Software as a Service (SaaS) has become the pillar of many modern-day businesses. It is a way of delivering applications over the Internet in a scalable, convenient, and flexible manner. It provides complete software solutions (often through a pay-as-you-go basis) from a cloud service provider. Popular SaaS platforms include AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Azure. Your organization rents the use of an application, which your users then connect to over the internet.
All the underlying infrastructure- including the middleware, app software, and app data are located in the CSP’s data center, and they manage the hardware and software.
With their convenience, many organizations increasingly begin to rely on cloud-based solutions to streamline their workflow and enhance productivity. Thus, the importance of robust security measures cannot be understated.
As any underlying processing and sensitive information is hosted in the cloud, SaaS operators face unique security challenges, especially since it is particularly attractive to cybercriminals.
Many security frameworks are available to select, so how would you know which one is right for your organization? Throughout this comprehensive guide, we will explore some of the top Saas Security frameworks and help your security team select the one best suited for your organization’s needs.
What is a Cybersecurity Framework?
A cybersecurity framework is a standardized set of guidelines and best practices for organizations to establish and maintain security control and mitigate cybersecurity risks. Security frameworks can be state-mandated or international policies.
The framework’s goal is to help IT security professionals and security teams keep their organizations compliant, reduce vulnerabilities, and insulate them from cyber threats. It does this through standardized language and provides a systematic approach to ensuring an organization’s digital assets, infrastructure, and data are adequately protected against cyber threats.
In that same breath, a SaaS security framework is a set of guidelines and standards that help organizations protect their SaaS environment. It is a blueprint for creating and maintaining a robust security posture, protecting sensitive data, applications, and infrastructure from cyber threats.
Why is Saas Security Important?
Implementing a SaaS security framework provides organizations with a systematic approach to securing their applications and data.
Some of the key benefits include:
- Reduced risk of breaches and cyberattacks
- Provides a clear structure to establish and implement a proper security plan
- Streamlines the security processes
- Provides greater insight into security risks and vulnerabilities
- Better able to identify security and compliance gaps
- Improved customer and partner trust
- Provides continuous protection of organizational and customer data
- Provides a clear structure to establish and implement a proper security plan
Implementing proper SaaS security frameworks offers numerous benefits, helping organizations stay ahead of emerging threats and safeguard their valuable assets and data. But how do you know how to select the correct framework? Let’s examine the most popular options first.
Challenges in Securing SaaS Platforms
Though selecting a SaaS provides many benefits, like any piece of technology, it comes with its own set of challenges. These include various aspects of security, reliability, compliance and scalability.
Data Protection and Privacy
Since the SaaS Platform stores sensitive data from the users, data breaches, leaks, and theft will have severe consequences for users, including legal, financial, and reputational damage. SaaS providers should adhere to strict data privacy and protection regulations to protect users’ privacy rights.
To ensure data privacy and protection, users need to understand data classification and the ownership and responsibilities of SaaS. Users should also understand that they also play a role in security themselves. Namely, implementing managing data encryption, backup, and recovery mechanisms, as well as monitoring and auditing data access and usage.
Compliance and Regulatory Requirements
SaaS providers must also ensure they understand the different industry-specified laws, compliance, and regulation requirements that govern data security and privacy before offering their services to customers.
These include GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA, or PCI DSS, all coming with different guidelines. Customers may have difficulties navigating the complex regulatory landscape, which is further exacerbated when they have no visibility or control over where the data is stored or processed. Thus, they rely heavily on the SaaS provider.
To ensure compliance, users should, therefore, research and confirm the CSP’s compliance status and certifications, as well as understand the relevant laws and regulations regarding their data.
Vendor Lock-in and Dependency
Vendor lock-in also threatens SaaS customers as it poses numerous risks. If the vendor’s quality of work deteriorates or has always been subpar and fails to meet expectations, clients are effectively trapped with poor service.
Also, if the vendor alters their product offerings in ways that no longer align with your business requirements, you will be left with outdated or irrelevant solutions, which may leave you in compliance with your industry-specific regulations.
Moreover, the possibility of a vendor going out of business presents a significant risk, potentially disrupting operations and data access. Lastly, vendors may take advantage of their clients by imposing price hikes for their products and services to exploit your lack of options. These factors underscore the importance of carefully evaluating vendor relationships and mitigating the risks associated with vendor lock-in.
Misconfiguration
This is one of the most common vulnerabilities. Some SaaS applications allow you to set configuration control using CASB (Cloud Access Security Brokers—on-premises or cloud-based software that sits between cloud service users and cloud applications, monitors all activity, and enforces security policies) or SSPM (SaaS Security Posture Management—an automated tool for identifying security risks in SaaS applications).
The misconfigurations occur when settings, permissions, and access in the environment are improperly configured, leaving them vulnerable to data leaks, security breaches, or unauthorized access. A common example is when access controls are not configured securely. This includes using default passwords, abandoned accounts, and out-of-date administrative access permissions.
By effectively addressing misconfigurations, organizations can strengthen the security posture of their SaaS deployments and reduce the risk of security incidents.
Popular Security Frameworks
Your organization can choose from many SaaS security frameworks to enhance its security posture for its cloud-based needs. Before selecting one, however, it is important to examine its key features, benefits, and applicability to your industry requirements. Understanding the strengths and nuances of each framework will help you make informed decisions to secure your SaaS environments and protect against evolving cyber threats.
NIST Framework
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and seeks to address the lack of security standards by calling for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors to identify, assess, and manage cyber risk.
