[eBook] The Guide for Reducing SaaS Applications Risk for Lean IT Security Teams

The Software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry has gone from novelty
to an integral part of today’s business world in just a few years.
While the benefits to most organizations are clear – more
efficiency, greater productivity, and accessibility – the risks
that the SaaS model poses are starting to become visible. It’s not
an overstatement to say that most companies today run on SaaS. This
poses an increasing challenge to their security teams.

A new guide from XDR and SSPM provider Cynet, titled The Guide
for Reducing SaaS Applications Risk for Lean IT Security Teams
(download here^[1]), breaks down exactly
why SaaS ecosystems are so risky, and how security teams can
mitigate those dangers.

Today, the average midsize company uses 185 SaaS apps. What this
means is that the number of app-to-person connections has risen
exponentially. Most midsize companies have nearly 4,406 touch
points, creating an attack surface that requires significant
resources to simply monitor. The risk of a digital disaster is
impossible to ignore – especially given the security paradigms that
govern most SaaS applications.

Understanding SaaS Risk for Lean Security Teams

One of the core security issues with SaaS is that risk isn’t
simply “what could go wrong” anymore. Because SaaS applications
have become so ingrained in organizations, a security breach with
one could cause serious damage, and these occur frequently. They
can be anything from service disruption to a large-scale data
breach and create severe problems.

The question is, where does SaaS risk originate from? The answer
is multiple places:

• The SaaS companies themselves. Not all SaaS providers have the
  same security controls and attacking a SaaS provider directly can
  give attackers access to all their customers. This can help explain
  the upsurge in supply chain attacks via trusted third parties.
• Provider data breaches. Because of SaaS apps’ connections to
  organizations, they must process large volumes of data. At some
  point then, organizations must rely on their vendors’ security
  controls, which are not always up to par.
• Access control misconfigurations. When SaaS apps are not set up
  properly – either by the IT team or the vendor themselves – it
  opens the door for cyberattacks or user-created problems.
• Adverse software updates. Complex SaaS systems are tenuous
  enough that a bad update can create a significant disruption,
  opening new vulnerabilities or invalidating critical
  functions.
• Service downtime. One issue tied to the cloud-based model is
  that problems with a vendor will usually result in service outages
  for subscribers. Whether the issue is financial collapse, data
  center problems, or rogue staff, mission-critical services running
  on SaaS are at risk of being delayed, disrupted, or disabled.
• Insider threats. With access to so much data, a rogue staffer
  inside a vendor could easily misuse their access privileges for
  criminal purposes.

How can lean It Security teams manage?

While this status quo creates significant challenges for lean IT
security teams, it’s not the end of the world. Organizations still
rely on their providers for security, but they can take steps to
minimize that risk. This includes:

• Vetting vendors more thoroughly and ensuring they meet your
  organization’s requirements and regulatory needs.
• Exploring the external validation and certifications a vendor
  holds
• Using external tools such as SaaS management platforms (SMP) or
  SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) that help unify and
  centralize security policies.

You can learn more about how lean IT security teams can better manage
their SaaS risk here^[2].