With the ever-growing adoption of SaaS applications, businesses face new security challenges, including managing the endless number of applications employees download either sanctioned or unsanctioned (without the knowledge of IT teams), preventing data breaches, addressing app misconfigurations, and identifying potential weaknesses.
SSPM (SaaS Security Posture Management) is a solution for monitoring and mitigating security risks within software-as-a-service applications (SaaS), such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and GitHub. With SSPM organizations reduce their attack surface and mitigate SaaS security risks. They do so by getting full visibility into their SaaS ecosystem, managing access controls of human and non-human identities, and remediating potential risks before they lead to security breaches.
To make sure that businesses keep their cloud SaaS applications secure, SaaS security is addressed through a clear and proactive approach. Issues like misconfigurations, orphaned accounts, excessive privileges, and compliance risks are identified and addressed, offering a more targeted approach to cloud security.
How SSPM Works
SSPM plays a crucial role in SaaS environments by allowing comprehensive visibility into applications, configurations, users, and data flows. Businesses take proactive measures before an attacker can exploit weaknesses by continuously monitoring SaaS environments for configuration drift, excessive privileges, orphaned accounts, and more.
Through a unified dashboard security teams visualize their organization’s overall SaaS security posture, detect and prioritize issues, and get actionable insights on how to mitigate SaaS security risks. Businesses can thereby identify and address SaaS risks in real time, and mitigate threats before they become security breaches.
SSPM vs. CASB, CSPM, and SASE
-> SSPM vs. CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker)
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) are complementary solutions but serve different purposes. CASBs provide security by monitoring user behavior, enforcing data access policies, and detecting suspicious activities. While CASB is more focused on enforcing access and data policies, SSPM focuses on identifying misconfigurations and securing SaaS environments.
-> SSPM vs. SASE (Secure Access Service Edge)
SSPM and SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) are both essential components of a comprehensive cloud security strategy, but they have different roles. SASE is a cloud-delivered security solution that combines network security functions, such as secure web gateways and zero trust network access, into a unified platform. SASE ensures secure, fast, and reliable access to cloud resources.
-> SSPM vs. CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management)
CSPM is used for IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service) environments, like AWS or Azure. It identifies and manages security risks related to cloud infrastructure, such as misconfigured security groups or unencrypted data storage. While both solutions focus on posture management, SSPM is tailored for SaaS and the unique security challenges associated with these applications.
Top 3 SSPM Essentials
1. SaaS Visibility & Control
Organizations lack visibility into their SaaS environment, resulting in potential blind spots. SSPM provides comprehensive visibility into all SaaS applications, sanctioned and unsanctioned, the connectivity between those SaaS applications, user access and the data flow. IT and security teams know exactly which applications are in use, their security settings, and any potential risks.
2. Misconfiguration Management
App Misconfigurations are one of the leading causes of data breaches. SSPM helps detect and remediate security misconfigurations in SaaS applications. For example, an SSPM solution can alert security teams if sensitive files in apps like Google Drive are shared publicly, preventing potential exposure.
3. Remediation
Remediation is a key SSPM capability, offering manual or automated options to address security risks. It allows security teams to address risks efficiently by either automating corrective actions or through manual remediation options. Actions include revoking or suspending users, notifying administrators, and creating tickets to ensure prompt resolution of vulnerabilities.
Wing Security’s Holistic Approach to SSPM
With Wing, Security Posture Management (SSPM) isn’t just about visibility and control—it’s about getting the full story and making sure that companies have the context they need to understand, prioritize, and mitigate risks in their SaaS ecosystem. Wing simplifies SSPM, helping organizations focus on what matters most, when it matters most—so they can stay ahead of attackers, protect their critical assets, and maintain business continuity.
Preventive: Reducing risks before they escalate
Wing Security helps to minimize the attack surface by ensuring essential security measures are in place for your most critical apps. By proactively pinpointing the most critical misconfigurations and allowing essential security controls, like MFA for super admin accounts, to be correctly configured, we reduce the attack surface before threats can escalate.
Continuous: Stay ahead of posture drift and SaaS threats
SaaS environments evolve constantly, with newly onboarded unsanctioned apps, orphaned accounts, app-to-app integrations, and excessive privileges creating fresh weaknesses. Wing Security continuously monitors your SaaS environment for these changes, and enables continuous posture management through remediation.