The core functions are identifying, protecting, detecting, responding, and recovering. Each function uses clear, outcome-based language without extensive technical detail and provides a flexible approach to managing risk, ensuring comprehensive cybersecurity measures are in place.
NIST has become a standard for providing guidelines, standards, and uniform methods of sharing information between two companies, assessing cybersecurity maturity, identifying gaps, and meeting regulations.
Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)
CSA is a non-profit that acts as the world’s leading organization dedicated to raising awareness of the best practices to help secure cloud computing environments. It includes a variety of resources, including the Cloud Control Matrix, which provides a comprehensive set of security controls and guidelines designed to help organizations to assess the security of their cloud environments, including SaaS applications. It also covers various domains, such as data security, identity and access management, compliance, and incident response.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the leading international standard for regulating data security through a code of practice for information security management. It isn’t specific to SaaS, but it provides a framework for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an organization’s information security management system. It includes requirements for risk management, access control, incident management, and continuous improvement.
The CIS is a set of security best practices developed by the Center for Internet Security. It is a prescriptive and simplified set of best practices that you can use to strengthen your cybersecurity posture. Although it isn’t specifically made for SaaS, it can be used in cloud environments to provide a structured framework for implementing cybersecurity controls to mitigate the most common cyber threats.
FedRAMP
FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) is a U.S. government program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. It serves as a method for federal agencies and cloud solution providers (CSPs) to transition from outdated, insecure legacy IT systems to secure, mission-enabling, and cost-effective cloud-based IT infrastructure.
Through FedRAMP, a comprehensive framework of processes is defined and managed to ensure consistent and reliable cloud security across government entities. It also established a mature marketplace to increase the use of and familiarity with cloud services while facilitating collaboration across government through the open exchange of lessons learned, use cases, and tactical solutions.
SOC 2
SOC 2 is a framework developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) for evaluating the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of cloud service providers. It is particularly relevant for SaaS providers, as it provides a standard for assessing the security controls and processes in place to protect customer data. SaaS providers often undergo SOC 2 audits to demonstrate their adherence to stringent security and privacy standards.
How to Select the Right SaaS Framework for your Organization
Assess Your Organization’s Needs
To begin securing your cloud network, you must first assess your organization’s security requirements. Based on your goals, the industry you are operating in, and the data you handle, you should determine your legal and compliance requirements(for example, HIPPA, GDPR, NIST, etc.). You should then conduct a risk assessment to understand your threats, vulnerabilities, and impact and prioritize accordingly.
Understand SaaS Security Frameworks
Familiarize yourself with the various SaaS security frameworks available. We explored popular options in the previous section.
Evaluate your fit
You should then assess how suitable the framework is for your organization and its practical benefits. This evaluation should examine factors like organization size, complexity, and maturity level, as well as its associated costs, time commitments, and resource requirements for implementation. Furthermore, where possible, consider compatibility and integration of the framework with existing policies and procedures to assess the impact on security performance, compliance, and reputation.
Select our framework
Your organization should now ensure that the framework complies with the required standards and avoid security and compliance risks, based on your needs, goals, obligations and fit. You should also consider combining or customizing different frameworks to create a tailored solution for your unique requirements.
Monitor and Improve your framework
It is important to remember that security is an ongoing process. Once the framework is implemented, you need to continually monitor and improve it, ensuring that it remains up to date with the latest vulnerabilities, technological advancements and threats. Additionally, measuring and reporting security performance through established metrics and indicators is crucial. Conducting audits and assessments helps verify compliance and identify any gaps or weaknesses.
Risk Appetite
Different frameworks may adopt varying approaches to risk management, with some being more aggressive and others more conservative. It’s essential to select a framework that closely aligns with your organization’s risk appetite and tolerance level. This ensures that the chosen framework not only effectively addresses security needs but also aligns with your organization’s overall risk management strategy and objectives.
Here are the many ways Oppos can help!
Oppos’ team of cybersecurity compliance experts offers personalized consultation services to help you access your unique needs, understand available SaaS framework options, and determine the most suitable option. Then after, we work alongside you to implement the chosen solution, guiding you through the entire process from planning and preparation to integration, testing, and maintenance. Our experts will ensure that the framework is implemented correctly and effectively aligns with your security objectives.
After, we provide a training and education program to equip your team with the skills and know-how needed to manage and maintain the SaaS framework. Subsequently, if needed, we stand ready to provide ongoing support and monitoring services to help your organization maintain and improve its SaaS security framework over time. Our proactive monitoring, vulnerability assessment, compliance testing, and timely updates all work together to ensure your security remains robust and up-to-date.
Lastly, if a security breach or incident arises, our team is ready to provide rapid response and remediation services. We’ll help your organization assess and mitigate the impact of the incident, investigate the source, and implement necessary measures to prevent future attacks.
Ultimately, partnering with Oppos for your organization’s SaaS security solution will allow your company to benefit from expert and experienced security teams, ensuring the highest level of security for your cloud-based application, data, and services. Together, we can strengthen your security posture and safeguard your valuable assets against emerging cyber threats.
Final Thoughts
Adopting SaaS security frameworks is crucial for businesses’ long-term goals and operations. Organizations should carefully consider their unique needs when choosing the right framework. This article provides insight into SaaS security, significance, and role in organizational defense. It also delves into critical considerations for enhancing security posture.
Exploring popular security frameworks and seeking expert assistance can help organizations enhance their security posture, mitigate risks, and safeguard critical assets effectively. Incorporating SaaS security frameworks signifies a commitment to protecting organizational assets and promoting sustainable growth in the digital landscape.
