Why should you pay attention to SaaS application security?

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SaaS offers flexibility and accessibility, which help increase an organization's operational efficiency. However, this convenience also brings significant security challenges.

As SaaS usage grows, concerns like Shadow IT, data breaches, and internal threats are rising. Vulnerabilities can emerge without proper security controls and effective provisioning and deprovisioning of SaaS apps.

Implementing measures like identity management can enhance security. This ensures that only authorized users access resources, reducing the risk of breaches.

This article explains why prioritizing SaaS app security is crucial, the dangers of neglecting it, and how to strengthen your security measures effectively.

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The rise of SaaS in organizations

SaaS apps have changed how businesses operate, with about 14 billion users worldwide. They provide benefits like scalability and cost savings. Currently, 70% of applications in organizations are SaaS-based, and this number is expected to rise to 85% by 2025.

Unlike traditional software, SaaS apps are hosted online and managed by service providers. It makes them accessible from any device. This flexibility helps organizations adjust software use based on their needs, saving costs and resources.

The SaaS industry is expected to reach $344 billion by 2027. It highlights the importance of enabling strong security measures in organizations to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and breaches amidst growing challenges.

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Why does SaaS application security matter?

Securing sensitive data and applications is essential for:

1. Protecting sensitive data

SaaS apps store valuable information such as financial records, customer details, and intellectual property. Unauthorized access to such data could lead to severe consequences. That's why it's important to implement strong security measures to ensure that only authorized people can access this data.

Check this list of different types of sensitive data stored in SaaS applications.

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2. Maintaining compliance

Maintaining organizational security and compliance is an ongoing process. It involves data protection and adherence to specific regulations, such as ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, etc.

Non-compliance can lead to significant fines. For example, GDPR penalties reach up to 4% of global annual turnover or €20 million.

You can use the following best practices for maintaining compliance:

• Stay informed about industry-specific rules and standards.
• Apply security measures that meet regulatory requirements.
• Conduct frequent checks to ensure compliance and find ways to improve.
• Educate staff about compliance needs and their responsibilities.
• Keep policies current with changing rules and best security practices.

3. Avoiding costly breaches

Data breaches can have serious financial consequences for businesses. The costs involved go beyond just the money lost directly during the breach.

Here are some key areas where costs can add up:

Fixing the problem: After a breach, companies need to identify and address security vulnerabilities. This often involves:

• Hiring cybersecurity experts.
• Conducting forensic investigations.
• Making technical changes to enhance security and prevent future breaches.

Dealing with lawsuits: Breaches can result in lawsuits from affected customers or regulators. Legal costs, settlements, and fines can increase quickly, especially if the serious breach occurs.

Repairing reputation: A data breach can seriously harm a company's reputation. It results in loss of customer trust, decreased sales, and challenges in attracting new customers.

4. Ensuring business continuity

Imagine if a SaaS app your business relies on suddenly stopped working due to a security issue. This could disrupt your operations, causing delays in serving customers and completing important tasks.

Such interruptions can hurt productivity and customer satisfaction. It’s crucial to maintain strong security measures to prevent these issues, as security problems can also make the app slow or unreliable, frustrating users and impacting overall efficiency.

Hidden vulnerabilities in SaaS applications

Though SaaS apps have various features, hidden vulnerabilities pose significant risks. These vulnerabilities include:

1. Shared responsibility model

SaaS providers and users share responsibility for security. While providers ensure the security of the underlying infrastructure and application, users must secure their data and configurations.

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2. Insecure configurations

Improperly configured SaaS apps are vulnerable to hackers, who exploit these weaknesses for unauthorized access and data manipulation. This might happen due to things like:

• Weak passwords: Users might choose passwords that are easy to guess or crack, such as "password123" or not following password complexity guidelines.
• Access permissions: Improperly configured access permissions can grant more privileges than necessary to users or roles within the SaaS application. For example, giving read and write access to sensitive data to users who only need read access.
• Storage settings: If data storage settings are not configured securely, it can lead to data exposure. For instance, storing sensitive information in unencrypted or publicly accessible locations.

