Shadow AI Discovery

Shadow AI Discovery is the service Portal26 offers for identifying generative and agentic AI usage across an organisation, including tools adopted outside sanctioned channels. Portal26 states that the service delivers 200% more shadow AI discovery than legacy secure web gateways and data loss prevention products. It is listed as a capability for CISOs and CIOs under the platform's "Secure & Govern" grouping, and also appears among the capabilities offered to forward-deployed engineers under "Discover & Deliver". The company frames discovery as the starting point of adoption management, on the basis that governance depends on first knowing what AI is in use.

  • Claimed 200% more shadow AI discovery than legacy SWGs and DLP
  • Listed for CISO and CIO audiences
  • Also offered to forward-deployed engineers for use case design
  • Answers the platform question "What's going on?"

Sources: Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform, Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform

Related platform capabilities

Shadow AI Discovery is delivered as part of a wider capability set rather than in isolation. For security and IT leadership, Portal26 lists it alongside AI risk management and security, AI prompt protection, AI audit and forensics, AI policy management, and AI data security and governance. For data and AI leadership, the platform adds analytics and value-focused capabilities. Portal26 describes itself as providing full-life cycle management of AI consumption from security through to ROI.

  • AI Risk Management & Security
  • AI Prompt Protection
  • AI Audit & Forensics
  • AI Policy Management
  • AI Data Security & Governance
  • AI Adoption Analytics
  • AI User Intent & Use Case Discovery
  • AI Value Realization
  • AI License Intelligence
  • Secure Enterprise Search

Sources: Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform, Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform

Service delivery and scale

Portal26 publishes figures for how quickly the platform can be brought into use and the scale at which it operates. The company cites a 30-minute activation and 72 hours to ROI, and reports more than one billion transactions per month and over 550,000 users. Prospective customers are directed to schedule a demo through the website.

  • 30 minute activation
  • 72 hours to ROI
  • 1 billion+ transactions per month
  • 550k+ users
  • Demo scheduling via the website

Sources: Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform, Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform

Published guidance on shadow AI and governance

Portal26 publishes blog and news content under its AI Insights section that relates to the discovery and governance services it offers. Recent posts listed there include material on shadow AI governance tooling, AI oversight standards and MSP AI partnerships. The company also publishes a CXO guide covering generative AI governance and responsible use, which distinguishes responsible GenAI usage from responsible GenAI creation.

  • AI Insights blog covering AI adoption and management
  • Posts on shadow AI governance tools and AI oversight standards
  • CXO Guide for Generative AI Governance + Responsible Use

Sources: AI Insights | Blogs, News & Events from Portal26, CXO Guide For AI Governance & Responsible Use Strategy | Portal26

Software Portal26 AI Vault Portal26 product supporting responsible creation of GenAI via clean training data pipelines.
Product Portal26 GenAI Governance Suite Suite addressing two of the three responsible AI requirements, comprising Portal26 Trail and Portal26 AI Vault.
Software Portal26 Trail GenAI Governance and AI TRiSM platform supporting responsible usage of GenAI across the enterprise.
Product Portal26 Plugin for Elasticsearch Plugin delivering NIST FIPS 140-2 validated searchable encryption-in-use for Elasticsearch data.
Product Recon by Portal26 Portal26 capability letting users ask plain language questions of their AI data for immediate, actionable answers.
Event 2023 Cyber Security Predictions Survey Portal26 survey finding data security remains a top priority for enterprises in 2023.
Other Generative AI Core subject of Portal26's content: AI systems creating text, images or other media, driving enterprise adoption and risk.
Event State of Generative AI Survey Portal26 survey carried out in 2023 finding 84% of respondents already using generative AI.
Topic AI Insights Portal26's blog and news hub covering AI adoption, enterprise data security and industry trends.
Other AI TRiSM AI trust, risk and security management concept tied to Portal26's generative AI governance platform.
Organisation BianLian Ransomware Gang Young cyber threat group shifting from encryption to extortion tactics, analysed in a Portal26 CISO guide.
Organisation BlackCat Ransomware ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware-as-a-service group first emerging in December 2021, covered in a Portal26 article.
Topic Daixin Team Ransomware Group Ransomware and data extortion group targeting the healthcare sector, covered in a Portal26 blog post.
Software Elasticsearch Enterprise search platform whose indexes cannot be encrypted without breaking search, creating a data security gap.
Topic FIPS 140 NIST standard for security requirements for cryptographic modules, explained in a Portal26 blog post.
Service Shadow AI Discovery Portal26 capability for discovering unsanctioned AI usage across the enterprise.
portal26 ai adoption management platform enterprise ai platform shadow ai discovery portal26 ai platform ai visibility and governance platform

Sources

  1. Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform https://portal26.ai/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  2. 3 Strategies to Maximize Cybersecurity Budgets for Data Security https://portal26.ai/cisos-guide-cybersecurity-budgets-for-data-security/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  3. FIPS 140 and what it means to be "FIPS compliant" | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/fips-140-and-what-it-means-to-be-fips-compliant/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  4. Daixin Team Ransomware Group Protection | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/ransomware-prevention-daixin-team-ransomware-group/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  5. BianLian Ransomware Gang: Everything CISOs Need To Know | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/bianlian-ransomware-gang-everything-cisos-need-to-know/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  6. Ransomware Prevention: Protecting against BlackCat Ransomware | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/protection-against-blackcat-ransomware-attacks/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  7. Keeping Elasticsearch data secure from attacks | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/keeping-elasticsearch-data-secure-from-attacks-and-exposure/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  8. CISOs Guide: 4 Data Security Strategies For Success | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/cisos-guide-top-four-data-security-strategies-for-2023/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  9. Unlocking GenAI Insights for Operational Efficiency | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/unlock-genai-insights-for-operational-efficiency/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  10. CXO Guide For AI Governance & Responsible Use Strategy | Portal26 https://portal26.ai/cxo-guide-for-generative-ai-governance/ Verified 01 Nov 2026
  11. Portal26 | The AI-First Enterprise Platform http://portal26.ai/
  12. AI Insights | Blogs, News & Events from Portal26 https://portal26.ai/blog/

Last verified 01 Nov 2026. This entry is compiled from the public web pages listed above. Nothing here is stated that those pages do not, and each of them was read on the date shown.