Harnessing the power of AI for App Risk Assessment

SaaS solutions have made operations and data management easier, but they are increasingly targeted by cyber attackers. According to one report, there was a 48 percent year-over-year jump in 2022 in cyberattacks on cloud-based networks, highlighting the need for stronger security measures. Unfortunately, SaaS AppSec is largely an immature discipline: organizations need to take responsibility for their own third-party app security. With the right security strategy, SaaS solutions can be safe for managing critical data.

Lack of automation, visibility, and continuous reassessment only add to the mounting security challenges: making automated, AI-powered processes necessary to secure sensitive data in an evolving environment.

Manual app risk assessment is not enough

With third-party apps, manual risk assessments can only go so far. While they may offer some level of protection, they are limited by the fact that humans perform them. They can be prone to human error and bias and only assess risk at a single point in time. This creates an enduring problem: apps are constantly updated, and new vulnerabilities can be introduced at any moment with the normal development lifecycle. Additionally, bad actors can bypass the app’s security, using it as a supply chain attack to gain access to sensitive data. Manual risk assessment gives you no insight or ability to react effectively – and is not enough to protect your organization from the risks associated with third-party apps. 

The need for continuous third-party risk assessment

It is crucial to implement a fully automated, 24/7 risk assessment process to address the limitations of manual risk assessments. It removes the human factor from the equation, saving your security operations (SecOps) team substantial time and effort. 

This process will also provide continuous monitoring and analysis of third-party apps, alerting you to any potential security incidents in real time. Automated, AI-driven security processes will give you the information you need to respond quickly to threats and prevent data breaches, reducing the risk of costly downtime and reputational damage.

What are AI-based application risk assessments?

Risk assessment processes should be AI-based to ensure they are as effective as possible. Unlike human-driven tasks, AI algorithms can monitor and analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, detecting and alerting potential threats before they lead to data breaches or security compromises. As a result, it allows you to respond quickly to security incidents and prevent data breaches. 

AI-powered solutions continuously use machine learning algorithms to learn and adapt to new security threats. It means they are better equipped to detect and respond to new and evolving threats, providing a more comprehensive and effective security solution.

What makes a SaaS app risky? 

With Spin.AI App Risk Assessment, your overall risk score is comprised of several key components, including:

• Scope of the permissions
• Business operation risk
• Security risk
• Compliance risk

This AI-powered assessment

• Considers over 15+ characteristics for each detected SaaS application
• Provides an easy-to-view assessment with the ability to drill down on each application’s possible business, security, or compliance risks
• Delivers a detailed and intuitive scoring system (from 0 to 100) for SecOps teams to zero in on the riskiest applications
• Automates install detection and assessment, along with updates on when OAuth tokens were last refreshed
• Provides granular controls and policies to automate SaaS Access Management entirely
• Lets you create policies to allowlist/blocklist applications based on their:
  • Risk Score
  • Application ID
  • Category
  • Developer
  • Application Name

Build your SaaS AppSec strategy

With the growing security threat of SaaS apps in the enterprise, organizations must consider important questions around how they are handling SaaS AppSec:

1. Which SaaS apps are installed and have access to my SaaS data?
2. What data can they access?
3. Have the apps integrated in the SaaS environment undergone a proper risk assessment?
4. Do we have a proper inventory, risk assessment, and control processes for SaaS apps? 
5. How do I re-assess risk during the SaaS app lifecycle (updates, new versions, etc)? 

Spin.AI is a cutting-edge AI-powered solution that helps organizations to assess and mitigate the risks associated with third-party apps. With Spin.AI, your risk assessment process goes from 2 weeks manually, to 5 minutes automatically: eliminating the need for manual assessments and reducing the risk of human error and bias. Enable your SecOps teams with the visibility and controls they need to protect your SaaS environment.
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