Businesses are constantly searching for the one product, service, or feature that will give them a competitive advantage. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools offer many benefits but often come with a tradeoff: Security and privacy. SaaS provides companies with the tools to innovate, but cloud-based applications increase the risk of threat actors accessing sensitive data.
Companies must carefully balance the need to innovate with the need to protect their data.
First, let’s take a look at some of the reasons organizations opt to use SaaS tools to enhance their business:
The Benefits of SaaS for Innovation
Organizations employ SaaS tools to enhance their product and service offerings, improve collaboration and productivity within their internal environment, and streamline workflow processes.
Cloud-based SaaS products offer a diverse range of solutions, which include:
Perpetual advancement: Rolling out new features, patches, and updates to existing software is a seamless process with SaaS products. Customers have instant access to product improvements. This is more than just a selling point; it’s a valuable facility for seamless innovation. Reports show that innovation cycles are reduced, allowing organizations to update software as frequently as every two weeks instead of 1–3 releases yearly.
Increased flexibility: Unlike other software services, SaaS tools have a lower barrier to entry and reduced upfront costs. Enterprise software still requires a steep investment of time and resources (onboarding, integration, training, etc.), but the benefit is that subscription periods are shorter, and licensing fees are lower. This gives businesses greater flexibility; they can opt for the products and services they can afford, scale as they grow, and change as they like.
Customer-centric solutions: Because the barrier to entry for SaaS tools is lower due to low upfront costs, there’s a higher risk of churn (the rate of customers who discontinue subscription services). As a result, SaaS solutions are increasingly responsive to customers’ needs. This results in a better and constantly improved customer and user experience. Additionally, these are data-driven tools that use user insights to conceptualize new features, benefits, and fixes.
SaaS Security Risks
The use of SaaS applications increases yearly, with stats showing that, on average, companies used 371 tools in 2023 – a 32% increase compared to 2021. However, the heightened risk of breaches comes with multiple programs accessing sensitive organizational and customer data.
The most common security risks include human error, misconfigurations, poor access control, insider threats, and compliance issues. Experts suggest onboarding a data security solution to use in tandem with various SaaS programs to protect the sensitive data stored in your favorite apps, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack.
8 Interventions for SaaS Data Protection
For businesses looking to perfect the balancing act of prioritizing innovation while protecting organizational and customer data, several security interventions can be implemented to mitigate risk without compromising development.
Here are eight solutions for organizations looking to implement SaaS tools:
Encrypt data in transit: Data should always be encrypted when transmitted between the user’s device and the SaaS provider’s servers. This can be achieved using protocols such as TLS (Transport Layer Security), which creates a secure, encrypted connection between the two endpoints. By encrypting data in transit, organizations can help prevent man-in-the-middle attacks and other forms of interception that could compromise the confidentiality of their data.
Encrypt data at rest: Data stored on the provider’s servers should also be encrypted to protect it from unauthorized access. Many SaaS providers offer encryption capabilities to protect data at rest, and the customer should explicitly enable this feature. By encrypting data at rest, organizations can help prevent unauthorized access to their data by hackers or other malicious actors who may gain access to the provider’s servers.
Use strong encryption algorithms: When encrypting data, it is essential to use strong encryption algorithms that are widely accepted as secure. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is an algorithm commonly used to encrypt data at rest. By using strong encryption algorithms, organizations can help ensure their data remains secure even if an attacker manages to access it.
Manage encryption keys securely: Encryption keys should be managed to prevent unauthorized access. This can be achieved using a centralized key management solution, where keys are stored in hardware security modules (HSMs) or other secure storage devices. Organizations can help prevent unauthorized access to their encrypted data by managing encryption keys securely.
Effective data backup and recovery solutions
Providers should protect SaaS data by regularly backing it up. They should also be able to quickly recover an organization’s data in case of hardware failure or accidental data loss.Additionally, customers should insist on recovery testing to ensure systems can be restored to maintain access to their valuable SaaS data.
Intrusion detection
A key aspect of protecting SaaS data is minimizing the potential risks external threat actors pose. A cloud service provider (CSP) should have a strong intrusion detection solution in place to identify potentially malicious entities that may threaten security. The solution should include measures to contain intruders and quickly eliminate them from the environment to mitigate potential harm.
Access and authentication controls
Role-based access management enables organizations to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data. Only authorized personnel with a valid business justification should be able to access the data. At the same time, implementing a strong password policy and multi-factor authentication for authorized users should provide further protection.
Comprehensive employee cybersecurity awareness training
All CSP employees should receive cybersecurity awareness training that addresses their role in protecting SaaS data. This includes ensuring they understand the limits of their access to the information and the various ways threat actors may attempt an attack.
Any employee training provided should be periodically revisited to stay abreast of emerging threats and promote organizational security-consciousness.
Incident response plans
SaaS providers must have incident response plans in place to effectively address security incidents that may affect their ability to protect and maintain access to customer data. These plans should be tested and updated regularly to reflect changes in the environment and new threats to it.
Regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance can be challenging for companies that use SaaS products to store and process regulated data. CSPs must comply with the data protection guidelines that apply to the customer data they process.
To ensure they remain compliant, organizations should insist on verification that the necessary data protection controls are in place, as they may be held liable for any violations.
Periodic security assessments
CSPs need to remain vigilant against the constantly evolving threat landscape. This requires regular security audits, including penetration testing measures that seek to proactively identify vulnerabilities that could allow threat actors or unintentional insiders to expose cloud data.
To be most effective in this capacity, a CSP should use the most up-to-date technologies, such as machine learning, to power its security solutions.
Concluding Thoughts
SaaS tools provide businesses with a wealth of benefits that enhance their competitive advantage. Chief among these is innovation, which can be done seamlessly at scale. However, the rapid development and adoption of SaaS products come with an increased risk of data leaks and hacking. Therein lies the great dilemma of Software-as-a-Service: Balancing the need for quick turnaround and innovation with data security and privacy protection.
While initial investments in SaaS tools are cost-effective, the tradeoff is balanced with procuring additional cloud and SaaS data security.
