What is SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM)?

To address this query, one must commence with the fundamentals and grasp the concept of ‘security posture.’ An enterprise’s security stance pertains to its comprehensive readiness in cybersecurity, pertaining to its ability to anticipate, oversee, and alleviate security hazards. Regarded as an assessment of the combined resilience of an organization’s entire technological framework, it encompasses network security, information safeguarding, data protection, susceptibility oversight, and risk management to shield the organization’s software, hardware, network, and services from security threats, infiltration of malware, and the extraction of data.

What is SaaS security posture?

Security posture denotes the readiness of a system to counteract attacks. The security posture of SaaS, conversely, applies the same principle to SaaS applications, which are remotely hosted in the cloud as opposed to being locally housed within an internal network.

This sets apart SaaS security from conventional network security. Due to the remote hosting of SaaS applications, they largely fall outside the realm of an organization’s direct control. Moreover, these applications are accessible via the Internet and from nearly any device, amplifying the risk of unauthorized data access or inadvertent data exposure to the broader online sphere.

To avert such outcomes, tools for SaaS security posture management (SSPM) prove invaluable. They autonomously identify security vulnerabilities, thus mitigating the perils associated with manual configuration errors.

To achieve this level of security and compliance, partnering with a trusted Managed IT Service Chicago is essential. Advanced IT is here to help you navigate the complexities of SSPM.

SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) Meaning

SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) offers automated ongoing surveillance of cloud-centric Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) applications such as Slack, Salesforce, and Microsoft 365. Its objective is to reduce precarious setups, forestall configuration deviation, and assist security and IT teams in upholding compliance.

As enterprises expedite the migration of workloads and sensitive data into SaaS applications, the potential for inadvertent exposure, excessively lenient access rights leading to data leaks, non-compliance, and the presence of threats like malware persist as substantial challenges. SSPM allows organizations to see, govern, and manage compliance effectively, safeguarding their critical workloads and countering these obstacles. Through SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM), you attain an understanding of the risks associated with your SaaS ecosystem and the necessary tools to promptly identify misconfigurations, enforce compliance, and defend against insider threats and malware.

SaaS applications house vast volumes of corporate, personal, and various categories of sensitive data. Vendors often lack the expertise or resources to formulate all the essential security guidelines for their users. Consistently developing and implementing these diverse security policies across applications and users is challenging. SSPM streamlines this procedure by continuously surveilling the configuration of SaaS applications compared to pre-established policy profiles aligned with industry standards like CIS or NIST. Any misconfigurations are promptly flagged, and users can automatically rectify issues before they become exploitable.

Why Choose SaaS Security Posture Management?

Numerous vital corporate systems are in the process of migrating to SaaS. A Gartner study indicates that global expenditure on SaaS surpasses infrastructure as a service (IaaS) by as much as 48% and platform as a service (PaaS) by an impressive 106%. Many enterprises depend on a familiar array of popular and strategic SaaS applications to execute fundamental business operations.

SaaS Security Posture Management can effectively tackle the following issues within an organization by continuously evaluating security risks and handling security for SaaS applications:

Complex configurations – contemporary SaaS applications boast numerous setups governing sensitive actions, such as enabling file sharing within Google’s G Suite, accessing customer data within Salesforce, or recording video calls via Zoom. Relying on default configurations is an impractical solution.

Multiple applications – diverse SaaS applications, particularly those from different providers, feature their own array of configurations and interpret shared controls like IAM and data sharing uniquely. IT and security teams must comprehend the offerings of each application and understand how configuration settings impact security readiness.

Multiple interfaces – configurations typically reside within multi-tiered menus within each application’s dashboard. Security and IT operations teams need to be well-versed in the security functionalities of each application and locate them within the configuration interface. In certain instances, straightforward tasks like adding or removing permissions for multiple users can be ineffectual and time-intensive.

Configuration drift – merely establishing a secure configuration once is inadequate. To guarantee the absence of misconfigurations, administrators should routinely assess each application and pinpoint any deviations from the secure setup.

How does SSPM operate?

SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) conducts regular assessments of an organization’s SaaS applications across the following domains:

Configurations: SSPM searches for security setup errors that may expose data to the Internet.

User permission settings: SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) examines the actions permitted to users within the organization’s SaaS apps. During this process, certain SSPM tools identify inactive and redundant user accounts. Trimming user accounts assists in reducing potential attack points.

Compliance: SSPM pinpoints security vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to non-compliance with data security and privacy regulations.

SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) dispatches automated notifications to security teams upon uncovering risks in these domains. Some SSPM tools are also capable of automatically addressing many of these risks.

What are the SaaS Security Best Practices

Below are several crucial best practices that all SaaS users should adhere to. Many of these practices can be simplified or facilitated through the utilization of SSPM solutions:

Detect unauthorized services and compromised accounts

Recent research indicates that organizations typically employ an average of 1,900 distinct cloud services, with many of them remaining unidentified or unmanaged due to shadow IT. It’s imperative to identify all cloud services and prioritize them based on the data they store and their impact on the organization.

Implement identity and access management (IAM)

Role-based IAM solutions can ensure that users never access resources beyond what is necessary for their job functions. IAM tools employ access policies to determine each user’s permissible access to applications and files. Organizations can extend role-based permissions to data to guarantee that end-users can only access data they are authorized to view.

Encrypt cloud data

Encryption techniques transform data into indecipherable code, rendering it inaccessible to unauthorized individuals. Most regulatory bodies mandate the encryption of sensitive data while it is at rest in storage repositories and during transit between environments. SaaS providers typically offer some form of encryption, but it’s crucial to confirm that encryption is enabled and functioning correctly for all sensitive data, including robust protection of the underlying encryption keys.

Enforce data loss prevention (DLP)

DLP tools monitor sensitive data within SaaS applications and outbound transmissions. These tools can block unauthorized transmissions of sensitive information, thereby preventing leaks and theft. Additionally, DLP solutions should prevent users from downloading sensitive data to personal devices and thwart unauthorized attempts to access, download, or delete data.

Monitor collaborative data sharing

Collaboration controls are instrumental in detecting precise permissions for all files shared with a diverse range of users, including external users accessing files via web links. Collaboration controls aim to prevent employees from intentionally or inadvertently sharing confidential documents through tools like team spaces, email accounts, and storage services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

Audit service provider security

A recent Cloud Adoption and Risk Report revealed that while 70% of surveyed respondents expressed trust in their SaaS providers’ security, only 8% of those SaaS vendors met basic security requirements. For instance, only 10% offered data-at-rest encryption and just 18% supported multi-factor authentication. It is imperative to conduct audits of service providers, assessing their compliance certifications, data protection measures, access controls, and other security capabilities.

Conclusion

Prioritizing SSPM implementation should be a foremost consideration for organizations aiming to uphold robust security and compliance while elevating data security. The ultimate goal is to alleviate all potential risks associated with SaaS applications, ranging from configuration errors to permissions that grant unauthorized users access to restricted areas.

FAQs

What is the difference between SSPM and SASE?

SSPM solutions can furnish supplementary insight into the security stance of specific SaaS applications, thereby aiding in compliance endeavors, whereas the SASE framework can assist organizations in upholding compliance with pertinent regulations and standards.

Is SSPM part of SASE?

Yes, SSPM (Secure SaaS Application Management) is typically considered as a component of SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) architecture. SASE encompasses various security services, including SSPM, to provide comprehensive security for organizations, especially when dealing with cloud-based applications and remote access.

What is SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM)?