Key Points:

• Establishing a SaaS security posture is vital to minimise cybersecurity risks and protect against financial and reputational damage.
• SaaS Security posture management (SSPM) covers network and data security, vendor risk, and breach prevention. It ensures alignment, communication, and compliance with regulations.
• Enhance security by assessing vulnerabilities, reducing the attack surface, optimising processes, employing real-time solutions, and measuring progress through metrics.

Security teams have a duty to protect their business from cybersecurity threats that could cause huge financial and reputational damage.

With comprehensive SaaS security posture management in place, CISOs and other security professionals can ensure they’re monitoring all possible risks.

What is a SaaS security posture management (SSPM)?

If you’re leading a security team, having a security posture in place to protect your SaaS apps can help you get everyone aligned and on the same page. It can also help your leadership team to understand the protections you’ve put in place, and how you’re mitigating risks to keep the company safe.

Your security posture encompasses all of the assets and touchpoints you’re responsible for when it comes to protecting your business. That includes things like your networks, data security, and vendor risk management as well as the steps you’re taking to minimise the threat of a data breach.

Within your security posture, you should be thinking about security awareness training for employees around the business, and whether your current strategy is adequate for building your human firewall.

Why is SaaS security posture management important?

Having a strong SaaS security posture in place is important for minimising the common risks faced with SaaS apps, such as cybersecurity threats to your business. It ensures you have all of your bases covered so there are no gaps that hackers or malicious actors can penetrate.

Your security posture should outline what your process will be if you were to encounter any unfortunate events such as a data breach. But you’ll also need to ensure it’s constantly reviewed to keep up with the newest threats facing your company.

If you need to comply with regulations like GDPR, CCPA and PCI DSS, your security posture can also help you understand how you’re doing so and what may need to change.

How can you manage and evaluate your current SaaS security posture?

Start by reviewing all of the security measures you’re currently using.

For example:

- Do your networks need an extra layer of protection to prevent anyone from infiltrating them?

- Do you have up-to-date antivirus software in place or could it do with a refresh?

- Are your employees using two-factor authentication or will you need to make it mandatory?

Looking at your employee awareness and data security strategy, you should ask yourself whether it’s the most efficient way to educate your team and whether people are sticking to your policies. It might be that you need to make training a continuous practice, for instance, with employee notifications, or that you need to make your sessions more interactive so the information really sticks.

What are the risks of not having a SaaS security posture in place?

Without a solid security posture in place, you can fall victim to cybersecurity attacks such as malware, putting your business at serious risk. And the employees within your organisation can easily be fooled by social engineering techniques too.

The huge cost of data breaches, averaging $4.35m in 2022, and the impact on your brand’s reputation can be massively detrimental to your business if the worst were to happen.

How can security teams improve their SaaS security posture?

There are a few ways security teams can improve their security posture:

#1. Identify the vulnerabilities

Firstly, you should carry out a data risk assessment to see where your vulnerabilities lie. Identify the biggest problems you need to address - for instance, what data are you holding on to? How are you protecting it?

#2. Limit your attack surface

Look at all the areas that could be compromised and see whether all of them are necessary. Is there a database you no longer use that’s storing sensitive data? Could you manage without it or take steps to secure it?

#3. Evaluate your processes

Look at the processes you have in place for your security posture. What is taking too long? Is there anything that can be automated?

#4. Cover all bases

Implement new security policies that cover all your bases when it comes to protecting your business

#5. Explore real-time solutions

Real-time solutions can bring risks to your attention as they develop so you’re constantly aware of new threats

#6. Measuring and reporting

Work out what metrics you’ll use to measure your success (you can take some tips from our guide here.

#7. Control who has access

Consider access controls and implement retention policies to restrict who can see your documents

Conclusion

Bringing a SaaS security posture into your organisation can make a huge difference when it comes to minimising the cybersecurity risks to your business.

If you’re looking to protect your data security in particular, take a look at our guide on Data Security Posture Management.

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