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Suppose you use a SaaS application to store sensitive data, assuming your information is secure. Unexpectedly, a data breach happens and results in a massive data leak. The SaaS provider claims that the contract didn’t cover security and nothing can be done. 

Unfortunately, this kind of situation happens a lot due to negligence in security. According to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023, the average expense of a data breach has risen by 15% over the past three years, reaching $4.45 million. 

Cybercriminals often target SaaS systems because they hold vast amounts of both customer and corporate information. Many companies mistakenly believe that their SaaS providers handle security, only to realize too late that security responsibilities were never clearly outlined.

This is where Protection-Level Agreements (PLAs) come into play. Unlike typical Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) that mainly focus on performance, PLAs specify security measures, compliance requirements, and risk management plans. 

By adopting PLAs, organizations can make sure that data protection is a contractual requirement rather than just an assumption. In this guide, we will discuss the essentials of a Protection Level Agreement, its importance, key elements, and different metrics to track PLA effectiveness. 

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TL;DR

• Protection-level agreements (PLAs) safeguard SaaS security by defining encryption, access controls, compliance, and breach response measures, ensuring security isn't just an assumption but a contractual obligation.
• PLAs differ from SLAs by focusing on data protection rather than performance metrics like uptime and latency, ensuring SaaS vendors and customers share clear security responsibilities.
• A strong Protection-Level Agreement covers key elements such as data classification, security controls, role assignments, and breach response, preventing security gaps and compliance risks.
• Tracking PLA performance using key metrics like incident response time, compliance adherence, data breaches, and access control violations helps organizations maintain security standards.
• CloudEagle.ai streamlines Protection-Level Agreement management by centralizing contracts, automating compliance tracking, and ensuring vendor accountability, helping businesses enhance SaaS security effortlessly.

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1. What is a Protection-Level Agreement?

A Protection- Level Agreement or PLA is merely an agreement between a SaaS vendor and a customer that specifies some security procedures. It lays down specific regulations concerning encryption, data classification, access controls, compliance requirements, and processes for managing security incidents.

Protection-level Agreements are contracts that provide clear expectations among CEOs and cyber teams by detailing specific, result-driven KPIs. Contrary to regular performance measures, which tend to concentrate on technical outcomes, PLAs specifies on: 

• Safeguarding Data: Different types of data, such as financial records, internal documents, and customer information need to be safeguarded.
• Data Protection Controls: Some of the controls to safeguard this data are encryption, multi-factor authentication, and zero-trust policies.
• Responsibilities and Role: Who is responsible for implementing security controls, whether it is the customer, SaaS provider, or both.
• Incident Response and Breach Management: Procedures to be adopted in the event of a security breach, including responsibility, legal repercussions, and incident response procedures.

A. Core Difference Between PLAs and SLAs

Although Protection-Level Agreements and Service-Level Agreements are both service contracts, they cater to different requirements.

SLAs, primarily target performance measurements, ensuring that a SaaS vendor adheres to such requirements as uptime, latency, and response time. The agreements ensure the application is running and available.

While Protection-Level Agreements emphasize data security and protection, rather than performance measurement, this contract defines how data must be protected, who is accountable for security measures, and what occurs in case of a breach.

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2. Why PLAs Matter in SaaS Management

As companies more and more depend on SaaS apps, these applications need to be secured. The threats against SaaS providers through cyber attacks are on the rise, and this makes PLAs an essential security measure.

A. Role of Protection-Level Agreements in SaaS Application Security

SaaS security is usually a joint responsibility of the provider and the customer. Without Protection-level Agreements, it's not clear what each is liable for, resulting in security holes. A good PLA guarantees:

• Encryption standards are fulfilled, protecting data in transit and at rest.
• Access control policies are established, blocking unauthorized logins.
• Incident response plans exist, providing an immediate response to threats.

In 2023, a Gartner report found that 80% of organizations utilizing SaaS applications had one or more misconfigured security settings, resulting in exposure of data. A Protection- Level Agreement addresses these risks by establishing clear security commitments.

B. Compliance and Risk Management Benefits

Compliance policies such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and SOC 2 require stringent data protection policies. In the absence of a PLA, you might unintentionally breach compliance rules, resulting in penalties, lawsuits, and loss of reputation.

Also, cyber attacks can result in significant financial loss. IBM research discovered that firms with clearly outlined security policies (including PLAs) saved $2.2 million per incident.

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3. Key Elements of a Strong Protection-Level Agreement

A robust PLA should cover several layers of security to offer end-to-end protection from cyber threats. To build a strong PLA, 4 critical aspects need focus: 

A. Data Classification Tiers

A Protection- Level Agreement classifies data according to sensitivity because not all data require the same level of protection. Categorizing different types of data makes it easy to implement the right control. 

• Public Data: These data have no security threats as they are for public consumption (e.g., blog entries, and marketing materials).
• Internal Data: These types of data have internal company information, that would not cause much damage if exposed (e.g., internal reports, tea, discussions).
• Confidential Data: If this type of data is exposed, it can lead to financial and legal risks, so they require robust protection (e.g., customer information, and financial reports).
• Highly Sensitive Data: They control the highest number of sensitive data and therefore require role-based access controls (e.g., personal health data, trade secrets, and government documents, among others).

