When businesses started turning to software as a service (SaaS) applications to help them streamline their processes, it became imperative for organizations to put in place security measures that would protect these applications. As traditional security models devised decades ago for on-premises infrastructure proved unworthy in the reality of cloud services, so does it come into SaaS security posture management whereby the company envisages such management as the overall responsibility entailed by covering both management and security of the SaaS environment.
Some of the Best Practices
Well-implemented SaaS security posture management goes a long way for enterprises in risk mitigation and compliance assurance while also reducing their cloud application threat landscape. Best practices that are put into consideration while implementing an efficient SaaS security posture management strategy are:
1. Understand the SaaS Ecosystem
Before implementation, SSPM needs an organization to know its SaaS ecosystem. First, all SaaS applications used throughout the organization should be mapped, including shadow IT apps that employees might have instituted on their own accord. They are risky if not properly handled.
Complete visibility into currently used SaaS tools enables organizations to assess the security and compliance requirements for each of their applications. This mapping exercise would ensure that no applications are left out and include all in the overall security-monitoring process.
2. Formulate a Comprehensive Security Baseline and Policies
As soon as an organization has completed the identification of all of its SaaS applications, it must develop the required security baseline and policies that will govern all these SaaS platforms. This covers such things as configuration standards, access controls, and data protection.
Thus, multifactor authorization and stringent password policies should be part of baseline security requirements for all SaaS platforms. Further, a well-defined access control policy would specify what roles different users require to minimize risk with respect to accessing sensitive data without the need for full permissions.
It is also an extra benefit to include even outside integration for management integration with the third-party application to be combined into SaaS applications so that no outside app could become a security risk.
3. Omnipresent with Continuous Monitoring and Incident Response
Just as flexible as a cloud system is, such are the risks it carries, so it will be worth it to have some constant monitoring so one knows always how secure the SaaS application will be. Any changes that occur in SaaS configurations or user actions would pick up on new risks as soon as they are available.
This monitoring, however, also should be supplemented with a prompt incident response strategy to support quick responses to risks or breaches that have been rightly detected. Most SSPMs would, as a rule, have some level of incident response functionalities, including the triggering of alerts and automated corrective actions, as well as the generation of compliance audit reports. Such tools would even help the security team trace the origin of security incidents, thus making it quick to take corrective action.
4. Acknowledge a Regular Review and Update of Security Configurations
Most applications today will at one time or another end up bringing out newer and newer versions of their SaaS application, which one instance have new and different improved features, then completely change the application’s configurations. As such, organizations should see these changes frequently reviewed against their security measures. This will ensure that security best practices and policies are maintained across all applications.
Conclusion
It is also a need for organizations that could be dependent on SaaS for their operations to put in place SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) systems. Such practical measures concerning security baselines and automated risk detection would put any organization well on its way to significantly reducing security risk and protecting sensitive data. Meticulously ensure that there are solid SSPM schemes towards the protection of datasets as organizations would do in today’s rapidly evolving digital increasingly complex with SaaS models.
