As many businesses transition to cloud applications, Software as a Service (SaaS) has captured the pragmatic zeitgeist of modern operations. As with any new technological era, this shift has come with new security challenges. Maintaining SaaS security is a critical business priority.
What is SaaS security?
SaaS security measures and protocols are implemented to protect the infrastructure of a SaaS environment and the data and applications within it. Unlike security for traditional on-premise solutions where the responsibility for security lies primarily with the organisation, SaaS cloud security responsibility is shared between the service provider and the customer. This ‘security partnership’ of sorts is crucial for safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring that SaaS applications function smoothly and safely without security issues.
Four challenges in SaaS application security
Organisations can face myriad challenges when addressing SaaS security – including these four key examples:
- Data breaches/data loss: Any unauthorised access to sensitive data stored within SaaS applications is a major concern for SaaS security.
- Compliance issues: Observing and adhering to industry and location-specific data security regulations such as GDPR is critical for widespread operational stability.
- Insecure solutions: If the SaaS solution lacks adequate security protocols it may not be the right solution to use. Contract Insight, our contract management software, has been praised for its SaaS security by customers and third-party analysts alike.
- User configuration: Misconfigurations and non-standard user practices can lead to vulnerabilities. It’s best to choose a user-friendly and configurable solution according to organisational needs.
Key components of SaaS application security
Authentication and authorisation are critical. It’s best to ensure only authorised users can access specific data and features within the SaaS application. Strong authentication methods – such as multi-factor authentication – are recommended. Additionally, advanced SaaS solutions – such as Contract Insight – support robust but intuitive user permissions management and access controls for necessary parts of the system.
In today’s web-based business environment, data encryption is a must. The latest and greatest methods protect resting and in-transit data. The goal is that even if data is exposed, it remains secure and unreadable. So, it’s important that provider has up-to-date security protocols.
For dynamic SaaS app security, you need vulnerability management. Regular provider updates and patches can address new exposure points to hackers who are willing and able to exploit them. A proactive and prescient approach to vulnerability management helps organisations stay ready to mitigate threats.
Finally, you also need to align with industry security compliance standards and regulation. SaaS providers should retain compliance certifications that show customers that their data is securely handled according to legal requirements.
Day to day SaaS security best practices
Stay abreast of current events and industry standards regarding data handling. Adapt your organisation’s information handling policies and procedures accordingly to prevent security breaches and data leaks.
Ensure that your organisation meets the security requirements for all organisations you work with within SaaS applications. Review your internal technology infrastructure to ensure all firewalls and servers are secure and working properly. Examine guidelines with your IT department often and make sure that all employees are observing recommended guidelines and taking proper precautions regarding sensitive information – especially when using SaaS apps.
As mentioned, guard all sensitive documents, contracts and information with a unique and secure password. Strong passwords contain a mix of various characters (upper and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, etc.), can be acronyms or misspellings of words or phrases, and are not as easily guessable. Change your passwords periodically in case they do fall into the wrong hands to avoid data leakage. Leading SaaS applications should offer these password complexity options to automate the process.
The Contract Insight software security difference
In the interest of trusting SaaS vendors with SaaS app security among its top priorities and points of positive feedback, Contract Insight® boasts the security features and benefits listed above and many others.
Contract Insight Enterprise can be hosted as SaaS or deployed on-premise. When your organisation selects the SaaS model, the application is located, managed, supported, and secured within Google Cloud and other leading data centres.
Now that you know about our SaaS security protocols, it’s time to learn how contract lifecycle management software can positively transform your organisation’s contract processes, from requests and creation to renewals.
Contract Insight is an award-winning, widely trusted contract lifecycle management software solution, which has helped thousands of organisations from a vast array of industries within both the public and private sectors to optimise the contract process, boost revenue, promote productivity, centralise CLM processes, and reap the most value from contracts.
To learn how to more easily draft contracts, get contracts reviewed, collaborate on negotiations, and much more to improve contract management processes, book a free demo of Contract Insight® contract management and eProcurement software today!
Contact John O’Brien, CEO at Four Business Solutions – global business consultants and software integrators specialising in business process improvement.