Secure Your SaaS: A Security Prescription for SaaS Platforms

SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms are nothing new, yet 43% of organisations experienced security incidents that can be directly traced back to SaaS misconfigurations (as of 2023). SaaS platforms have become integral to the operations of many organizations. While these platforms offer unparalleled convenience and scalability, they also introduce security risks that must be carefully managed. As businesses increasingly rely on SaaS solutions for critical functions, it's essential to implement robust security controls to protect sensitive data and assets.

This guide is designed to serve you with an "off the shelf" SaaS security controls prescription and a comprehensive framework for assessing and securing SaaS platforms effectively. From identifying potential vulnerabilities to implementing best practices and leveraging advanced tools, here's your prescription for safeguarding your cloud infrastructure.

Step 1: SaaS Review

Before implementing any security measures, it's crucial to conduct a thorough review of your organization's SaaS environment. This involves:

1. Inventory and Classification: Create an inventory of all SaaS applications used within your organization, categorizing them based on their level of sensitivity and criticality.
2. Risk Analysis: Evaluate the potential risks associated with each SaaS platform, considering factors such as data exposure, compliance requirements, and vendor reputation.
3. Compliance Check: Ensure that SaaS applications comply with relevant regulatory standards such as GDPR, HIPAA/HITECH, or SOC 2, depending on your industry and geographical location.Consider where they will store the data and associated backups and if they are all within the EU etc.
4. Vendor Assessment: Assess the security practices and certifications of SaaS vendors, including their data encryption methods, access controls, and incident response procedures.

Step 2: Security Controls

Once you have identified potential risks and vulnerabilities, it's time to implement robust security controls to mitigate these threats effectively. Here are some essential security controls to consider for most organizations:

1. Data Encryption: Encrypt data both in transit and at rest to prevent unauthorized access. Utilize strong encryption algorithms and ensure that encryption keys are managed securely.
2. Access Control: Implement granular access controls to restrict user permissions based on the principle of least privilege, taking into account the different user groups to be created and how the joiners, movers & leavers process will work for your organization. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance authentication security, especially for systems that handle highly sensitive data. Session time outs can be useful for systems with sensitive data, if the device doesn't auto-lock for 30 mins of inactivity, consider setting the session time-out for the SaaS to 5 or 10 mins.
3. Identity Management: Maintain a centralized identity management system to manage user accounts and credentials effectively. Regularly review and update user access permissions. IP restrict the platform so your employee accounts are only permitted to authenticate from corporate devices (or consider using SSO and applying a conditional access policy for the SaaS).
4. Security Logging & Monitoring: Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) and security information and event management (SIEM) tools to monitor for suspicious activities and potential security incidents. Enable logging for all SaaS applications and regularly review audit logs to identify security issues or policy violations. Remember the logs being shipped to a SIEM are only of value if they are being used for alerting or they're regularly reviewed for anomalies.
5. Data Backup and Recovery: If applicable, implement regular data backups and establish a robust data recovery plan to mitigate the impact of data breaches or system failures. Most SaaS platforms have built in redundancy and backups, but what if their network falls victim to ransomware that encrypts the backups? Consider the importance of the data and if regular offline backups are needed to recover from an outage.

Step 3: Tool Configurations

To streamline the implementation of security controls and enhance the overall security posture of your SaaS environment, consider leveraging the following tools and configurations:

1. Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB): Deploy a CASB solution to gain visibility into cloud usage, enforce security policies, and detect and respond to cloud security threats.
2. Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Enable any available DLP features within the tool to prevent the unauthorized download, sharing or leakage of sensitive data from SaaS applications depending on the data sensitivity.
3. Network Segmentation: Segment your network to isolate SaaS applications from other critical systems and establish dedicated security zones with restricted access. Investigate if the third party SaaS can segregate your organisations data from that of their other customers to limit any potential blast radius.
4. Container Security: If using containerized SaaS solutions (self-hosted), ensure that containers are securely configured and utilize container security tools to scan for vulnerabilities, apply any updates/patches and enforce security policies.
5. Encryption Key Management: Use dedicated encryption key management solutions to securely generate, store, and rotate encryption keys used to protect sensitive data in SaaS applications. Some providers offer a BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) option so you can ensure your organisations data is not even accessible by the SaaS provider who hosts it for you.

Step 4: Security Assessments

As organizations continue to adopt new SaaS platforms to meet evolving business needs, it's essential to conduct thorough security assessments before integrating these solutions into your environment as well as re-assessing current SaaS implementations on an annual basis. Here's how to ensure that new SaaS platforms meet your security requirements:

1. Vendor Evaluation: Before onboarding a new SaaS platform, thoroughly vet the vendor's security posture. Request documentation such as security certifications, penetration test (more on this below), audit reports, and compliance attestations to assess their commitment to security best practices.
2. Security Questionnaire: Develop a comprehensive security questionnaire to evaluate the security capabilities of potential SaaS vendors. Inquire about data encryption methods, access controls, vulnerability management processes, and incident response procedures. Consider the data they will process/store for your organisation and how quickly they will notify you in the event of a breach.
3. Penetration Testing: Consider conducting penetration testing or vulnerability assessments on the new SaaS platform to identify potential security vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Work with qualified security professionals to simulate real-world attacks and assess the platform's resilience to various threats. Alternatively you can review any penetration testing reports the vendor may already have, just ensure the scope of the test was the product you're considering or the vendors environment (or both) and also be sure to check it's a recent report from recent testing.
4. Proof of Concept (PoC): Whenever possible, request a proof of concept or trial period to test the SaaS platform in a controlled environment. Evaluate its security features, performance, and compatibility with your existing infrastructure before making a final decision.
5. Third Party Contractual Agreements: Ensure that security requirements are clearly defined in contractual agreements with SaaS vendors. Specify expectations regarding data security, compliance, data ownership, incident response, and service-level agreements (SLAs).

By incorporating these security assessment steps into your procurement process for new SaaS platforms, you can mitigate the risk of introducing potential security vulnerabilities and ensure that the platforms align with your organization's security requirements and standards. Remember that proactive security assessments are essential to maintaining a secure and resilient SaaS environment. If your organisation does not have the resources to conduct security assessments, consider outsourcing the work to an information security professional.

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