Enhancing SaaS Security for a Resilient Digital Future

Businesses are rapidly adopting SaaS applications to drive innovation, streamline operations, and enhance agility. However, the convenience and scalability that SaaS offers has also created new and complex security challenges. As revealed in the Cloud Security Alliance’s “SaaS Security Survey 2024,” 55% of organizations have experienced a SaaS-related security incident in the past two years—a stark reminder of the expanding threat landscape.

The era of SaaS proliferation requires a new approach to security. Traditional approaches, such as cloud access security brokers and manual auditing, are no longer sufficient. In this evolving landscape, security leaders must rethink their strategies and adopt new tools and frameworks that can comprehensively protect the entire SaaS stack. Widening security gaps, increased stakeholder engagement, increased investment in security solutions, and the role of SaaS Security Posture Management are shaping the future of SaaS security.

The Growing Attack Surface of SaaS

SaaS applications have become the backbone of modern enterprises, enhancing productivity across industries. From customer relationship management to collaboration tools and business-critical applications, SaaS adoption is growing exponentially. And with this growth comes a similar expansion of the attack surface. As more business functions move to the cloud, security incidents such as data breaches, ransomware, and insider threats are becoming increasingly common.

Maur Bain, co-founder and CEO of Adaptive Shield, points to recent high-profile incidents like the Snowflake breach as a wake-up call for organizations. “The Snowflake breach is a classic example of a SaaS security event that could have been prevented or detected otherwise,” Bain said. “Organizations need to recognize the shared security responsibility model in SaaS, where SaaS vendors provide native security controls, but it is ultimately the organization’s responsibility to ensure those controls are actively implemented.”

This shared responsibility model emphasizes the need for organizations to be proactive in securing their SaaS environments. While SaaS providers offer built-in security measures, companies must take responsibility for monitoring, strengthening, and managing these controls to prevent attacks.

Why do traditional security measures fail?

The 2024 SaaS Security Survey highlights a critical issue: Most organizations’ current SaaS security solutions cover only about half of their applications. This leaves significant gaps in protection, leaving businesses vulnerable to potential threats. Traditional security tools, such as CASBs, focus on controlling access to SaaS applications but fail to provide comprehensive protection across the entire SaaS ecosystem. Similarly, manual audits—while valuable—can leave organizations vulnerable in the interim between assessments.

“Major incidents like the Snowflake breach can be easily prevented with the right monitoring and hardening tools,” Ben emphasized. “Beyond prevention, having threat detection and response capabilities specifically designed for SaaS applications can identify indicators of compromise and stop the attack at the perimeter.”

As SaaS adoption grows, organizations can no longer rely solely on these fragmented solutions. The complexities of managing SaaS security across multiple applications, vendors, and departments require a more robust and centralized approach—one that can provide complete visibility into the SaaS stack and identify threats in real time.

The changing role of security leadership

One of the most notable trends in SaaS security is the evolving role of CISOs and security leaders. Historically, CISOs and IT teams have been the primary gatekeepers of enterprise security. However, as SaaS applications are increasingly managed across different departments, security responsibilities are becoming more distributed. According to the report, CISOs are shifting from controllers to custodians, focusing on governance and oversight rather than operational control.

This proliferation of stakeholders can complicate security efforts, as different teams within an organization may not always agree on security priorities. However, it also presents an opportunity for collaboration. “In order to be well-equipped to deal with today’s most complex threats, large enterprises now realize that investing in preventative approaches is the right approach,” said Bean.

The key to success lies in fostering communication and collaboration between security teams and SaaS application owners. By building stronger relationships and streamlining processes, organizations can better protect their SaaS environments, even as control of these applications becomes decentralized.

The Rise of SaaS Security Posture Management

As the limitations of traditional security approaches become increasingly apparent, organizations are turning to advanced solutions like SaaS Security Posture Management. According to the report, SSPM adoption has grown significantly, from 17% in 2022 to 44% in 2023. SSPM tools provide the comprehensive coverage that CASBs and manual auditing often fail to provide, offering centralized monitoring, misconfiguration management, and threat detection across the entire SaaS stack.

“I’m not surprised to see the huge leap in SaaS maturity. This is 100% in line with the rapidly growing demand we’re identifying in the market,” Ben explained. “Just as Cloud Security Posture Management covers any security use case in cloud infrastructures, SaaS Security Posture Management is about unifying the SaaS security attack surface.”

SSPM tools are designed to address the full spectrum of SaaS-related threats, including misconfigurations, third-party application access, identity governance, and device security. They enable organizations to proactively identify and fix vulnerabilities before they are exploited, ensuring ongoing protection in an increasingly dynamic and complex environment.

Securing the Future of SaaS Security: A Roadmap Forward

To build a more resilient SaaS security strategy, organizations must adopt a proactive, preventative approach. This starts with a commitment to continuous monitoring and improvement, leveraging SSPM tools to gain complete visibility into the SaaS environment, and automating critical security processes.

As Ben points out, “Current ITDR solutions primarily address endpoint and Active Directory protection on-premises, but do not cover the complex SaaS environment. Addressing SaaS-related threats requires deep expertise and can only be achieved through cross-referencing and contextual analysis of suspicious events from multiple sources, ensuring accurate detection of identity-focused, micro-threats.”

By adopting a more comprehensive approach to SaaS security, organizations can reduce the risk of breaches, improve their ability to detect and respond to threats in real time, and ultimately protect their digital ecosystems for the future.

The Evolving Security Landscape for SaaS

The SaaS landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and so are the security challenges that come with it. As businesses increasingly rely on SaaS applications to power their operations, they must recognize the critical importance of securing these environments. CSA’s “SaaS Security Survey 2024 Report” exposes gaps in current security strategies and underscores the urgent need for organizations to rethink their approach.

SaaS security posture management solutions stand out as a vital solution, providing the comprehensive coverage needed to protect against today’s sophisticated threats. By investing in preventative approaches, fostering cross-departmental collaboration, and adopting advanced tools like SSPM, organizations can protect their SaaS ecosystems and ensure business resilience in an increasingly cloud-based world.