Glossary

What are some common SaaS security risk areas?

• SaaS settings management: An average SaaS application has many configurable settings that — if left unchecked — can introduce security risks. Given that enterprises use hundreds or even thousands of SaaS applications, most security teams likely have thousands of settings to manage – across all SaaS applications in order to reduce security risk. The frequent updates inherent in SaaS platforms compound this challenge. Misconfigurations can make apps publicly accessible, and attackers can leverage weak configuration settings to access sensitive data.
• Identity and access management: As SaaS adoption continues to rise, controlling who’s granted access to which applications becomes increasingly important. Identity and access controls make up a large percentage of settings that security teams need to manage. But many SaaS users have admin rights or excessive privileges, posing data security risks – including insider threat.
• Compliance issues: compliance with industry and government regulations, such as HIPAA or GDPR, may be compromised if the SaaS provider does not comply with these regulations.
• Business continuity disruptions: service outages or disruptions can impact the availability of the SaaS application and data, potentially leading to data loss or financial impact.

How to solve SaaS security risks

To better manage their SaaS application security posture and mitigate risks these days, organizations leverage dedicated SaaS management and SaaS security solutions. The solutions help continuously reduce the SaaS app attack surface by ensuring complete visibility into the SaaS environment, correct settings configurations, strong access controls, ongoing vulnerability and compliance checks across the company’s SaaS app stack, and monitoring for suspicious activity.