AI is proliferating across workplaces at an unprecedented pace, surpassing the integration rates of any technology in recent history. Every day, employees are connecting AI tools to enterprise systems—often without any approval or oversight from IT security teams. This phenomenon is referred to as shadow AI, a sprawling network of applications and integrations that have access to company data without any monitoring or control.
Dr. Tal Shapira, Co-Founder and CTO at Reco—a SaaS security and AI governance solution provider—warns that this invisible sprawl could pose one of the largest threats to organizations today. The rapid adoption of AI has significantly outpaced the development of enterprise safeguards. “We went from ‘AI is coming’ to ‘AI is everywhere’ in about 18 months. The problem is that governance frameworks simply haven’t caught up,” Shapira states.
The Invisible Risk Inside Company Systems
Shapira notes that most corporate security systems were designed in an era when all data remained behind firewalls and controlled network borders. Shadow AI disrupts this model by functioning internally, often hidden within the company’s existing tools. Many contemporary AI applications are built directly into everyday SaaS platforms like Salesforce, Slack, and Google Workspace. While this connectivity isn’t inherently risky, the permissions and plug-ins installed can remain active long after the original installer has stopped using them or even left the organization, amplifying the issue of shadow AI.
“The deeper issue is that these tools are embedding themselves into the company’s infrastructure, sometimes for months or years without detection,” Shapira points out. The new breed of risk is hard to track as many AI systems operate based on probabilistic models. Rather than following clear commands, AI makes predictions based on patterns, causing its actions to diverge in various contexts. This variability complicates review and control mechanisms.
When AI Goes Rogue
The repercussions of shadow AI are already painfully clear through real-world incidents. Reco recently assisted a Fortune 100 financial firm that thought its systems were secure and compliant. Within a matter of days after deploying Reco’s monitoring tools, the organization discovered over 1,000 unauthorized third-party integrations across Salesforce and Microsoft 365—more than half of which were powered by AI.
In one alarming case, a transcription tool connected to Zoom had been recording every customer call, including sensitive discussions about pricing and confidential feedback. As Shapira highlighted, “They were unknowingly training a third-party model on their most sensitive data.” In another scenario, an employee integrated ChatGPT with Salesforce, allowing the AI to rapidly generate internal reports. While this may seem efficient, it exposed crucial customer information and sales forecasts to an external AI system.
How Reco Detects the Undetected
Reco’s platform is meticulously designed to provide companies with complete visibility over which AI tools are linked to their systems and the data those tools can access. It continuously scans SaaS environments for OAuth grants, third-party apps, and browser extensions. Once these are identified, Reco informs administrators about who installed them, the permissions they hold, and whether their operations appear suspicious.
If a connection is deemed risky, the system can alert administrators or revoke access automatically. “Speed matters because AI tools can extract massive amounts of data in hours, not days,” asserts Shapira. Unlike traditional security products that hinge on network boundaries, Reco strategically targets the identity and access layer. This makes it particularly effective for today’s cloud-first, SaaS-heavy organizations where most data resides outside conventional firewalls.
A Wider Security Wake-Up Call
Industry analysts indicate that Reco’s efforts reflect a larger trend in enterprise security: the move from simply blocking AI to effectively governing it. A recent report from Cisco on AI readiness revealed that by 2025, 62% of organizations will have limited visibility into how employees are utilizing AI tools at work, and nearly half have already experienced at least one AI-related data incident.
As AI features become integrated into mainstream software—from Salesforce’s Einstein to Microsoft Copilot—the challenge intensifies. “You may think you’re using a trusted platform,” Shapira cautions, “but you might not realize that platform now has AI features accessing your data automatically.” Reco’s system aims to bridge this gap, monitoring both sanctioned and unsanctioned AI activities, to give companies a clearer understanding of their data flows.
Harnessing AI Securely
Shapira believes that enterprises are entering what he terms the AI infrastructure phase—where every business tool will incorporate some form of AI, visible or not. This transformative period underscores the necessity for continuous monitoring, least-privilege access, and short-lived permissions.
“The companies that succeed won’t be the ones blocking AI,” he asserts. “They’ll be the ones adopting it safely, with guardrails that protect both innovation and trust.” Shadow AI, he emphasizes, is not indicative of employee recklessness but a byproduct of the rapid pace of technological advancement. “People are striving for productivity,” he adds. “Our role is to ensure they can pursue that goal without jeopardizing the organization’s security.”
For enterprises eager to harness AI without relinquishing control over their data, Reco’s message is clear: You can’t secure what you can’t see.
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