inclusive of their vulnerabilities and associated technologies. Leverage AI to prioritize security issues based on their severity, likelihood of exploitation, and the assets they impact. Furthermore, you can analyze security weaknesses, automate remediation processes, and keep track of ongoing improvements. Utilizing machine learning, you can monitor new assets and emerging issues as your digital perimeter and threat landscape change. This solution provides a real-time overview of your vulnerable assets, at a cost that is significantly lower than other External Attack Surface Management (EASM) options, ensuring you stay ahead in the cybersecurity game. As threats evolve, our platform adapts, giving you peace of mind in your security strategy.
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    Armis Reviews & Ratings

    Armis

    Armis Security

    Unlock complete asset visibility with real-time security solutions.
    Armis, a premier company specializing in asset visibility and security, offers a comprehensive asset intelligence platform that tackles the challenges posed by the increasingly complex attack surface created by interconnected assets. Renowned Fortune 100 companies rely on our continuous and real-time safeguarding to gain complete insight into all managed and unmanaged assets spanning IT, cloud environments, IoT devices, IoMT, operational technology, industrial control systems, and 5G networks. Our solutions include passive cyber asset management, risk assessment, and automated policy enforcement to enhance security. Based in California, Armis operates as a privately held enterprise dedicated to ensuring robust protection for diverse asset ecosystems. Our commitment to innovation positions us as a trusted partner in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity.
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    Torii Reviews & Ratings

    Torii

    Torii Labs

    Revolutionize your SaaS management with unparalleled speed and flexibility.
    Torii is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform designed for managing SaaS businesses, revolutionizing operations by establishing an autonomous IT framework that enhances both speed and flexibility. This platform empowers IT professionals to streamline and regulate SaaS expenditures while uncovering the usage of SaaS applications throughout their organizations. Moreover, Torii ensures immediate oversight and management of all SaaS applications across platforms like G Suite, Okta, and Dropbox, granting IT departments comprehensive control over their SaaS environments. Businesses utilize Torii for several key functions, including: 1. Automated tracking of all SaaS application usage 2. Monitoring and managing waste and costs associated with SaaS applications 3. Streamlined and compliant processes for employee onboarding and offboarding 4. Effective management of SaaS licenses and renewal processes Among its clientele are notable companies such as Pipedrive, Delivery Hero, and Via, showcasing its wide-ranging applicability and effectiveness in various industries. Additionally, Torii enables organizations to make informed decisions about their software investments, ultimately contributing to enhanced operational efficiency.
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    Augmentt Reviews & Ratings

    Augmentt

    Augmentt

    Transform your SaaS management into cost-saving efficiencies today!
    Effectively overseeing the SaaS environment of your clients can yield substantial cost reductions while improving your ability to manage and supervise. By utilizing SaaS usage data, you can eliminate uncertainties and turn insights into action! Keep a close watch on unauthorized SaaS applications to maintain robust security measures. Enhance the procedures for SaaS provisioning, de-provisioning, and approvals by incorporating automation. It's crucial to provide thorough reports on SaaS usage across the organization. Examine SaaS consumption alongside licensing agreements to identify areas for potential savings. Augmentt empowers you to understand SaaS usage, optimize costs, enforce security protocols, and improve overall efficiency. Discover the full spectrum of SaaS applications in use within your clients' environments to mitigate risks, boost productivity, and cut expenses. Effectively track user activity, consumption, and costs associated with all your SaaS subscriptions. Eliminate uncertainties from subscription management and start enjoying financial gains immediately! By implementing these strategies, you not only protect your client's digital landscape but also enhance the quality of your service offerings, positioning yourself as a trusted partner in their success.
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    Zluri Reviews & Ratings

    Zluri

    Zluri

    Empower IT teams to optimize, secure, and strategize SaaS.
    Zluri serves as a comprehensive management platform tailored for IT Teams overseeing SaaS operations. This platform empowers teams to seamlessly oversee, safeguard, and ensure compliance across various SaaS applications through a unified dashboard. By illuminating instances of shadow IT, Zluri enables the tracking and optimization of SaaS expenditures while automating the entire process of application renewal management. With its focus on data-driven insights, Zluri equips IT teams to strategize, streamline, secure, and maximize the benefits derived from their collection of SaaS applications. Furthermore, it enhances operational efficiency and fosters better decision-making within organizations.
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    FireCompass Reviews & Ratings

