Cloud technology is the future; enterprises are leaving no stone unturned to ensure they utilize the cloud and its resident services to make ends meet while cutting costs.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is changing how organizations employ and source applications; however, this paradigm shift comes with its own inherent threats, leading to security attacks.
It's imperative to understand the SaaS model's shortcomings and address the security flaws of SaaS applications. Here are a few commonly known threats you need to familiarize yourself with.
1. Misconfiguration Errors
Clouds typically come well-equipped with layers of system complexity, which developers add to ensure each app is safe and fool-proof. However, the higher the number of layers, the higher the chances of having misconfiguration issues.
When the security team is oblivious to the minor issues, there is a deep-rooted, ever-lasting impact within the cloud’s infrastructure. The misalignment with security policies creates manual challenges, which become difficult to sort and rectify. Moreover, there is an ongoing security issue since SaaS app owners aren’t familiar with the app’s working and security standards.
As a preventive measure, enterprise security teams should focus on onboarding a SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) model, to gain extensive visibility and control of the SaaS app stack.
2. Ransomware
Ransomware continues to plague users, and SaaS applications are no exception to this threat. As per a survey reported by Sales Force Ben, 48 percent of enterprises fell prey to a ransomware attack; data stored in different cloud locations, including public clouds, AWS servers, on-prem data centers, and many others, were specifically targeted.
It’s essential to note that the platform structure is not held to ransom. Nonetheless, the data you store on the SaaS platform is of interest to hackers. This concept makes the entire platform a viable target for ransomware.
SaaS platforms have strict technical controls. On the contrary, hackers enter through various methods, including advanced end-user phishing techniques, API key leaks, malware, and many other routes. Attackers use the platform’s API to export the stored data and overwrite it with encrypted versions.
As you might have guessed, the encrypted data is held for ransom.
3. Identity Management Issues
Identity management and access controls have become critical for securing SaaS services. Security professionals must have a bird’s eye view of all access holders and monitor people entering and exiting the enterprise’s network perimeters. Identity and Access Management (IAM) software helps you scrutinize your incoming and outgoing requests, giving you full control of your application's accesses.
You should report any security breaches immediately to the concerned security teams, so that they can take appropriate action to prevent damages.
4. No Control Over Confidential Data
Users often need help to manage data loss, as the SaaS platform can shut down at any time without prior notice. While this might mean that you don’t have to worry about securing your confidential data, creating provisions to store it, or source infrastructure to maintain the data, there are high possibilities of losing control, especially during or after security breaches.
When working with an external SaaS platform, you must brace yourself for unprecedented losses, accounting for a massive loss of control. Cloud service providers often provide data backup options, but since these come at an additional cost, many enterprises shy away from using them. Nonetheless, this is a notable threat with SaaS applications, which can be addressed with proper discussions and implementing appropriate backup channels.
5. Shadow IT
Shadow IT isn't something shady to be intimidated by. Simply, shadow IT refers to the adoption of technology that lies outside the IT team's purview. Some common examples of Shadow IT include cloud services, messengers, and file-sharing applications.
As a security threat, shadow IT provides plenty of gray areas for hackers to hijack vulnerable devices available on a network. Some common threats imposed include.
Lack of control over applications within the official periphery. Data loss and breaches. Unattended vulnerabilities. Software/hardware conflicts.
In a simple situation, when the IT team is unfamiliar with the variety of applications accessing a corporate network, there are high chances of someone intruding into official networks. This arrangement creates an unimaginable gap, which needs to be plugged by putting in a lot of time, effort, and money to address the issues.
6. Unauthorized Access
SaaS applications are available anywhere and everywhere—and to everyone. Despite their widespread use and ease of availability, you need to control access to such services. There are a few instances where unauthorized access has become a potential issue since enterprises rely on third-party apps, which rest within the cloud. You wouldn't let just anyone view your data, but it's easy to overlook exactly how many people have been granted access at one point or another.
The IT and security teams can’t manage their enterprise applications while retaining the security perimeters for every application over the network.They need to strengthen the apps' defenses, to stop hackers from entering unethically.
7. Vulnerable Software
Application developers release software updates and security patches to address bugs and plug-in gaps. Despite regular testing and user feedback, not every security gap can be plugged in since monitoring every single application provided by the SaaS provider is impossible.
Many ethical hackers and testers perform rigorous penetration testing on native applications to test for vulnerabilities. But taking on such extensive testing on third-parties is difficult, considering the security constraints and workforce paucity.
For this very reason, SaaS applications should be pre-tested for bugs, and an effective, feedback channel is necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of the cloud-based applications.
Common SaaS Threats to Consider in 2023
SaaS, of course, poses many threats alongside a lot of benefits. With remote working becoming the norm, enterprises focus on new tools to empower employees to function remotely. So there is an imminent need to use well-optimized SaaS tools within the remote work methodology, to make the work-from-home model effective, robust, and sustainable.
SaaS, of course, poses many threats alongside a lot of benefits. With remote working becoming the norm, enterprises focus on new tools to empower employees to function remotely. So there is an imminent need to use well-optimized SaaS tools within the remote work methodology, to make the work-from-home model effective, robust, and sustainable.
