Who Really Protects Your SaaS Environments?

Who is truly protecting our SaaS environments?

Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Slack, and other SaaS systems now hold a significant portion of an organization's data and business processes. However, unlike traditional cloud infrastructures, we don't have access to the operating system or the underlying infrastructure on which they operate.

So, what are we responsible for?

Identities and Permissions

• Who can access the system?
• Which users hold excessive permissions?
• Are there inactive accounts or service accounts that are not properly managed?

Security Configurations

• Is MFA enforced?
• Is external sharing open?
• Are there settings that do not comply with organizational policy?

Data

• What sensitive information is stored in the application?
• Who can access it?
• With whom can it be shared?

Third-Party Applications

• What integrations and OAuth applications are connected to the environment?
• What permissions have they been granted?

User Behavior

• From which devices do users connect?
• To which tenants do they upload information?
• What actions are they permitted to perform?

SaaS security does not rely on a single solution:

• SSPM (SaaS Security Posture Management) provides visibility into configurations, permissions, integrations, and anomalies within SaaS applications.
• SSE (Security Service Edge) and CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) protect access and user activities.
• DLP (Data Loss Prevention) helps protect data and prevent unauthorized disclosure or sharing.
• Identity management systems manage authentication mechanisms, identities, and permissions.

Only the connection between these layers allows for a complete picture of risks and effectively protects the SaaS environment.

Because the fact that the infrastructure is managed by the SaaS provider does not mean that responsibility for the data, identities, and access to it has also transferred to them.