    FireCompass

    FireCompass

    Navigate your digital landscape, mitigating threats with precision.
    FireCompass functions continuously, employing sophisticated reconnaissance methods to map out the deep, dark, and surface web similarly to how threat actors operate. The platform autonomously identifies an organization's continually changing digital attack landscape, uncovering previously unknown risks such as exposed databases, cloud storage vulnerabilities, code leaks, compromised credentials, at-risk cloud assets, open ports, and more. In addition, FireCompass allows users to execute safe penetration tests on their critical applications and assets. Once the necessary approvals for the attack parameters are in place, the FireCompass engine launches multi-faceted attacks that include network, application, and social engineering strategies to expose possible breach and attack pathways. Moreover, FireCompass aids in the prioritization of digital threats, ensuring that the most vulnerable points are highlighted for immediate attention. The user-friendly dashboard clearly categorizes risks into high, medium, and low priorities, along with recommended strategies for mitigation, which helps organizations effectively distribute their resources to tackle the most urgent concerns. By adopting this all-encompassing methodology, organizations can significantly bolster their overall cybersecurity defenses and resilience against potential threats. This improved security framework not only protects sensitive data but also fosters a culture of proactive risk management within the organization.
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    Cloudflare Zero Trust Reviews & Ratings

    Cloudflare Zero Trust

    Cloudflare

    Achieve seamless security and speed with adaptive Zero Trust.
    To safeguard against data loss, malware, and phishing attacks, implementing a high-performance Zero Trust application access and internet browsing solution is essential. Relying solely on traditional tools to connect employees to corporate systems often leads to excessive trust being granted, creating significant data risks. The complexity of managing the corporate perimeter has escalated due to inconsistent configurations among VPNs, firewalls, proxies, and identity providers. Additionally, deciphering logs and comprehending user access to sensitive data has become increasingly intricate in today’s environment. It is vital for employees, partners, and customers to have access to a network that is secure, fast, and reliable for their operations. By adopting Cloudflare Zero Trust, traditional security barriers are replaced with a vast global edge, which boosts both speed and security for teams around the globe. This method guarantees that consistent access controls are enforced across cloud-based, on-premise, and SaaS applications, thereby facilitating a smooth and secure user experience. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, it is imperative to stay proactive and adaptive in order to ensure ongoing and effective protection against new challenges that may arise. Regular assessments and updates to security strategies will further enhance your organization’s resilience against these ever-changing threats.
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    Tropic Reviews & Ratings

    Tropic

    Tropic

    Streamline procurement, maximize savings, and enhance compliance effortlessly.
    Various organizations, from budding startups to well-established Fortune 500 companies, utilize Tropic to manage their purchasing processes, unlock cost efficiencies, and turn software spending into a strategic advantage. Financial executives choose Tropic because of our dedication to generating savings and ensuring a favorable return on investment. At the same time, IT leaders value our strong emphasis on compliance and risk management, while procurement professionals appreciate our focus on optimizing processes, effectively acting as an extension of their teams. By leveraging benchmark data on critical vendors, you can significantly boost your operational efficiency. Entrusting us with your software purchases and renewals not only saves you time and money but also enhances compliance within your procurement activities, simplifying the management of SaaS solutions. Given that software acquisitions and renewals happen frequently, they can distract from more pressing responsibilities. The uncertainty surrounding pricing structures, the intricacies of contracts, and the presence of multiple stakeholders with differing priorities complicate the renewal process even further. By refining this system, you can redirect your attention toward what is truly essential for your organization, ensuring that your strategic goals are met with greater clarity and focus. Ultimately, embracing this streamlined approach can lead to a more agile and responsive procurement function.
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    Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Reviews & Ratings

    Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

    Microsoft

    Elevate security, protect data, and empower your workforce.
    Transform your application security framework, protect your data, and strengthen your overall application strategy with innovative SaaS security solutions. Attain thorough insight into your SaaS application landscape while enhancing your defenses with Defender for Cloud Apps. Effectively identify, manage, and configure applications to ensure your team relies solely on trustworthy and compliant tools. Classify and secure sensitive data, whether it is being stored, actively utilized, or in transit. Enable your workforce to safely access and view files across various applications while managing the interactions between these tools. Acquire critical insights into the access rights and permissions linked to applications that handle sensitive data on behalf of others. Leverage application signals to bolster your defenses against sophisticated cyber threats, integrating these signals into your proactive search strategies within Microsoft Defender XDR. The scenario-based detection capabilities will significantly enhance your security operations center (SOC) by allowing it to monitor and investigate potential cyberattacks comprehensively, thereby elevating your overall security stance. Furthermore, adopting these advanced features can dramatically minimize vulnerabilities and fortify your organization's ability to withstand cyber threats, making it more resilient in the face of an evolving threat landscape. In doing so, you not only protect your assets but also foster trust among your clients and stakeholders.
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    Tenable OT Security Reviews & Ratings

