Shadow AI Discovery Services
Employees across organizations are using AI-enabled tools that are either unapproved or have not had the associated use cases formally reviewed and approved. According to Cisco research, 60% of IT teams are unsure whether shadow AI is being used in their organizations and cannot track the data fed into AI tools or the decisions made with them. This uncertainty creates significant, unmonitored risk for data and compliance. Instead of implementing ineffective AI bans, visibility is key.
CBIZ Pivot Point Security provides shadow AI consulting services to help organizations identify unauthorized AI tools, assess risk exposure, and implement governance frameworks. Our structured approach transforms undefined AI usage into quantified, manageable risk, delivering the defensible evidence your stakeholders, insurers, and regulators expect.
The Business Risks of Shadow AI
Shadow AI poses distinct threats that extend beyond traditional shadow IT concerns:
Data Security and Compliance
When employees feed sensitive corporate or client data into public AI tools, they can create irreversible data leakage risks. IBM’s 2024 data breach report found that the average cost of a data breach is $4.88 million, with more than one-third involving shadow data, an adjacent risk category that highlights the danger of unmanaged data outside normal governance. This exposure can create regulatory, contractual, and framework-alignment issues, including GDPR obligations, CMMC requirements (where applicable), and security controls aligned with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The Hidden Attack Surface
Every unvetted AI application can expand the organization’s attack surface or data exposure risk outside your security team’s view. The 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) reveals that data breaches involving third parties, including software vendors, account for 30% of all breaches, a figure that has doubled in one year. Fortune research shows that ChatGPT has become the top unauthorized application used by employees, highlighting the shift of shadow IT toward generative AI.
AI Scales Both Good & Bad
The greatest risk AI introduces isn’t the technology itself. It’s that AI scales judgment, good and bad alike. A flawed assumption that once affected a single decision now drives thousands of them, faster than anyone can catch the pattern. Everything moves faster with AI, and that includes the AI-made decisions you regret. The point of AI governance isn’t to slow down the technology. It’s to make sure the judgment behind it is worth scaling.
Our Comprehensive Shadow AI Discovery Services
As part of a comprehensive AI governance and advisory offering, our systematic procedures provide a clear path for your business. Our shadow AI audit services and support solutions follow a proven five-step framework:
- Discover: We perform a shadow AI detection sweep and create an inventory of AI applications identified across your environment.
- Assess: Our cybersecurity experts conduct a shadow AI security assessment to score each tool’s risk and prioritize threats.
- Govern: We develop a shadow AI governance implementation plan and clear usage policies that align with your business and compliance needs.
- Enable: We help you establish sanctioned, secure AI alternatives and provide user training to foster safe innovation.
- Monitor: Our team provides a continuous monitoring strategy to maintain visibility and ensure adherence to your governance framework.
- Control: We build an AI Acceptable Use Policy and an AI Intake process to ensure that all AI Use Cases undergo proper vetting.
Why Trust CBIZ Pivot Point Security?
CBIZ Pivot Point Security specializes in providing a full range of cybersecurity assessments and consulting. Our shadow AI detection services deliver defensible, objective evidence that your AI risk management approach is sound. Businesses like yours rely on our:
- Compliance-driven expertise: We provide guidance built on decades of experience with complex regulatory frameworks.
- Actionable intelligence: Our customers receive a customized, business-focused plan to mitigate their specific risks.
- Accredited authority: Our company is ISO 27001-certified and CREST-accredited, demonstrating that our assessments carry global weight.
- Integrated governance: We can help unify your AI governance with the NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, and other existing security programs.
Take Control of Your AI Landscape
Identify what AI tools are active in your environment with CBIZ Pivot Point Security. Our comprehensive offering provides the data and plan you need to protect your organization. Contact us today to schedule your shadow AI risk assessment.
