The Great Repeating Cycle of Shadow Innovation

- Michael Piacente, Hitch Partners

History in the technology sector is cyclical, not linear. By 2010, we were already seeing the "Super Tool" of Cloud Computing; in 2026, it is Agentic AI. In both eras, the pattern remains identical: Engineering teams were the first to adopt a transformative engine that bypasses IT, creates massive "Shadow" footprints, and eventually forces Security to stop being a gatekeeper and start being an "engineer." This evolution is what shifted the industry from traditional IT Security to Application Security (AppSec), and is now driving the transition into Autonomous Product Security.

In the Fall of 2012, I received a call from the CEO of an iconic Silicon Valley software provider who was seeking a CIO for a reason I had yet to hear: Cost Containment of their rising compute and storage bills.  It wasn’t the typical ERP, CRM implementation, or data center consolidation; this was new, and admittedly, it took a few more calls from other software companies to realize that we were in the middle of a fundamental power shift.

The 2012 Blueprint — The Birth of “Shadow Infrastructure”

By 2010, early evidence of the modern CISO and the CISO-CIO divergence began to take shape in the form of ‘cost containment’. Beneath the surface of rising compute and storage bills lay a fundamental shift in power and skill set.

  • The Catalyst: Engineering teams discovered the Cloud, specifically AWS. For the first time, they had a tool that allowed them to design, build, and push products to market as pure code, bypassing the weeks-long procurement cycles of traditional IT.

  • The Shadow Engine: By creating their own "Shadow IT" engines, engineers gained unprecedented efficiency. The business loved the speed, but IT was left behind, lacking the tools to govern an environment they didn't procure.

  • The Security Fix: IT couldn't solve a problem rooted in software. The solution came from a new breed of Security Engineers who thought, acted, and built like software developers.

  • The Outcome: This was the mass-market birth of AppSec and Product Security. Security shifted from a "networking problem" to a "code problem," fundamentally changing the CISO's mandate.

The 2026 Mirror — The Rise of “Shadow Intelligence”

As we enter 2026, history is repeating itself with Generative and Agentic AI. However, the scale and velocity of this cycle make the Cloud revolution look like a slow-motion film.

  • The Super-Charged Engine: AI coding tools have become the ultimate engine for architects and developers. Using only keystrokes or voice commands, engineers are building and releasing code at a speed that dwarfs the 2010 era.

  • Instantaneous Adoption: Unlike the Cloud, which took years to permeate every business function, AI adoption is instantaneous. Every functional leader—from Marketing to Finance—now has the power to learn and implement AI tools independently. Intelligence has become widespread and all-but free for the business.

  • The New "Shadow Security" Crisis: This has created a "Shadow Security" environment far riskier than its predecessor. When thoughts are transformed into code via AI without traditional oversight, the surface area for vulnerabilities explodes.

The 2026 Mandate: From AppSec to Agentic Guardrails

Just as 2010 required security professionals to think, act, and speak like software engineers, 2026 requires security professionals to think, act, and speak as Platform Orchestrators.

  • The Shift: In the coming months, every business function will spin up its own agentic workflows—autonomous AI agents that move data and make decisions.

  • The Solution: It will no longer be IT’s job to manage these tools; it will be Security’s job to build the automated guardrails that enable the business to move fast without flying off the tracks.

The "Succession Crisis" we see today is partly due to this shift: we are looking for leaders who can bridge this 15-year gap. The winners in 2026 will be those who recognize that AI isn't just a new tool—it's the 2010 Cloud revolution on steroids, requiring a security response that is as autonomous and agentic as the threats it faces.