As SaaS adoption explodes across organizations of every size, one dangerous trend continues to grow quietly in the background: unmanaged SaaS applications.
These apps often fly under the radar of IT and security teams, but they can introduce serious risk - from data leakage to identity sprawl.
In this blog, we break down what unmanaged SaaS really means, why it is growing, the top risks it introduces, and how security teams can get ahead of it before it leads to a breach.
Unmanaged SaaS applications are cloud-based tools that employees use without formal approval, oversight, or monitoring by the IT or security team.
These apps are often:
Because they bypass security controls and do not go through vendor risk reviews, they create “shadow IT”: an environment where sensitive data can be exposed, identities go untracked, and misconfigurations are left unaddressed.
Managed SaaS applications are officially sanctioned and monitored by your IT or security team.
Think of your licensed Microsoft 365 tenant, your corporate Salesforce instance, or your configured Okta directory.
Unmanaged SaaS applications are tools employees sign up for on their own without IT approval, configuration, or oversight.
These can include:
These apps may not show up in your security dashboards, but they often connect to company data, store sensitive info, or have access permissions via SSO or Google Workspace.
Across organizations we work with at Perimeters.io, here are some of the most frequent offenders:
These apps may not be inherently risky tools, but when connected without oversight, they expand your attack surface dramatically with possible repercussions.
Employees may store sensitive customer or company data in personal SaaS accounts, outside your compliance boundaries.
OAuth permissions granted to unmanaged apps can linger even after the employee leaves.
Often with high-level access to company systems.
Unmanaged apps are not monitored for insecure settings, such as public file shares, open APIs, or unrestricted access controls.
Sensitive data processed through unauthorized apps may violate SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, or ISO 27001 standards.
If a breach involves an unmanaged app, you may not even know it exists.
Let alone have logs or visibility to investigate.
You can't secure what you can't see.
You will need a SaaS security platform like Perimeters.io to:
Map app usage back to your HR systems, SSO, and IdPs (like Okta or Azure AD) to detect:
Establish clear guidelines for:
Use tools that offer auto-revocation, access expiry alerts, and approval workflows.
Manually chasing employees will not scale.
Most shadow SaaS starts with good intentions.
Give employees safe alternatives, and explain the risk of bypassing IT security: such as data leaks and risky access grants.
Unmanaged SaaS applications are not just a minor nuisance, they are a growing blind spot in your cloud security posture.
As more employees become buyers of their own tools, it’s up to security teams to stay one step ahead.
With Perimeters.io, you can shine a light on your entire SaaS environment.
No agents, no browser extensions, just instant visibility.
Book a demo and discover how leading security teams are using Perimeters to detect, govern, and remediate unmanaged SaaS applications.
.png)
