Most cloud applications are built upon Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, like Google G-Suite, Basecamp, Salesforce, and many others. With conveniences, these applications also bring some security challenges during data transmissions. The advancement demands cloud-based SaaS applications to quickly release updates, which creates opportunities for actors containing malicious intents to jump in and take advantage by stealing mission-critical data. Equifax’s security breach event that happened in 2017 affected over 148 million customers’ data, which happened due to the vulnerability of the company website. In another cyberattack on the Uber application, hackers got their command on over 57 million customers to log in credentials.

Surprisingly, in the Uber attack, hackers first attacked the GitHub repository code of the Uber application and gained access to their AWS account. In 2020, CSA (Cloud security alliance) released their report, in which they mentioned 11 security threats only for SaaS and cloud applications. They also mentioned that these common security vulnerabilities occurred only in the development process where there were numerous runtime errors present. Future cyberattacks in SaaS applications, however, can be prevented, if developers take security concerns as their topmost priority from the application ideation to the delivery process. So, we’ve gathered a few Cloud-based SaaS application-related cybersecurity best practices by considering their helpfulness.

Keep Control Over Application Authentication:

Cloud provides multiple types of authentications in applications, which makes it difficult for security experts to monitor how users access and utilize SaaS resources. Some providers offer to implement identity providers managed by customers. For example, each Active Directory is integrated with security assertion markup language, and all open authorization is handled by OpenID connect. Some providers enable their customers to configure multifactor authentication, and some do not. To monitor users' activities, security teams should have an idea about services underuse and their supportability. It helps administrators in configuring authentication types in better ways based on needs. Even a single Active Directory is also the best choice for SaaS providers, as it verifies login credentials with account policies of SaaS applications.

Network Control:

Security teams have the authority to provide access to run specific instances across the application network. This authority can also be extended to servers and NACL (Network Access Control List). Plus, security engineers can use a firewall – an optional VPC security layer and take control of all incoming and outgoing traffic of subnets.

VM Management:

It is important for security engineers to keep system VMs up to date with all frequent security-related updates. They also have to do constant monitoring activities and keep applications acquainted with the latest security patches. A SaaS provider constantly monitors and updates these tasks on standard VMS through third-party tools. It reduces the time between the processes at the time of issue detection. Its related patch is utilized to stop a breach from proceeding.

Data Encryption:

Most communication/data transmission channels of SaaS applications use TLS certification for their encryption. Plus, many SaaS providers provide security for data storage facilities. Many SaaS providers set these two-level encryption standards as a default setting. Moreover, others give power to customers to enable encryption types as per their needs. Sometimes developers also need to do some research on the security measures that suit the software best. If you have this option to choose from, then ensure to enable the data encryption feature for better security. 

Discovery and Inventory:

Every security engineer must keep a checklist of new SaaS usages, which is hard to track, at least for now. Due to the rapid application deployments, SaaS models have become popular these days with stronger competition, like DevOps. However, both deployment models are unique in their own ways. The SaaS model also provides alert configuration for unexpected utilization. That's why, whenever it is possible, use both automated toolkits and data consolidation methods to keep track of application usage and maintain its performance across the infrastructure. This way, SaaS providers can enable the monitoring of applications and solve security vulnerabilities whenever it gets available.

Final Words:

The SaaS model keeps the commitment to providing cost-effective and agile performance in industries, containing complex configurations and regulatory policies. For example, the Banking sector. These Cloud-based SaaS applications help to secure sensitive customers’ information, follow regulatory policies, etc. Therefore, the best practices enable SaaS applications to perform even more securely than usual on-premises applications. So, always keep these best practices in mind while building such applications. Still, if you need any assistance in cloud security deployment, then do contact us and get the best and most feasible cloud security solutions in India that meet your application expectation levels. Book a free cloud consultation slot today!