B. Required Security Controls Per Tier

After data is classified, each tier carries different types of security controls and has specific protection measures. For each data category, a Protection-Level Agreement should establish clear security controls, including:

• Encryption: Data must be encrypted in transit and at rest to prevent unauthorized access. This is essential for highly sensitive data. This practice is crucial for adhering to GDPR and HIPAA regulations.

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA adds an extra layer of security by 

Asking for two or more authentication factors before granting access. This helps in preventing the risk of unauthorized access. 

• Zero-Trust Policies: A zero-trust framework guarantees that no user or device is inherently trusted. Access is provided solely when it is essential, thereby decreasing the risk of insider threats and lessening the potential attack surface.

• Security Audits: Carrying out frequent security audits is essential in ensuring compliance and discovering vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

Well-structured protection level agreement ensures each category and tier of data has precise security controls. This ensures that no critical data is overlooked and unprotected. 

C. Roles and Responsibilities

A Protection- Level Agreement specifically states who is responsible for enforcing security controls. In the absence of this, gaps in accountability can arise and cause security breaches and compliance problems. Primarily, SaaS vendors and customers both have security responsibilities.

• SaaS Providers: They are accountable for securing the cloud infrastructure, and encryption standards, ensuring compliance, and cyber threat monitoring. Their task is to safeguard the backend systems and ensure security measures are consistently enforced.

• Customers: The customer is responsible for ensuring access security, user permission handling, and employee education. A PLA must detail how customer-side security policies are to be enforced, such as identity and access management (IAM) controls, endpoint security, and phishing awareness training.

A robust Protection- Level Agreement avoids complexity in security controls, it ensures both parties understand their role and contribution to overall security. 

D. Breach Response and Accountability

There is no security system that is invulnerable to threats, and a clear breach response plan is therefore important in a Protection Level Agreement. Here are some important factors that need to be considered: 

• Incident Detection Timelines: A PLA would demand that SaaS providers detect and report security breaches within a certain time frame (e.g., within 24 hours of finding out about them). The sooner a breach is found, the sooner harm can be halted.
• Customer Notice Requirements: Businesses must be alerted to a data breach in real time to allow them to respond immediately. A PLA would contain notice timelines that would inform the impacted users within hours, not days.
• Liability and Financial Responsibility: Who pays for the financial consequences of a security incident? A PLA should identify whose financial responsibilities it is in case of a breach of security, including penalties, compensation for damage, and covering the cost of response actions against incidents.

A well-outlined breach response plan makes all stakeholders ready for possible security breaches, avoiding delays and minimizing the effects of cyberattacks.

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4. Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Protection- Level Agreements

When implementing a PLA, it is important to go through certain steps and checklists. Cybercriminals can identify gaps that can lead to exploitation of certain critical data. 

To make a PLA effective, here some 4 common pitfalls to avoid in order to strengthen your security posture. 

A. Overcomplicating PLA documentation

A Protection- Level Agreement should be simple, practical, and easily implementable. Many organizations, though, make it complicated by adding too much technical jargon, elaborate legal clauses, and unclear security protocols. 

Security policies must be framed in plain, direct language so that both technical and non-technical members can understand their responsibilities. If compliance is difficult to implement, the PLA cannot perform its desired role.

B. Failing to assign clear ownership

Security is a shared responsibility, but without defined ownership, security gaps arise. Most companies believe that PLAs are the sole responsibility of the SaaS provider, resulting in miscommunication, delays, and missed vulnerabilities.

A clearly defined Protection- Level Agreement must give clear responsibilities to specific teams within both the SaaS provider and the organization. By creating a clear line of responsibility, organizations can avoid confusion, reduce response times, and increase overall security posture.

C. Ignoring user awareness and training

Even the most effective security policies will fail if the employees are not aware of how to implement them. Human errors are one of the primary causes of security issues, yet most companies overlook offering user awareness training when developing their security strategies.

A security policy should mandate user awareness training to educate employees on prevalent online threats, phishing attacks, social engineering ploys, and sound security practices.

D. Not Aligning PLAs with Business Continuity Plans

Lots of organizations pay attention to cybersecurity and following rules, but they often forget to connect their PLAs with their business continuity plans. Security policies must not only prevent cyber threats but they should also be resilient in case of data breaches. 

A strong PLA should align disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) plans in a way that makes data both secure and accessible during crises. 

Avoid these four common mistakes to strengthen your Protection- Level Agreement, and improve overall security. A well-designed PLA needs to be practical, clear, and in terms with broader security strategies. 

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5. Metrics and KPIs to Track PLA Performance

Once the Protection Level Agreement is in place, you have just crossed the threshold. To make sure the PLA is working effectively, certain KPIs need to be tracked. Here are 4 crucial KPIs to evaluate and enhance the PLAs effectiveness. 

A. Incident response time 

The longer a security issue goes undetected, the more damage it can cause. An effective Protection Level Agreement must specifically state the time frame of dealing with security incidents, from the moment of discovery until resolution.

