The SaaS Security Landscape in 2024: Navigating New Risks and Challenges
The exponential growth of SaaS has brought about critical security challenges that every organization must address. In the previous year, state-sponsored groups and malicious actors capitalized on widespread vulnerabilities in SaaS platforms, resulting in significant data breaches. Of particular concern is the development of generative AI features in SaaS applications, which can covertly access and exploit sensitive organizational information.
As new threat trends continue to surface, the readiness of CISOs to combat evolving risks will be put to the test in 2024 and beyond. Our report, based on the analysis of key stakeholders, aims to shed light on the SaaS security 2024 report and ultimately would enable us to provide a data-driven forecast for the year ahead.
The State of SaaS Security: Why is it So Important?
Saas security encompasses the measures put in place by an organization to protect data and accounts accessed through cloud-based third-party services. Both the service provider and the client bear the responsibility for maintaining this security. Saas platforms are built for remote access from different devices and locations, providing flexibility and efficiency. Nevertheless, this also increases the risk of cyber threats.
The complexity of SaaS security is heightened by the use of an average of 130 different SaaS platforms by companies, each with unique data access levels, server-side security provided by third-party vendors, and varying user account security measures. Incorporating third-party services into SaaS solutions introduces additional security challenges that are often difficult to manage directly.
Shared responsibility in SaaS security can result in overlooked vulnerabilities and gaps in defense. Ensuring regulatory compliance becomes more challenging with multiple SaaS vendors, particularly when navigating various legal and industry standards.
The State of SaaS Security 2024 Report: Key Discovery
The 2024 State of SaaS Security Report reveals a significant disparity between the confidence of security leaders in their current security measures for SaaS applications and the actual risks and challenges present in the SaaS security landscape.
The report, combining industry survey data with insights from hundreds of enterprise SaaS applications, reveals alarming trends. These include a rise in SaaS breaches, misconfigured security controls, exposure of sensitive data, and excessive access granted to third-party integrations such as GenAI tools.
Security & SaaS Breaches: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Security leaders are placing a high emphasis on SaaS security, with 96% ranking it as a top priority. Additionally, 93% of respondents noted a rise in their organization’s budget allocated for SaaS security compared to previous years. Despite this increased focus and investment, confidence in existing security programs remains strong, with 84% expressing a high level of confidence.
However, despite this, more than half (58%) of organizations have reported experiencing a SaaS security incident in the last 18 months. The occurrence of recent headline-grabbing SaaS breaches like the Microsoft Midnight Blizzard attack and the Cloudflare breach emphasizes the vulnerabilities of SaaS environments and the devastating effects they can have.
These incidents highlight the importance of a reality check and the necessity for proactive, automated security measures to safeguard SaaS-hosted data, enhance the management of human and non-human identities, and minimize potential attack surfaces in SaaS systems.
The State of SaaS Security Report 2024: An Excuse to Declare State of Emergency on Security Program
The report highlights the urgent requirement for a specialized SaaS security program. The increasing number and intricacy of contemporary SaaS applications, along with the widespread adoption of distributed management methods, are leading to a continually changing security environment. Conventional security teams are finding it challenging to stay ahead with manual tasks such as security checklists and regular audits.
What Next?
The SaaS security report exposes the unique obstacles that security leaders encounter when securing SaaS applications. These hurdles may result in misconfigurations, inconsistent security measures, and difficulties in maintaining oversight of SaaS deployments and third-party connections.
The report also offers suggestions for mitigating SaaS security threats, such as keeping track of SaaS applications, implementing ongoing monitoring, aligning configurations with recommended industry standards, following the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP), and managing unused accounts, third-party integrations, and inactive data exchanges.
You can find the full report here
SaaS Security Breaches: How Do You Protect Yourself
Addressing the challenges and trends associated with SaaS necessitates a comprehensive SaaS security strategy and remedies. Key features of these solutions, as well as recommended practices for implementation, encompass:
- Implement context-aware ITDR: In order to distinguish between legit users behaving appropriately, legit users behaving inappropriately (such as insider threats), and illegitimate users, one must consider the business and HR factors at play. It is essential to analyze the typical behaviors of these users and their respective groups, departments, or roles within the company. Additionally, any changes in the user’s employment status, such as termination, should prompt a closer examination of their actions. An ITDR solution must be equipped to understand the context in which these behaviors occur in order to detect and respond to potential threats effectively.
- Utilize automated workflows: Waiting for the InfoSec team to receive an alert and address a SaaS threat may result in delays. An efficient SaaS security system should include automated workflows for immediate detection and remediation of identified threats.
- Be at Device Security Alert: Stay updated with all the apps connected to your SaaS ecosystem, including their permissions and tokens. Treat every third-party app as a potential security threat, even if it was previously used by just one user several years ago. Remove inactive apps, revoke unnecessary permissions, and take immediate action to secure OAuth tokens if there are any signs of compromise.
Do Not Sleep on the SaaS Security Report
As our dependency on SaaS for building essential business applications and software grows, we need to reassess our approach to safeguarding data privacy and security. The practice of companies exchanging data for necessary features or quicker product development is no longer deemed acceptable.
The State of SaaS Security 2024 report has brought attention to the escalating security risks associated with SaaS applications. Through recognizing the importance of keeping data within internal systems, they have identified a notable gap in the market.
Software as a Service (SaaS) evolves rapidly, as does work and development. It’s important to stay updated on SaaS security trends and ensure that your security measures can effectively combat emerging threats. By staying ahead of the curve, you can maintain both SaaS productivity and security.
Take Action: Strengthen Your SaaS Security Today!
As the SaaS landscape evolves, so do the security challenges that organizations face. The findings in The State of SaaS Security 2024 Report highlight critical vulnerabilities and the urgent need for a proactive security strategy. Don’t wait for a breach to occur—empower your organization with the knowledge and tools necessary to safeguard your data. At The SamurAI, we specialize in tailored cybersecurity solutions designed to protect your SaaS applications from emerging threats. Take the next step to enhance your cybersecurity strategy by signing up for a free 30-minute threat intelligence consultation. Stay ahead of emerging threats and secure your organization for a safer tomorrow!