How is this different from a CASB?

Traditional CASBs enforce policy at the network or API layer, actively blocking or proxying traffic. Lavawall® focuses on visibility and attribution without network-layer enforcement. Most MSP clients benefit first from visibility and a conversation; active enforcement can coexist with a CASB when it is genuinely needed.

Does this catch shadow AI specifically?

Yes. The catalogue explicitly covers generative-AI services and their integrations. Per-user attribution enables a concrete conversation: "User X accessed ChatGPT 47 times this month, so should we provision corporate ChatGPT Team or discuss the usage?"

How does this protect against rogue-AI data leakage?

Visibility is the first layer of defence. Once usage patterns are identified, you can deploy sanctioned alternatives (corporate ChatGPT Team or Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot) and confirm the migration in Lavawall®. Combined with the Outlook Phishing Reporter and email-domain reputation tracking, this addresses most employee-as-data-leak risk.

How does the catalogue stay current?

The 1,130+ catalogue is maintained by the Lavawall® and ThreeShield team and expands continuously as new SaaS applications emerge. The changelog documents additions.

SaaS discovery & shadow-AI detection

Best SaaS discovery and shadow-AI detection tools for MSPs

Your firewall log shows thousands of distinct SaaS hostnames. Most are noise. A few are unsanctioned ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini sessions where staff paste client data straight into a generative-AI prompt. The job is to find those few without drowning in the rest.

Start free, no credit card See what to look for

The short answer: the best SaaS-discovery tool for an MSP surfaces a curated list of applications people actually use, attributes each one to specific users, lets you mark it sanctioned or unauthorized, and covers generative-AI services explicitly, all without an enterprise CASB price tag. Lavawall® does this by reviewing email metadata against a curated 1,130+ application catalogue and bundling the result with the rest of the security platform, so shadow-AI findings feed compliance evidence instead of arriving as a separate invoice.

Why shadow-AI discovery is hard

Shadow AI moved from a theoretical worry to an active risk over 2024 and 2025. Staff now routinely paste sensitive customer records into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot to summarise or analyse them. The data leaves through a browser tab, not through email, so the usual controls never see it.

Traditional shadow-IT discovery makes the problem worse by giving you a poor signal-to-noise ratio. Pointed at raw firewall data, it returns thousands of hostnames that are mostly CDN endpoints, telemetry, and one-off API calls. The handful of unsanctioned AI sessions that matter are buried in the noise.

What to look for

Six criteria separate a useful SaaS-discovery tool from a firewall-log dump.

Curated SaaS catalogue

Noise filtered out through recognised applications mapped to vendor, category, and risk profile, not raw hostnames.

AI-application coverage

Explicit detection of OpenAI / ChatGPT, Anthropic / Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and their integrations.

User attribution

A clear connection between a specific application and the specific users behind it.

Authorization workflow

The ability to mark an application sanctioned, pending review, or unauthorized.

MSP-appropriate pricing

No enterprise per-user-per-month CASB costs for a job that is mostly visibility.

Platform integration

Bundled with your broader security tools rather than arriving as a standalone invoice.

Options to evaluate

Lavawall®

A curated 1,130+ SaaS catalogue with shadow-AI detection bundled into the platform. It reviews email metadata against the catalogue, identifies usage by user count and by named individual, supports category-based authorization workflows, and includes the major generative-AI services. Pricing stays inside the platform bundle rather than a separate CASB line.

Best for: MSPs that want integrated discovery without enterprise CASB expense.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (MDCA)

Microsoft's native CASB, included in select E5 SKUs, with a strong catalogue and policy controls for properly licensed customers.

Best for: Enterprise environments on Microsoft E5 or E5 Security with a dedicated security team.

Netskope, Zscaler, Cisco Umbrella plus CASB add-ons

Enterprise-grade CASBs with network-layer policy enforcement. Integration complexity and pricing favour large enterprises over MSPs.

Best for: Large enterprises with dedicated network-security staff.

Standalone shadow-IT discovery tools

Specialty tools that approach discovery from a finance-and-spend or HR-and-offboarding angle. Useful within their niche, but they need separate invoicing.

Best for: Finance or procurement-led initiatives rather than security-focused projects.

How Lavawall® fits

Rather than parsing every firewall hostname, Lavawall® reviews email metadata against its curated 1,130+ application catalogue. That produces low-false-positive results, so you see genuinely active applications organised by category and attributed to specific individuals.

For shadow AI in particular, the catalogue includes the major generative-AI services and their integrations. You and your client can designate that AI usage as sanctioned, pending review, or unauthorized, and reports highlight unauthorized alternatives when a sanctioned option already exists in the same category.

Because discovery is part of the broader Lavawall® platform, including patching, GRC, and breach detection, the SaaS-discovery data feeds compliance evidence directly, with no separate integration to build or maintain.

Start free →Map findings to a framework

Frequently asked

How is this different from a CASB?: Traditional CASBs enforce policy at the network or API layer, actively blocking or proxying traffic. Lavawall® focuses on visibility and attribution without network-layer enforcement. Most MSP clients benefit first from visibility and a conversation; active enforcement can coexist with a CASB when it is genuinely needed.
Does this catch shadow AI specifically?: Yes. The catalogue explicitly covers generative-AI services and their integrations. Per-user attribution enables a concrete conversation: "User X accessed ChatGPT 47 times this month, so should we provision corporate ChatGPT Team or discuss the usage?"
How does this protect against rogue-AI data leakage?: Visibility is the first layer of defence. Once usage patterns are identified, you can deploy sanctioned alternatives (corporate ChatGPT Team or Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot) and confirm the migration in Lavawall®. Combined with the Outlook Phishing Reporter and email-domain reputation tracking, this addresses most employee-as-data-leak risk.
How does the catalogue stay current?: The 1,130+ catalogue is maintained by the Lavawall® and ThreeShield team and expands continuously as new SaaS applications emerge. The changelog documents additions.