Saas Security Best Practices – Cyber Defense Magazine

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the prevalent software distribution model in the tech industry. Whether you are a young startup founder or a mature business owner, ensuring a robust security posture within the system is crucial. Moreover, privacy regulations and compliance requirements necessitate the need for a strict approach towards security in a SaaS organization. SaaS systems typically consist of multiple components and overall system security involves many aspects. Top considerations include effective identity and access control policies, data security, monitoring, compliance and privacy policies.

Authentication and Authorization

Authentication and authorization form the backbone of security in SaaS applications. Simply verifying a username and password via basic authentication is not enough for production systems. Enforcing a strong password policy is the minimal requirement for secure authentication. Production systems for human users should be protected via multi-factor authentication (MFA), 2-factor authentication being common practice. MFA methods have evolved and various options are available including Personal Identification Number (PIN), possession factor methods such as SMS and email, hardware tokens and more advanced biometrics (fingerprint, face/voice recognition etc.).

Organizations often delegate authentication and authorization to a dedicated identity provider (IdP) for separation of concerns. This helps them gain a comprehensive security stance while being able to focus on business logic. Widely used protocols such as OAuth2.0 and XML based SAML facilitate secure communication between the IdP and service provider.

Authorization involves granting the authenticated user privileges within the system once they have proved their identity. Common authorization models vary from the simplest form using Access Control Lists (ACLs) to more robust forms like Role Based Access Control (RBAC) or even more granular Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC). The Zero Trust model discourages implicit trust. It operates on the “never trust, always verify” principle, requiring explicit verification of each request before granting access to resources. Access must be granted using the least privilege approach.

Data Security

Data security in SaaS applications entails guarding against data breaches (unauthorized access) and data loss prevention due to system failures. Data loss can be mitigated via frequent backups and replicating the data to multiple regions (availability zones). Regular disaster recovery tests help assess availability and data recoverability. Preventing unauthorized data access is much more nuanced. The stakes are higher when customer data is involved due to compliance. The importance of encryption in data security cannot be overstated. Encrypt your data, both in transit and at rest using industry standard encryption protocols. Furthermore, data segmentation as per sensitivity levels and client specific encryption keys can enhance the security of persisted data.

Effective authentication and authorization mechanisms prevent bad actors from accessing the data. Modern cloud-based data storage solutions often support a multitude of authentication mechanisms like password based and key-pair authentication. For automated systems, key-pair authentication, which relies on asymmetric encryption, provides enhanced security by nature of cryptography and eliminating the need to manage passwords. Some data solutions incorporate other authentication mechanisms discussed above such as OAuth, SAML and Single Sign On (SSO) making it easier to integrate data storage with Identity and Access management (IAM) solutions.

Observability and Monitoring

Maintaining awareness of what is going on in each part of a SaaS system can be challenging, however it is essential for an enhanced security posture. This goes beyond observing and reacting to system failures. Constant vulnerabilities monitoring and mitigation, threat detection and prevention, a secure deployment strategy, user session, request and network activity tracking are a part of a robust monitoring approach. Systems must be hardened against penetration and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Assessing third party vendors for their security posture is also necessary to maintain a healthy environment. Have an efficient alerting mechanism in place so that when anomalies are detected, remediation measures can kick off in a timely manner. Adapt a proactive versus reactive approach.

Privacy and Compliance

Regular security and compliance audits evaluate the system’s overall security posture and must be at the top of the security checklist. Handling customer data requires adherence to privacy laws concerning Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as applicable. Compliance audits measure the system against criteria such confidentiality, availability, integrity, security and privacy. Conduct the necessary audits and patch the system against issues reported in a timely manner. Undergoing compliance audits also helps the organization build trust with clients and partners as it validates the implementation of industry standard security measures and controls.

Culture

Engage employees and ensure there is awareness around compliance requirements and security best practices within the organization. Security must be cultivated as part of the organization’s culture. Employees must be aware of appropriate handling of sensitive data and actions to take in times of compromise. Provide training and educational tools necessary to build that muscle.

Final Thoughts

Security in a SaaS environment is non-negotiable. Maintain a security checklist for a secure and robust SaaS ecosystem. In addition to the measures discussed above, having a solid security incident response and recovery plan is an essential step in preparation. It is not uncommon for firms to have to deal with a security breach or incident in this digital age. In addition to monetary implications, loss of reputation is a major consequence of a breach. With the help of better security posture management, stakeholders can be prepared to handle such incidents appropriately if and when the need arises.

About the Author

Priyanka Nawalramka is Staff Software Engineer of HouseCanary. She was formerly Software Engineer at JumpCloud, an identity and access management company. Priyanka specializes in identity and currently focuses on building secure data solutions at HouseCanary. She is a Senior Member of the IEEE. Priyanka can be reached online at [email protected]