    Tenable OT Security

    Tenable

    Enhance security and efficiency with comprehensive asset management solutions.
    Safeguard critical systems while facilitating seamless operations. Achieve a unified view of all assets within your integrated ecosystem through a centralized dashboard. Proactively identify weaknesses in your operational technology (OT) environment. Mitigate high-risk threats before they can be exploited. Optimize asset identification and create visual mappings of network components, which include workstations, servers, industrial controllers, and IoT devices. Leverage connector engines to concentrate on applications that manage IoT devices and their connections for an exhaustive inventory. Manage your assets by tracking their firmware and operating system versions, internal settings, applications, user permissions, serial numbers, and backplane configurations for both OT and IT infrastructure. Implement an advanced multi-detection engine to detect anomalies in the network, enforce security measures, and track local changes on devices that pose significant risks. This all-encompassing strategy not only bolsters security but also yields operational insights that can enhance decision-making processes. By integrating these practices, organizations can achieve a robust security posture while maintaining optimal operational efficiency.
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    InvGate Asset Management Reviews & Ratings

    InvGate Asset Management

    InvGate

    Streamline IT asset management for informed decision making.
    InvGate Asset Management is a user-friendly software solution designed to enhance the efficiency of IT asset management and improve service delivery. By utilizing InvGate Asset Management, businesses can make more informed decisions, better manage costs, streamline IT support processes, mitigate risks, and comply with industry governance requirements. This software stands out with its exceptional asset management features, enabling organizations to effectively oversee and protect their endpoints through automated patch deployment, asset discovery, software licensing oversight, and remote desktop functionalities. Additionally, InvGate also provides valuable insights that empower teams to optimize their IT strategies.
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Shadow IT Discovery Tools Buyers Guide

Shadow IT discovery tools are vital for organizations seeking to maintain control over their digital ecosystem. These tools help businesses monitor and manage unauthorized technologies used within their networks, which could be anything from an employee's personal device to cloud-based software or applications not officially approved by the IT department. With the rise of remote work and personal devices being integrated into professional settings, the risks associated with shadow IT have escalated, making it crucial for companies to have a way to identify and manage these unknown elements.

These tools function by scanning network traffic, devices, and cloud environments for applications, services, and systems that fall outside the organization’s official IT framework. Once detected, the tools provide businesses with a comprehensive view of the unauthorized resources in use, including key details like the type of software, its risk level, and the users accessing it. By understanding what is operating within their network, IT teams can evaluate potential vulnerabilities, ensuring that sensitive data isn't exposed to third-party applications or non-compliant platforms.

In addition to identifying shadow IT, these tools often include risk management features that categorize the severity of each unauthorized resource. High-risk assets, such as outdated software or non-compliant cloud platforms, can be flagged for immediate attention. This allows businesses to quickly assess which threats need to be addressed right away and which can be monitored over time. Shadow IT discovery tools also provide reporting and audit capabilities, which can be valuable for compliance purposes, as many industries require strict oversight of technology usage to meet legal and regulatory standards.

Another critical feature of these tools is the ability to manage discovered shadow IT. Once unauthorized resources are identified, IT teams can take appropriate actions to mitigate risks, such as blocking access to certain applications, implementing security controls, or guiding employees toward approved solutions. Some tools even automate policy enforcement, allowing businesses to create rules around acceptable technology use and ensuring that any non-compliant assets are dealt with in a timely and consistent manner.

Shadow IT discovery tools are an essential part of modern cybersecurity strategies. They give organizations the power to proactively monitor their network for hidden risks and maintain control over their technology environment. By identifying and managing shadow IT, companies can reduce security breaches, ensure regulatory compliance, and safeguard their digital assets. However, implementing these tools requires a commitment to data privacy and security, as businesses must be careful about how they monitor and collect data from employee devices and cloud services. Despite the challenges, the benefits of having a clear view of shadow IT far outweigh the risks, making these tools indispensable for any organization looking to strengthen its cybersecurity posture.