3. Integration risks

Integrating SaaS applications with other platforms brings new security challenges. If not appropriately secured, each integration point can be an entry point for attackers, and varying security protocols among services can create vulnerabilities.

Third-party integrations, like plugins or connectors, may introduce weaknesses that attackers can exploit, compromising overall SaaS application security.

4. Third-party breaches

Many SaaS apps rely on third-party vendors for infrastructure, services, or components. A security breach or vulnerability at one of these third-party vendors can have significant consequences.

If a vendor experiences a breach, it can expose the data of all connected SaaS customers who rely on that vendor's services or infrastructure. To mitigate the risk of third-party breaches, businesses should conduct thorough due diligence when selecting vendors.

The consequences of ignoring SaaS application security

Ignoring SaaS application security can have serious consequences, jeopardizing the confidentiality of sensitive data and the stability of businesses. Also, organizations often face challenges related to SaaS sprawl, where IT systems and SaaS applications expand without proper regulation or oversight.

These issues contribute to heightened security risks, such as:

1. Data breaches

Neglecting the security of SaaS apps can have serious consequences. One major risk is data breaches. In this process, hackers exploit vulnerabilities to steal sensitive information, such as customer details or proprietary business data.

This can lead to financial losses from investigating the breach, fixing security gaps, and notifying affected customers. Moreover, organizations may need to provide credit monitoring services and suffer from downtime or reduced customer trust, which can impact overall sales and revenue.

2. Damage to reputation

When customer data is compromised in a security breach, trust is shattered. Customers expect their information to be kept safe, and a breach can make them feel betrayed, potentially driving them to seek services elsewhere.

Security breaches often attract media attention, spreading negative publicity through social media and news outlets. Following a breach, customers may doubt the company's ability to protect their data, leading to increased customer turnover. It can also deter new customers from signing up or making purchases, affecting overall business growth.

3. Financial losses

When a security breach occurs, investigating it, fixing vulnerabilities, and restoring systems and data can directly cost money. Depending on the severity of the breach and the damage it causes, these costs can quickly mount up.

Many countries have strict data protection laws that impose heavy fines for breaches. For example, GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California can levy substantial fines if businesses fail to protect personal data adequately. Depending on the scale of the breach and the number of people affected, these fines can reach millions of dollars.

In addition to fines, organizations may face legal costs from lawsuits or settlements with affected customers or stakeholders. Legal fees, court costs, and settlements can further increase the financial impact of a security incident.

4. Operational disruptions

A security breach or issue affecting services like communication, collaboration, and data management can make it hard to keep your business running.

When SaaS apps aren't working properly or are at risk, employees might have difficulty working well. They might spend too much time trying to fix problems or waiting for services to work again instead of doing their primary work.

When services are often not working right because of security issues, it can also make customers, partners, and other people think less of the company. They might think the company can't keep important data safe or is not good at keeping its promises.

5. Intellectual property theft

SaaS applications often store valuable information like software code, designs, and trade secrets. A security breach can let unauthorized users access this data, allowing competitors to steal and misuse it, harming the company's competitive edge.

Organizations also use SaaS apps for sensitive information, such as strategies and customer data. Security issues can expose this information, giving competitors an advantage. IP theft can lead to legal issues, fines, and damage to the company’s reputation.

6. Regulatory non-compliance

SaaS applications often handle sensitive data, such as personal information, financial records, or healthcare data. Regulatory compliance ensures this data is handled responsibly, protecting privacy rights and maintaining security standards.

Non-compliance with laws like GDPR or CCPA can lead to significant fines, audits, and legal actions, damaging a company's reputation and trustworthiness.

Customers, partners, and stakeholders may view non-compliant businesses as untrustworthy or irresponsible about data protection. This negative perception can lead to loss of business opportunities, diminished customer trust, and challenges in attracting new customers.

7. Legal consequences

Non-compliance with data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA can result in hefty fines. Regulatory bodies enforce strict standards for data handling and breach notifications.

Following a security breach, organizations may face lawsuits from affected parties. These lawsuits range from individual claims to class-action suits seeking damages for negligence, breach of contract, or privacy violations.