For instance, in the event of a data breach, how quickly does the SaaS provider notify the affected users? How rapidly does their security team act to address the issue?

Monitoring how long it takes to respond to incidents can allow you to observe whether your provider cares about security threats or if there are vulnerabilities in their strategy.

B. Compliance adherence rate 

If your business needs to follow SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001 regulations, your PLA needs to ensure the SaaS provider is compliant with such requirements. Keep in mind that compliance is not a one-time task, it must be monitored regularly.

To monitor how well compliance is being followed, you should measure:

• What percentage of security controls are fully implemented?
• Are there any vulnerabilities in encryption, access controls, or auditing?
• Does the SaaS vendor make regular compliance checks? 

If you do not monitor compliance, you stand to lose synchronization with regulations, potentially leading to legal problems and financial penalties.

C. Data breach occurrences 

One major indicator of an ineffective Protection- Level Agreement is the number of data breaches that your SaaS provider experiences. A single breach can put sensitive information at risk and damage your business.

This metric allows you to:

• Assess the rate of security failures.
• Identify weaknesses in your provider's security measures.
• Assess whether additional protections are needed for the PLA.

If a SaaS provider has several security breaches, it may suggest a failure to adhere to security procedures. In such circumstances, it might become necessary to renegotiate your PLA or switch vendors.

D. Access control violations

One of the biggest cybersecurity risks is when individuals gain unauthorized access to critical information. If an individual can view data they shouldn't, it can lead to insider threats, data theft, or security breaches.

Tracking access control violations can assist in understanding:

• How often unauthorized users attempt to access sensitive data?
• If multi-factor authentication (MFA) and Zero-Trust policies are effective.
• Whether users are adhering to access control policies.

If the number of access violations continues to rise, it may indicate that there are issues with identity and access management policies, meaning an urgent need to update security.

Tracking these 4 critical KPIs ensures that the Protection- Level Agreement is properly protecting your organization and following agreed-upon security procedures. Ensuring this will let firms identify weaknesses in the security of their vendors before they become serious issues.

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6. How CloudEagle.ai Can Help Secure Your PLAs

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Having a Protection-Level Agreement is significant, but managing them with various SaaS providers is a lot to handle. Manually monitoring security clauses, compliance requirements, and vendor obligations is time-consuming and is prone to errors. 

That's where CloudEagle.ai steps in. CloudEagle.ai simplifies managing PLAs, automates the tracking of compliance, and enhances security enforcement. Here's how it works:

Centralizing contracts 

Keeping track of SaaS agreements with different vendors can be challenging. Usually, these contracts are spread out over various platforms, which makes it hard to access, review, and audit them when necessary. 

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Rather than trying to manually track security clauses in several agreements, you can handle everything from a single platform.

Ensuring contract safety 

A Protection- Level Agreement isn’t effective if it can be easily tampered with. Unauthorized contract modifications by unauthorized individuals can breach security and result in compliance failures.

CloudEagle.ai employs robust encryption and access controls. This ensures that your security agreements remain enforceable and valid.

AI-powered metadata extraction

Going through PLAs manually to identify critical security clauses, compliance requirements, and vendor obligations is time-consuming. If you miss a single security detail, your organization is compromised.

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CloudEagle.ai leverages AI-driven automation to extract and analyze metadata from contracts. It prevents errors and makes it quicker to maintain track of compliance so that your organization remains protected.

Automated compliance monitoring

Monitoring whether SaaS providers adhere to their PLAs can be challenging. If you don't monitor constantly, you may not realize when a provider is failing security commitments until a breach occurs.

CloudEagle.ai provides real-time risk assessment and compliance tracking. Instead of waiting for security issues to come up, CloudEagle.ai assists you in the proactive enforcement of PLAs and ensures that your data remains secure at all times.

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7. Wrapping up 

Protection-level agreements are key for securing SaaS applications. While Service Level Agreements (SLAs) focus on performance and uptime, PLAs are aimed at significant security issues such as data encryption, access control, and minimizing security risks.

Tracking KPIs like incident response time, compliance adherence, data breach occurrences, and access violations, organizations can verify whether their security guarantees are being upheld. 

With the centralized contract management and AI-powered automation of CloudEagle.ai, businesses can conveniently maintain their security commitments, ensuring their SaaS investments remain protected and compliant. 

Schedule a demo with CloudEagle.ai today and take control of your SaaS security.

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8. Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What is a Protection Level Agreement?
A Protection Level Agreement (PLA) sets security standards between service providers and clients, ensuring data protection, risk management, and compliance with regulations.

2. What is the Protection Level?
Protection levels define security measures based on data sensitivity, specifying encryption, access controls, and compliance requirements.

3. What does "SLA" mean?
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) outlines service expectations, performance metrics, and penalties for non-compliance between providers and clients.

4. What is the difference between PLAs and SLAs?

A PLA (Protection Level Agreement) ensures data security, encryption, and compliance, while an SLA (Service Level Agreement) defines service performance, uptime, and response times. PLAs protect data while SLAs ensure service reliability.

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