The New Shadow IT—AI Apps and Rogue Integrations

Shadow IT isn’t new. For years, employees have found workarounds to access the tools they prefer—Dropbox, Google Docs, WhatsApp, Slack. But today, we’re entering a far more dangerous chapter: the rise of unauthorized AI integrations. And they’re not just inconvenient—they’re potentially catastrophic.

AI applications—like Chrome plugins powered by GPT, browser extensions scraping data for analysis, or rogue APIs connected to ChatGPT-style assistants—are being embedded in workflows without security oversight. These tools are often well-intentioned: they help with summarization, research, customer service, and automation. But what they also do is open the door to unmonitored data flow and permissions sprawl.

Take, for instance, a team member using an AI tool to generate reports based on internal CRM data. That CRM connection may be API-based and store authentication tokens in a public browser. If that browser session is hijacked, your customer data is now in someone else’s hands. And you may not even know it happened.

This is what makes Cyberswitch’s approach so effective. Our Stealth Networking solution leverages Zero Trust principles at the infrastructure level. Nothing communicates until it’s authenticated. Even if someone plugs in an unauthorized AI integration, our system simply doesn’t recognize the connection. It’s as if the network doesn’t exist to anything unverified.

With today’s rapidly shifting technology stack, policy alone won’t save you. You need embedded enforcement, at the network and application layers. And with our tools, that’s exactly what you get. The future of Shadow IT isn’t Dropbox—it’s generative AI. And we’re ready.