Want to Secure SaaS Application? Apply Best Practices to Leverage Benefits of Cloud

In today’s world, most businesses rely on software to successfully operate their functioning. In such an aspect, cloud services have gained significant momentum.

One such cloud service called Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is dominating the business environment to a more significant extent.

Today, SaaS has encapsulated millions of business worldwide. In one of the reports, cloud services will reach $278 million worth by the end of the year 2021.

However, the increase in popularity comes with some issues, and here, in this case, security has been a disastrous issue.

As an enterprise tries to move its data and application to the cloud, it becomes difficult for the executives to create a balancing act between productivity gains and security concerns.

Besides, the security in the cloud is not the same as the security in the data of the enterprise. Different rules apply to it, and maintaining proper security is no mean feat. 

The given topic will discuss the security issues faced by the SaaS applications and how various practices help it to leverage benefits for enhancing their business.

The best part is about to come…

Security Challenges for SaaS

Today SaaS technology has proved to have several advantages for the business managers to make life easier for the users. However, there are still some concerns and risks associated with the given service.

The main reason for arising these issues is based on the fact that SaaS relies mostly on an internal IT department for data storage, and that could act as a source of worry.

Some of the security challenges associated with SaaS include:

A. Data Access Risk

Users have concerns as the information about their data is shared with the third party. It is out of their control, and they fear loss, deletion, or corruption of their data by unauthorized intruders.

B. Risks Associated with Lack of Transparency

SaaS service providers guarantee their clients to maintain transparency in their services to secure their data. However, customers are not convinced with the handling of the security protocol and thus result in a sense of distrust among them.

C. Risk Related to Uncertainty in Locating Data

The majority of the SaaS service providers do not disclose their data centers, which pose difficulty for the customers to find know about their data. It thus becomes difficult for the customers to locate where their valuable data is stored.

D. Risks Associated with Identity Theft

The payment to the SaaS providers is usually made through credit cards, which is a convenient method. Nevertheless, it has some concerns related to identity management. As it is in the infancy phase, the whole service is flawed, which has a severe impact on the customers.

E. No Direct Control over Own Data

The major worry among the customers is that they have no control over their data. One such scenario is that they have to contact their service provider each time their data is lost. Moreover, they have to wait for their time for a longer duration, which makes them furious.

There is a quote to downplay the given risks-

“Every cloud has a silver lining.”

Yeah, that’s true! With the advancement of the technologies, various tools and practices have come up secure your SaaS applications and provide the best services to enhance your productivity. Some of these services are as follows:

I. End-to-End Encryption of Data during Transition

All interaction is server must be done using TLS transmission to ensure a high-security level. It should then be terminated within the given cloud service provider network. Encryption is essential even when the data is at rest.

As a cloud service provider, you should also provide field-level encryption and should specify filed, which is to get encrypted as per the customer’s requirement such as SSN, credit card number, and many more.

 II. Rigorous Vulnerability Testing should be part of the System

To protect and secure the customer’s data; there should be the inclusion of tools to handle vulnerability and incident response capably. The solutions provided by the given device will help it to enable a dully automated assessment test to detect weakness in the system. Furthermore, they also shorten the time of critical security audit effectively.

The given testing varies from device to device as well as from network to network, and you can decide how much vulnerability assessment is required for your services. A compelling piece of information, isn’t it?

III. No Comparison on Rigorous Compliance Certifications

To make the services of the customers more secure and transparent; your SaaS system must pass and obtain two important certifications.

First is PCI DSS, which is done to ensure storing, processing, and transmission of the sensitive data in a fully secure procedure. It is a multifaceted security standard that can fulfill the requirement of security policies & management, software designs, and other measures.

Second is SOC 2 Type II, which is helpful in the proper management of the internal risk procedures, vendor management programs, and oversight of regulatory compliance in an effective way. It also has a cloud service that is designed to maintain the highest level of data security.

IV. Proper Utilization of Virtual Private Cloud Network

The given cloud service is known for its multi-tenant instance. However, you should try to facilitate a cloud environment that is meant and controlled only by your clients.

Known as a virtual private cloud (VPC), it allows customers to securely connect to your data center and get necessary information about the security and encryption utilized in the given system effectively.

Wrapping Up

The given article has signified that there are various benefits associated with the SaaS model. However, it is also engulfed with multiple security issues that affect its services.

Nevertheless, with the provision of various security tools and procedures, the future of the SaaS application is now secure.

Take the benefit from leading SaaS application development services and help your customers to get the best result at a nominal rate successfully.