Unlike traditional on-premise IT infrastructure, cloud environments allow SaaS businesses to organize, store, access, and transfer confidential data.
It's highly cost-efficient and flexible to accommodate changing business needs.
The best part? Cloud services take less implementation time compared to a conventional setup.
No wonder, most SaaS firms looking to scale are investing in cloud services.
However, as IT support service Swiftcomm points out, the increasing incidents of malicious threats, data breaches, and cyber attacks can slow down their momentum.
The recent incident where hackers intruded on the cloud of the SaaS provider Accenture to steal customer data is proof of it.
What's more? Reports state that the global cost of cybercrime will cross $23.84 trillion by 2027. Hence, SaaS businesses should take actionable steps to strengthen cybersecurity.
In this post, we will share five best cloud security practices to help SaaS businesses create a secure cloud environment.
#1: Prioritize the Security of Your Cyber Assets
Cloud-based cyber assets, such as SaaS software, applications, web servers, and more, are crucial for businesses to operate.
However, they serve as potential entry points or attack surfaces for cyber criminals to intrude into the IT infrastructure.
So, SaaS businesses should deploy the tools like CAASM to secure all the cyber assets in the cloud.
If you are wondering what is CAASM (cyber asset attack surface management) is a tool that empowers SaaS businesses to gain complete visibility into their cloud security.
With CAASM, businesses can continuously monitor cloud activities and uncover misconfigurations and threats. From detecting cyber assets most vulnerable to attacks to evaluating the blast radius of compromised assets, it helps SaaS businesses minimize losses and revive their operations in emergencies.
#2: Manage Identity and Access to SaaS Applications
There might be thousands of your team members leveraging SaaS applications every day.
While this helps streamline their work, unauthorized application access can impact your business. More than financial losses, it can set your company's data and credibility at stake.
That's where implementing identity and access management (IAM) policies can help.
IAM policies help businesses control permissions and user access to cloud resources.
Besides, they enable the security teams to -
● Discover and remove dormant or inoperative accounts.
● Enforce strict authentication policies and tools like 2FA (Two-factor authentication that requires an additional security factor like a unique code or fingerprint besides the password).
● Provide privileged and time-bound access to users after authentication. This asks users to log in again after a predefined period.
IAM policies can thus help SaaS businesses reduce the chances of data breaches occurring because of leaked credentials and weak passwords.
#3: Address Compliance and Data Security Issues
Data is inevitably the most vital yet vulnerable asset for SaaS businesses.
So, security teams should ensure that the cloud environment is safe and secure for processing sensitive data.
They should have data loss prevention policies and frameworks to restrict users from sharing data with unauthorized or unknown third-party.
The inability to do so can lead to cybersecurity gaps, inviting data breaches.
In such instances, deploying a cloud access security broker (CASB) solution can help.
CASB serves as a point of contact where data security policies are enforced between the company and cloud service providers. With the right CASB software, SaaS businesses can -
● Identify and prevent malware from entering the firm's network.
● Authenticate user credentials to limit unauthorized access.
● Identify high-risk SaaS applications and users.
● Prevent data transfer outside the organization.
In short, CASB solutions ensure that users and cloud services align with the organization's data security policies.
#4: Build a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) Plan
A business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan reflects the policies, strategies, and methods on how a company should respond to disruptive cyberattacks events and potential threats.
BCDR plan guides businesses to minimize the impact of unfortunate events while recovering from them. This ensures firms return to their operations in times of crisis.
Here are a few tips to consider while mapping a BCDR plan.
● Assess Potential Risks: Analyze all the SaaS applications and cyber assets for potential risks.
● Create Recovery Strategies: Brainstorm tactics to help your business recover fast after a mishap. For instance, take inspiration from leading SaaS companies. Research the cybersecurity solutions they use as a part of their recovery management.
● Test Your Tools: Ensure the effectiveness of the recovery management tools by creating dummy scenarios. For example, create an inventory of dummy assets and delete them. Run your data backup tools to understand their potential.
#5: Train Your Team for Improved Risk Management
All team members should understand how to leverage the cloud-based assets, tools, and applications while ensuring complete security.
They should know basic steps that can help during cyber attacks. This kind of awareness and knowledge can help SaaS businesses mitigate risks.
Here are a few more vital tips to train your team.
● Conduct sessions to provide knowledge on social engineering attacks, phishing scams, and more. This can help them identify potential vulnerabilities.
● Ensure everyone in the team can operate cloud-based applications and tools, especially the new joiners.
● Explain to them the risks and losses that can occur because of cyber attacks. This can motivate them to access sensitive data carefully.
Conclusion
Cloud environments offer anytime, anywhere access to data without hassles. With cloud services, SaaS businesses can scale their firms by enabling teams to streamline their processes.
However, as cyberattack incidents increase, ensuring security in the cloud-based ecosystem is challenging.
The cloud security practices and tools shared in this post can help SaaS businesses strengthen their security and reduce the chances of cyberattacks.
So, leverage them to prepare your SaaS business against cyber threats.
