5 SaaS Security Best Practices for Your Business

SaaS environments like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 have won over businesses globally. They provide a great set of productivity tools. However, they require a very different security architecture compared to on-prem environments. Here’s our list of SaaS security best practices. 

Understanding SaaS Security 

To understand SaaS security, you can think about the 80/20 principle. In the on-premise model, 80% of business processes took place within the internal environment. And only 20% of activities took place outside it. This enables the SecOps team to build a strong security perimeter and tightly control all incoming and outgoing data through one protected entry point.

With the adoption of cloud technologies and transfer to SaaS environments like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, 80% of business processes take place outside the safe perimeter. In fact, now you have hundreds of entry points for data flow. And most of them are not only beyond your control but also beyond your visibility.

The key characteristics of SaaS environments from a security standpoint are:

• absence of a security perimeter
• large attack surface 
• lack of visibility and control

SaaS security vulnerabilities include:

• Lack of user control that leads to higher chances of account hijack;
• Uncontrollable OAuth access can cause zero-day attacks;
• Weak protection against social engineering that causes ransomware attacks;
• API limits causing longer downtime in case of an incident;
• No control over user access to sensitive data within and outside organization;
• Lack of security controls within the major SaaS collab tools (GW, MSO 365);
• No native backup tools that can cause data loss;
• Misconfigurations that can cause non-compliance or data breaches.

SaaS Security Best Practices 

To protect your business-critical data in SaaS apps, we suggest following several best practices.

Data Backup

One of the must-have practices for any SaaS environment is data backup. CISA suggests following the 3-2-1 rule when you have three copies of data on at least two different media, one stored off-site. We recommend using cloud-to-cloud incremental backup. They will ensure high accuracy of data and high speed of the backup process (which is critical for cloud environments). Recovery, however, takes a longer time.

The backup will help you in case of human error or man-in-the-middle attacks.

Ransomware Protection

Some companies tried to use backup tools for disaster recovery after ransomware attacks. However, API limitations made the recovery process too long. We recommend using proactive AI ransomware protection based on data behavior analysis. 

Such tools as SpinOne can detect and stop cloud ransomware within minutes after the attack. They also have an in-built backup, so they recover your data automatically. In some cases, by the time the SecOps team gets to their PC to check on the attack, it’s long over.

Application detection risk assessment

OAuth Applications are the entry points to your SaaS collaboration environments like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. That’s why many hackers search for app vulnerabilities to exploit, get access to sensitive corporate data, and steal it with a view to selling it on the black market or back to the owners.

We suggest using SSPMs that can help you detect and evaluate SaaS applications. They also have the functionality to blocklist apps and create policies to prevent users from using their accounts to sign in to applications that do not meet certain security requirements.

DLP policies

DLP policies are algorithms of actions that are triggered by certain events in your SaaS environment. For example, you can disable sharing outside your organization to the majority of your users, or you can receive notifications whenever personally identifiable information is sent via Gmail.

We suggest using third-party tools as they have a wider range of DLP policies you can apply than MSO 365 or GW.

Cybersecurity awareness training

One of the main attack vectors in SaaS environments is your user. Social engineering techniques are abundant and diverse. However, your users can become less manipulative if they are equipped with the necessary knowledge.

We recommend hiring a company that will conduct regular training sessions for your employees. This training should be augmented by regular tests (when fake social engineering emails are sent to your users). It will keep them alert and vigilant.

Keep in mind that cybersecurity awareness training doesn’t guarantee that your users will detect social engineering attacks every time they happen. People get tired and stressed. They lose focus due to work overload or personal issues. That’s why you need other tools to guarantee the security of your SaaS environment.

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