How is this different from a CASB?

A traditional CASB enforces policy at the network or API layer — actively blocking or proxying SaaS traffic. Lavawall® SaaS discovery focuses on *visibility and attribution* without enforcing at the network layer. For most MSP clients, visibility and conversation are sufficient; for those who need active enforcement, Lavawall® coexists with CASBs.

Does this catch shadow AI specifically?

Yes — the catalog explicitly covers generative-AI services and the integrations that route through them. The per-user attribution makes the conversation concrete: "User X has used ChatGPT 47 times this month — should we sanction it via the corporate ChatGPT account or have a usage discussion?"

How does this protect against rogue-AI data leakage?

Visibility is the first line of defence. Once you know which users are using which AI services, you can deploy a sanctioned alternative (corporate ChatGPT Team / Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot, etc.) and use Lavawall® to confirm migration is happening. Combined with the Lavawall® Outlook Phishing Reporter and email-domain reputation tracking, it closes most of the staff-as-data-leak pathway.

How does the catalog stay current?

The 1,130+ catalog is maintained by the Lavawall® / ThreeShield team and continuously expanded. New SaaS applications are added as they appear; the changelog records additions.

Best SaaS discovery and shadow-AI detection tools for MSPs (2026)

In 2024 and 2025, "shadow AI" went from a thought-experiment to an active risk. Staff who would never have emailed a CSV of customer records to a stranger now routinely paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to "summarise it" — leaking the same sensitive data, just through a different channel.

Traditional shadow-IT discovery relies on parsing firewall logs for known SaaS hostnames. The signal-to-noise ratio is terrible: a busy office firewall sees thousands of distinct hostnames per day, most of which are CDN endpoints, telemetry pings, or one-off API calls.

A useful SaaS-discovery / shadow-AI tool produces a *curated* list of applications, attributes them to specific users, and lets the MSP designate which applications are sanctioned, which are review-pending, and which are unauthorised — without the price tag of an enterprise CASB.

What to look for

Curated SaaS catalog. A raw firewall log is not SaaS discovery. Look for tools that maintain a curated catalog of recognised SaaS applications mapped to vendor, category, and risk profile, so noise is filtered out before you see the report.
AI-application coverage. Look for explicit coverage of generative AI services (OpenAI / ChatGPT, Anthropic / Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, Mistral, Grok, GitHub Copilot, etc.) — and the long tail of integrations that quietly route through them.
User attribution. Knowing that 200 hostnames touched a category is useless. Knowing *which user* used *which application* lets you have an actual conversation about it.
Authorisation workflow. You need a way to mark applications as sanctioned, review-pending, or unauthorised — and to highlight unauthorised alternatives within a category that the user could be redirected to.
No enterprise CASB price tag. Enterprise CASBs are typically priced per user per month at SMB-unfriendly rates. Look for tools designed for the MSP economic model.
Bundled with the rest of the security stack. Standalone shadow-IT tools add another invoice. Bundled platforms keep the workflow in one console.

Options to evaluate

Lavawall®Curated 1,130+ SaaS catalog with shadow-AI detection bundled into the platform

Reviews email metadata against a curated 1,130+ SaaS application catalog to limit false positives. Identifies how many people (and which specific users) use each SaaS service. Search by category, designate categories as authorised, and highlight unauthorised alternatives. Coverage includes the major generative-AI services (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot) and the tools that integrate with them. Bundled with the Lavawall® platform — no separate per-user CASB invoice.

Best when: MSPs that want SaaS / shadow-AI discovery as part of an integrated security platform with no enterprise-CASB pricing.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (MDCA)Native Microsoft CASB

Microsoft's CASB, included in some E5 SKUs. Strong cloud-app catalog and policy controls if the customer is on the right Microsoft licence and configured. Multi-tenant for MSPs is heavier than most need.

Best when: Enterprises on Microsoft E5 / E5 Security with dedicated security teams.

Netskope, Zscaler, Cisco Umbrella + CASB add-onsEnterprise CASBs / SASE

Mature enterprise CASBs with deep policy enforcement at the network layer. Powerful but priced for enterprise; integration overhead non-trivial for MSPs.

Best when: Large enterprises with dedicated network-security teams.

Standalone shadow-IT discovery toolsSpecialty tools

A growing category of tools that focus on shadow-IT visibility from finance / SaaS-spend angles or HR / leaver-process angles. Useful within their niche; a separate invoice on top of your security stack.

Best when: Finance or procurement-led shadow-IT projects rather than security-led.

How Lavawall® fits

Lavawall® takes a deliberately curated approach. Rather than parsing every hostname your firewall sees, the platform reviews email metadata against a curated 1,130+ application catalog to identify SaaS usage with low false-positive rates. The result: a list of applications that are genuinely in use, attributed to specific users, organised by category.

For shadow-AI specifically, the curated catalog includes the major generative-AI services and the long tail of tools that integrate with them. MSPs and clients can designate AI usage as sanctioned, review-pending, or unauthorised — and the report highlights unauthorised alternatives within categories where the client has chosen a sanctioned tool.

Because SaaS discovery is bundled into the Lavawall® platform alongside patching, GRC, and breach detection, the data feeds directly into compliance evidence (CMMC 2.0 SC.L2-3.13.6, NIST CSF DE.CM-7, CIS Control 16, SOC 2 CC6.6) without a separate integration tax.

Frequently asked

How is this different from a CASB?: A traditional CASB enforces policy at the network or API layer — actively blocking or proxying SaaS traffic. Lavawall® SaaS discovery focuses on *visibility and attribution* without enforcing at the network layer. For most MSP clients, visibility and conversation are sufficient; for those who need active enforcement, Lavawall® coexists with CASBs.
Does this catch shadow AI specifically?: Yes — the catalog explicitly covers generative-AI services and the integrations that route through them. The per-user attribution makes the conversation concrete: "User X has used ChatGPT 47 times this month — should we sanction it via the corporate ChatGPT account or have a usage discussion?"
How does this protect against rogue-AI data leakage?: Visibility is the first line of defence. Once you know which users are using which AI services, you can deploy a sanctioned alternative (corporate ChatGPT Team / Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot, etc.) and use Lavawall® to confirm migration is happening. Combined with the Lavawall® Outlook Phishing Reporter and email-domain reputation tracking, it closes most of the staff-as-data-leak pathway.
How does the catalog stay current?: The 1,130+ catalog is maintained by the Lavawall® / ThreeShield team and continuously expanded. New SaaS applications are added as they appear; the changelog records additions.