7 Best Practices for SaaS Security to Enhance Digital Safety

When it comes to cloud software development, its relative affordability and simplicity can sometimes eclipse any security concerns.

However, as a business owner, therefore, you need to ensure that you’re not falling into this trap! Put simply, no matter Whether you’re vetting a new feature or ditching the whole on-premise software for SaaS, security aspect needs to top your priority list and not be an afterthought.

Let’s look at it this way – the increasing demand for SaaS has increased the number of SaaS security risks. So, what is it that you can do to prevent this from happening to your business?

The simple answer to this is, to take stock of the best practices for SaaS security.

In this article, the IT experts at Redpalm have put together a guide on how to arm your business with a SaaS security checklist and choose the right isolation scheme.

Keep reading to explore the best practices for SaaS security that can help safeguard your data privacy and organisation from SaaS security breaches.

1. Encrypting Your Data

One of the best practices for SaaS security is data encryption. It is something that must always top the list and it should be incorporated into each layer of your technology. Doing so ensures that in the case of a cyber attack, the data of your customers isn’t leaked to the outside world.

With high-profile cases coming to light more often, people are increasingly worried about their data. This makes it essential to communicate your data encryption policies and let your customers know that their sensitive information is safe.

Give this article a read to find out the common encryption methods that you can use to secure your business data from SaaS security risks.

2. Backing Up Data In Various Locations

A lot of organisations haven’t prepared themselves for data breaches, making customer data management all the more important.

By backing up your data in various locations, you can make sure a single system error won’t harm the security of your business. 

While different cloud platforms you use may offer the same functionality, your business needs to be diligent with data backups to prevent disastrous losses.

3. Automating Identity Management

Automating identity management is among the leading best practices for SaaS security checklists. This is because, by controlling the identities and users provisioned in your SaaS applications, you can avoid rogue or unauthorised users from gaining access to your system.

While automating the process is an excellent option, you should also consider making your staff use IDP to create their accounts. Doing so will help your IT team to centralise access control and visibility, not to mention SaaS risk control.

4. Removing Zombie (Dormant) Accounts

When it comes to creating SaaS accounts, the process is quite easy so much so that your staff are likely to have more accounts than they know.

Sure, it might be done to test some features using a free trial or perhaps they stopped using the account because they found a better alternative. However, each of these zombie (dormant) accounts could store confidential information, whilst posing a potential risk to your business.

You could either manually discover and get rid of these accounts or switch to a newer SaaS security solution that can automate the whole process.

5. Using Stronger Passwords

Using strong passwords is one of the best practices for SaaS applications that many people tend to ignore, despite knowing the risks it can bring to the table.

As a business, it’s your responsibility to prevent your employees from sticking to the same password for everything, thereby increasing their vulnerability to a data threat. You need to ensure that they’re using strong passwords when creating their accounts, whilst also setting up authentication guidelines.

Don’t forget to keep evaluating your protocols, as this will ensure that you stay compliant with the rules as your business expands.

6. Monitor Data Sharing

Regularly monitoring and auditing data-sharing activities is one of the best practices for SAAS security as it helps detect and prevent unauthorised access. Implementing alerts for any suspicious activity makes sure that data is only shared with authorised users. 

With real-time monitoring, organisations can quickly respond to potential security incidents. Encouraging employees to use built-in sharing features with access controls rather than insecure methods, like emails or public links, is also important. Monitoring data sharing ensures that only authorised individuals can access important data and minimises the risk of data leaks or unauthorised downloads.

7. Plan Your Incident Response and Disaster Recovery

When it comes to the best practices for SAAS security, proactive planning and preparing your response to a potential security incident is essential. Having well-defined and tested incident response processes is the key to handling any security incident effectively and mitigating its impact. 

The goal of creating such a plan is to have robust access recovery procedures in place so that you can regain access in the event of a disaster. It also ensures that all your critical data is securely backed up. 

Additional Best Practices for SaaS Security

• Always have a cloud application strategy in place and ensure you’re creating policies to access the platform.
• Come up with a solid plan to secure your business data and users, not to mention access to your SaaS applications.
• Have proper policies in place for classifying, managing and accessing your SaaS applications. This should be based on the trust level you require and of course, the criticality of your app. 

Contact Redpalm for All Your SaaS Application Security Needs

SaaS security is a top priority for businesses across industries. When it comes to the best practices for SaaS security, there are many things you can do to protect your organisation and its systems.

At Redpalm, we have a team of professional IT experts who can offer valuable insights into how you can keep your SaaS platform secure.

We provide various testing protocols that can help you ensure your network, IT infrastructure and software are safe at all times. Our team can also help develop plans to safeguard your data and business in the event of a data breach.

We also offer various other services such as proactive monitoring, technology procurement, cloud services, IT audits and health checks, and more. 

To learn more about our services, click here or contact us to schedule an appointment today.