Many companies now use SaaS as their standard method of consuming business apps. According to Productiv, a company that develops software to assist companies in controlling their application expenditure, in 2023, the average company will have utilized 342 SaaS applications.
The manner in which businesses use SaaS solutions complicates attempts to safeguard sensitive data and prevent data breaches in addition to the volume. Organizations choose according to the needs, objectives, legal restrictions, and so forth of their specific industry.
It follows that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all, one-and-done SaaS security checklist. All the same, most scenarios can benefit from the application of some SaaS security guidelines and techniques. Several best practices to think about are as follows.
1. Identify and Categorize Applications
The easy implementation of SaaS is one of the reasons that it is so alluring. This easiness is a curse as well as a gift. New users can easily use a tool, leading to a rapid increase in the number of users almost overnight.
These adoption dynamics complicate SaaS management. According to a BetterCloud “2023 State of SaaSOps” study poll of IT experts, up to 65% of SaaS software usage is unapproved, indicating that the shadow IT legacy is still very much alive and thriving.
Using both automated and manual techniques, a company can determine which SaaS applications are in use. It is also prudent to have plans in place for collecting and verifying use data. Improved SaaS inventory, for instance, could be combined with other ongoing data-collecting initiatives.
Among the methods to obtain intelligence about SaaS apps in the environment are business impact analysis, which gathers information about the usage and relative priority of applications for business continuity purposes, and evidence collection for audit response.
Add the data to an ongoing inventory or runbook linked to the commercial use of these SaaS solutions as you gather it.
2. Put Single Sign-On into Practice
While gathering and documenting usage data is helpful, you also need tactics that reinforce the desired secure results. One especially good illustration of this is single sign-on (SSO). One of the major headaches with SaaS, from a user perspective, can be the increasing number of identities among the many business applications being used.
A user may have thousands of username-password combinations, which is inconvenient for them and poses management and security issues, such as staff writing down their passwords or users swapping passwords across services.
A few SaaS vendors give the choice to link with an outside identity supplier. These traits support discovery even though they are useful on their own. The end consumer gains immediately from not having to learn another username-password combination; in fact, customers might exert pressure for this feature to be implemented in situations when it isn’t.
It is a positive thing that the user community is pressuring SSO since it highlights SaaS activity that the security personnel might not otherwise be aware of. It also extends access logging into the SaaS domain and links together the authentication restrictions (such as MFA and toughness of password parameters).
3. Switch on Multifactor Authentication
Synchronization of the user’s identity with the current, regularly used identity provider is one of the primary ways to enable MFA. There is another approach, though.
Though some SaaS apps do not directly offer SSO (via SAML or OIDC), they do provide an option for MFA using one or more supported techniques, including a text or time-based, one-time password.
Using that functionality and imposing it on all users can also be beneficial in circumstances when MFA is supported.
4. Vet and Oversee the Process
SaaS providers and apps should be evaluated just as suppliers should be reviewed and validated from a supply chain viewpoint. As well as the vendor’s security profile, you want to know how the application is being used—that is, who is utilizing it for what business reason.
List the security measures that are at your disposal. Exist, for instance, optional privacy and data protection features? Know the basic presumptions of the product and which aspects of safeguarding usage fall under your shared responsibility fence as well.
5. Use Data Encryption
TLS protects data in transit on most channels used for interaction with SaaS applications. Many SaaS providers offer encryption to protect data at rest. Some providers include this functionality as a standard feature, while others require clients to specifically activate it.
If given the choice, making the decision to activate data encryption features is smart. Inform your suppliers that you want encryption included if they do not already offer it.
6. Consider SSPM
Management of the security posture of SaaS is another choice. SSPM shares certain aspects of the cloud’s security management. CSPM helps you more successfully guarantee enforcement of a specific security model across several cloud installations. SSPM supports initiatives to guarantee that SaaS platforms have uniform security policies and enforcement.
Vendors of SSPM tools have already translated particular technical policy objectives into the native setup of various SaaS services; they may then poll those services to make sure the setup is in the intended state. And they alert you if it’s not.
7. Keep Situational Awareness
As always, watch how you use SaaS. Examine logs and other information supplied by the service providers, together with data from internal tools—including a CASB if you have one—to determine where and how you are leveraging SaaS.
Tip: Consider integrating advanced digital tools like Bitcoin Loophole to assist in managing and monitoring your SaaS environments. These tools can provide real-time insights and automated responses to potential security threats, enhancing your overall security posture.
Takeaway
Leaders in IT and security need to realize that a SaaS solution is a potent instrument that needs the same level of protection as any other business application.
Organizations may guarantee that customers use SaaS safely and that consumption remains safe by implementing these SaaS security steps in addition to systematic risk management procedures and regular security assessments. By leveraging advanced digital trade assistance tools like Quantum AI, startups can further bolster their security measures and stay ahead of emerging threats.