Defending against legal actions and regulatory scrutiny can be costly. This includes costs for legal representation, court fees, settlements, or judgments, which can impact financial stability.

8. Customer Churn

Security breaches damage customer trust and lead to potential churn. Breaches can prompt existing customers to terminate contracts or switch to competitors. This loss affects revenue and diminishes the customer base over time.

Publicity from incidents harms reputation, making it harder to attract new customers and limiting growth. Breaches also reduce the lifetime value of departing customers who might have continued using services.

9. Increased Security Costs

Following a security breach, companies must spend a lot on upgrading software, hiring cybersecurity experts, conducting audits, and improving access controls.

Reacting to security issues is often more costly and less effective than preventing them. Fixing problems after they happen can disrupt business and lead to unexpected expenses.

Businesses that experience breaches may also face higher insurance costs. A history of breaches or weak security can increase premiums or challenges in getting cybersecurity insurance.

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How to enhance SaaS application security with CloudEagle?

You need an advanced SaaS management platform with proper security features to bolster SaaS application security. CloudEagle is an all-in-one platform for discovering, optimizing, managing, and renewing your SaaS tools. You can choose CloudEagle to leverage its Identity and Access Management (IAM) features.

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Here’s how CloudEagle enhances security in these areas:

Complete app visibility: CloudEagle helps organizations achieve complete visibility into their SaaS stack. This tool integrates with various SSO, finance, and HR systems to provide real-time insights into user activities, application performance, and compliance status.

With advanced analytics, the tool helps detect unauthorized access, identify vulnerabilities, and understand usage patterns for proactive decision-making. The user-friendly dashboard offers a comprehensive view, allowing IT teams to monitor application health effectively.

Centralized user management: CloudEagle offers a centralized platform to manage user identities across SaaS applications. This includes providing and revoking access efficiently and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Single sign-on (SSO): CloudEagle supports integration with over 500 tools. By integrating with SSO tools, the platform provides comprehensive SaaS visibility. Additionally, CloudEagle integrates with finance tools and browser extensions to improve user visibility and identify shadow IT applications in your system.

This holistic approach ensures better security and compliance while streamlining access management across your organization.

Automated user provisioning: With CloudEagle, you can automate user provisioning across SaaS applications. When a new employee joins or changes roles, you can automatically assign SaaS access and permissions based on predefined rules related to roles and responsibilities.

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Automated user deprovisioning: Similarly, when employees leave or change roles, you can promptly deprovision users from SaaS apps. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access after an employee departs, maintaining security and compliance.

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To understand how useful this feature is, check out this inspiring success story on how Remediant streamlined user provisioning and deprovisioning, saving hundreds of hours managing SaaS apps.

Access reviews and audits: CloudEagle offers tools for access reviews and audits. Administrators can regularly check user access rights to ensure they match current roles. This will help you identify and fix security gaps or unauthorized access.

Integration with security monitoring: The tool integrates with security monitoring tools, providing real-time visibility into user activities and access patterns across SaaS apps. This helps you detect suspicious behavior or anomalies that may indicate a security breach.

Compliance and reporting: The tool offers comprehensive reporting capabilities to maintain regulatory compliance. Administrators can generate audit logs, access reports, and compliance assessments to demonstrate adherence to data protection laws.

CloudEagle has helped numerous companies streamline their SaaS management processes. For instance, Listen to Eric Silver's testimonial on how CloudEagle assisted RingCentral with app rationalization, renewal benchmarks, integrated teams, and maintaining positive relationships with various SaaS vendors.

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Conclusion

You can’t ignore your organization's security to keep your organization’s data safe and ensure business success. Neglecting it can lead to serious problems like data breaches, legal penalties, financial losses, and damage to your reputation. These issues can disrupt operations, harm customer trust, and slow business growth.

To reduce these risks, it’s important to prioritize strong security practices, follow regulations, and actively prevent security incidents. Focusing on identity and access management is also crucial and requires following best practices.

Thus, investing in a SaaS security tool can enhance your organization's security measures. If you're looking to bolster your organization's security measures, consider CloudEagle.

Schedule a demo to learn how CloudEagle can enhance your organization's security.

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