Constantly-adapting and growing cyberthreats make SaaS app security a more complex mission than ever before.
Here are the most significant risks currently facing organizations when it comes to SaaS security, alongside solutions to resolve them:
Challenge 1: Discovery and blind spots
Thanks to a dizzying array of available SaaS apps and solutions, many of which now play a crucial role in day-to-day operations, it’s easy to lose track of exactly which ones are being used by your organization. That’s not to mention the difficulties that come along with tracking who are the internal users of these apps, or what information is sitting inside them
That’s before you even consider who outside of your organization has been given share access on various files, as well as who has been given access to particular apps. For example, external users, like contractors, may also have permissions and app access, even long after you stop working with them.
With so many moving parts in play, even an extensive list of all your apps and users might not be enough to provide a clear picture of your SaaS security requirements. Factors such as not knowing each SaaS application’s security ranking, compliance, or the other apps connected to them, can potentially create blind spots.
Solution: Holistic, big-picture discovery
Wing enables you to continuously discover, classify and control all of your SaaS apps – a critical factor for managing SaaS application security. The solution leverages non-intrusive, yet consistently vigilant, technology that grants you an A-Z understanding and control over your organization’s SaaS use.
Full visibility into all of your SaaS apps, users, and vulnerabilities within minutes of onboarding provides you and your team with the power and insights you’ll need in order to build the right strategy and make real-time decisions for your company.
In an intuitive format, Wing helps you learn which apps within your estate have high or low SaaS security rankings, if they are in compliance with various requirements dependent upon their industry, and provides business information about the app, as well as important information about exactly which other apps your apps are connected to, or sharing data with.
With Wing, you can assess your SaaS estate quickly and easily, along with gathering pertinent information such as how, what, and when new SaaS apps are being used within your company.
Challenge 2: Risky App2app Connections
In our app-dependent world, App2App connections are a necessity for a smoother workflow and a must for employee productivity. Allowing apps to interconnect with each other and share data means that users enjoy a better experience and easier work process. But when allowing these App2App connections, it’s not always clear how much information is being shared via these connections.
When it comes to third or even fourth party connections, the majority of organizations are unaware of exactly what data is being made available. And for attackers who practice lateral movement, these App2App connections are an incredibly valuable resource for exploitation and a natural entry point.
Solution: Wing’s App2App security management
Wing is acutely aware of the potential vulnerabilities posed by App2App connections for your SaaS security. Knowing which connections are necessary and which should be shut down is key to a secure and clean SaaS environment. These connections are important and usually beneficial to the end-user. Wing’s solution enables you to detect and automatically shut down risky App2App connections, including third and fourth party connections, on all existing apps, as well as new apps while they are onboarded.
Challenge 3: External data sharing
File sharing and repository sharing are now a part of everyday life. But does that file from 2020 still need to be shared with an organization you no longer work with? Ideally, you should revoke this access, but with so much to contend with on a day-to-day basis, the chances that you’ll remember to systematically revoke sharing permissions with external companies are slim.
Unlike refreshing your password on a regular basis, no one ever thinks to refresh permissions or check their tokens – it’s simply not something we are accustomed to doing. But the reality is that any and all data which is shared externally, including repositories, increases the likelihood of a breach and should be examined.
Solution: Governance and regulation of external sharing
Wing’s SaaS security simplifies and streamlines the monitoring and regulation process for SaaS file sharing with groups or individuals outside of your organization. It enables you to revoke unnecessary and risky shared files quickly, in just a few intuitive steps. The part that’s most important? You can set Wing to do this for you completely automatically.
Whether you want Wing to take complete control after setting up to automatically revoke these permissions, or you want to notify employees about files that are being shared and give them the option to manually revoke permissions as needed, our solution has you covered.
Challenge 4: Users incorrectly onboarding new apps
When users want to onboard an app, they tend to automatically “approve all” of the app’s request permissions and access. It’s an autopilot decision, similar to clicking “yes” while skimming (or entirely skipping) the terms & conditions of a site. The problem is that this “approve all” can have unintended consequences.
Users can and do play a part in the effectiveness of a SaaS security strategy. Yet, when users lack knowledge about the implications of an action, risks and breaches occur. However, it’s important to note that user behavior is just one of several factors that impact SaaS security.
Without constant SaaS monitoring, companies aren’t able to quickly identify and detect vulnerabilities that started with incorrect user behavior, such as the blanket granting of permissions. You need to assess, classify, and authorize all new apps, in order to make the right decisions about which programs to keep or remove from your SaaS estate.
Solution: Wing’s ‘always on’ monitoring
Vigilance is key for SaaS security, and Wing’s continuous monitoring of potential vulnerabilities that originate from SaaS users’ behavior helps you stay aware of new risks from the very beginning. The solution enables you to review whether or not new apps should be added or removed into your SaaS estate, based on a number of risk factors or can automatically shut down apps that you have previously listed as risky.
Wing has an option that engages your end users too, allowing them to choose regarding the fate of these apps. Aside from preventing something important from being removed, this option also helps everyone develop a stronger security culture and fosters organization-wide trust. All while still allowing you to retain full control over this critical aspect of your organizational SaaS usage including which apps are permitted.
Challenge 5: Prioritizing risks and alerts
When breaches or permissions are made under the radar, the chances of issues arising increases exponentially. With so many SaaS application security vulnerabilities out there, it’s easy for security leaders to struggle to prioritize what should be dealt with ASAP and what can be moved further down the to-do list.
Add into the mix human error, and you’ve got a recipe for problems slipping through the cracks or not being properly addressed in time. Remediation is a full-time job that requires quite a bit of manpower, and even the most seasoned team is unable to contend with competing SaaS application security issues without ever making a mistake.
The solution: Automate your SaaS security
Automated SaaS security remediation helps take the burden off your teams and ensures that nothing gets lost in the chaos of multiple security threats. With our out-of-the-box solutions that enable security issues to be addressed with the click of a button, Wing offers organizations remediation that’s user-friendly and quick.
Wing will detect and automatically shut down any risky App2App connections, as well as identifying user inconsistencies, helping you stop security compromises before they happen. This means you can tackle the majority of security issues, leaving you free to concentrate on other tasks. The solution is customizable, so you can tailor a remediation path that’s perfectly suited for your organization’s unique needs.
The solution follows your lead, and you can teach Wing Solution exactly what you need and what procedures you want in place for SaaS application security management. You have the power to set the alerts that matter for you, so that you can avoid alert fatigue and remain focused on what’s critical for your organization.
Within Wing’s solution, you can set parameters to automatically close security issues and gaps. For example, you can implement a setting which ensures that employees who leave your company are no longer shared on Google Docs. The same goes for Docs that are shared with external companies or contractors – with just a few clicks, you can arrange that material stops being shared with teams outside of your organization within three months, or whatever time frame you choose.
If you’d like to learn more about how Wing Security can help strengthen your organization’s SaaS security strategy, contact us for a demo. We’d love to show you how Wing’s unique SaaS security solution can protect your organization.
