43,280 AI events recorded on our own engineering fleet in the last 30 days.
Shadow AI is not one thing employees do. It is a supply chain: every unmanaged AI tool, extension, connector, model and skill is a place data can leave your control, or a place something malicious can enter it. It is growing faster than anyone can see it.
of AI users bring their own AI tools to work, tools not provided or sanctioned by their employer.
ISACA defines shadow AI as the unauthorised use of AI tools and solutions to perform job tasks: chatbots, code assistants and large language models deployed without IT, security or compliance approval, a direct parallel to shadow IT (ISACA, 2025).
The parallel undersells it. Shadow IT was a spreadsheet in the wrong place. Shadow AI reads files, runs shell commands, calls MCP servers and opens pull requests, with the same access as the developer who installed it.
Four independent bodies of research, one pattern: use is broad and self-directed, policy is thin, and the cost lands on the breach.
of knowledge workers now use AI at work.
31,000 people surveyed across 31 countries.Microsoft & LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Indexof AI users bring their own AI tools to work, not provided or sanctioned by their employer.
80% at small and medium businesses.Microsoft & LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Indexof leaders say their company lacks a clear plan to implement AI, while 79% say adoption is critical to stay competitive.
Microsoft & LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Indexof organisations have no AI governance policy in place at all.
Research by the Ponemon Institute, 600 organisations.IBM, 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Reportof breaches had shadow AI as a contributing factor.
IBM, 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Reportadded to the average cost of a breach when shadow AI was involved, compared with breaches without it.
IBM, 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Reportof organisations that had an AI-related security incident say they lacked proper AI access controls.
IBM, 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Reportof organisations have a mature governance model in place for autonomous AI agents.
3,235 senior leaders across 24 countries.Deloitte, The State of AI in the Enterpriseof organisations have realised the ROI they expected from AI, while 26% report developing innovative AI solutions; shadow AI diverting security teams’ attention and resources is part of the reason.
ISACA, 2025Software has a supply chain, and so does the AI an organisation runs. Each unmanaged link is a place data leaves, or a place something enters. Where JFrog’s research team measured that entry, the figure is on the link (JFrog, 2025 State of the Software Supply Chain Report).
A consumer subscription used for work, outside the company tenant.
Installed for one task; reads every page it is allowed to.
A coding assistant or helper pulled from a public extension registry.
A server added to a config file; the agent can now call it.
Downloaded and loaded locally, with whatever it carries.
Instructions and tools an agent runs as its own.
A token in a package, a model card or a config file.
A vendor feature switched on by default, processing your data.
The three things an organisation needs and, on the evidence, mostly does not have. The same three words are in Tracelet’s reason for existing.
of AI users bring their own AI tools to work.
Microsoft & LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend IndexAdoption is personal before it is organisational. A tool that was never procured is never in the inventory, so the first governance question, what is running, has no answer.
AI tool discovery and an inventory, then a catalogue of approved and tested tools.
of organisations have no AI governance policy at all.
IBM, 2025 Cost of a Data Breach ReportA written policy, and identity and access controls that apply to AI tools.
more, on average, when shadow AI contributes to a breach.
IBM, 2025 Cost of a Data Breach ReportWithout a record of who did what through which tool, the post-incident question is unanswerable.
Cross-functional governance, with IT, legal, HR and security in the same review.
ISACA’s five recommendations map one to one onto what a control plane does.ISACA, 2025
Ten questions across visibility, policy, identity and access, and accountability. Scored in your browser; nothing is sent or stored.
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