Promevo CTO John Pettit Featured in IT Brew on the Hidden Risks of Test Platforms

COVINGTON, Ky., September 23, 2025 /IT Brew-As organizations race to build faster, smarter systems, IT leaders are sounding the alarm on a major oversight: the dangerous misuse of test environments.

In a recent feature by IT Brew, John Pettit, Chief Technology Officer at Promevo, joins other experts to shed light on how seemingly harmless test platforms can spiral into high-risk security situations. Pettit warns that the boundary between testing and staging is often blurred, creating vulnerabilities when developers unknowingly treat test systems like production environments—sometimes using real customer data without adequate safeguards.

Rob Forbes, now Field CISO at Stratascale, shared a cautionary tale where a major retailer’s test platform was mistakenly tied to production databases, leading to a scramble to contain the exposure. In response, his team overhauled their change-management processes and implemented data-scrubbing protocols to prevent sensitive leaks.

Pettit emphasizes that even so-called “test” environments deserve hardened security—especially when they touch credentials, connect to internal systems, or are publicly accessible. He advocates for production-grade safeguards like password rotation, identity-aware proxies, and SOC monitoring, stating: “That word ‘test’ is sort of a dangerous word to start with.”

Looking ahead, the risks are poised to grow with the rise of AI. As companies deploy agents with powerful access capabilities, Pettit and Forbes agree that stricter access controls and logging are essential. AI, they note, often prioritizes task completion over safety—underscoring the need for proactive security design even in early-stage environments.

Check out the full article on IT Brew to learn more. 

About Promevo

Promevo is a trusted Google Premier Partner that offers Google Workspace, Google Chrome, and Google Cloud Platform products, services, and proprietary software to help customers navigate, monitor, and optimize their Google technology infrastructure. Promevo is committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving business success through the power of Google solutions.