Shadow Data

Shadow data is information that is not stored, managed, and monitored as part of an organization's primary data governance process. Shadow data may also be referred to as unmanaged data. Examples of shadow data include data residing on unmanaged employee-owned devices, orphaned backups, and database copies residing in test and staging environments. Shadow data can present a high degree of risk to organizations, as it's not classified and monitored in the same way primary data stores are. This introduces risk that confidential or sensitive data may be compromised, and may also bring compliance violations and regulatory fines.