I think many companies would be truly shocked to discover just how many cloud services they consume on a day-to-day basis. Its the modern day equivalent of a rogue server hidden under someone's desk, hosting a cool application that totally bypassed procurement, IT and more importantly security.

As all industries move to consuming more and more services delivered via the cloud, the importance of understanding exactly where data is being stored and how it is being protected becomes ever more important.

The almost daily news that someone else has been hacked and their PII, PHI, PCI or IP data is available for sale on a hidden darknet forum somewhere only available via the Tor network, should be enough to wake everyone to the fact that they need to protect this data. It is after all the future of the organization and their jobs at stake!

Putting in place useful discovery tools to identify unknown cloud services and identity controls like Cisco ISE and Trustsec to control who has access to data and from where, will become an ever-more critical feature of future business growth and the continued success of organizations.

This is perhaps no more important than for the Pharma industry where the protection of test formulations and clinical research continues to be stolen almost every single day by nefarious nation states intent on dominating the global industry five years from now.

Great article Mike and I would suggest that everyone take a long hard look at cloud sprawl in his or her own environment as soon as possible.