The Ultimate SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) Checklist

Cloud security is the umbrella that holds within it: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Gartner created the SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) category for solutions that continuously assess security risk and manage the SaaS applications’ security posture. With enterprises having 1,000 or more employees relying on dozens to hundreds of apps, the need for deep visibility and remediation for SaaS security settings is only getting more critical.

Top Pain Points for SaaS Security

• • Lack of control over the growing SaaS app estate
  • Lack of governance in the lifecycle of SaaS apps: from purchase to deployment, operation, and maintenance
  • Lack of visibility of all the configurations in SaaS app estate
  • Skills gap in ever-evolving, accelerating, complex cloud security
  • Laborious and overwhelming workload to stay on top of hundreds to thousands (to tens of thousands) of settings and permissions.
  • Lack of visibility into 3rd party apps and their permissions

The capability of governance across the whole SaaS estate is both nuanced and complicated. While the native security controls of SaaS apps are often robust, the responsibility falls on the organization to ensure that all configurations are properly set — from global settings to every user role and privilege. It only takes one unknowing SaaS admin to change a setting or share the wrong report and confidential company data is exposed. The security team is burdened with knowing every app, user, and configuration and ensuring they are all compliant with industry and company policy.

Effective SSPM solutions come to answer these pains and provide full visibility into the company’s SaaS security posture, checking for compliance with industry standards and company policy. Some solutions even offer the ability to remediate right from within the solution. As a result, an SSPM tool can significantly improve security-team efficiency and protect company data by automating the remediation of misconfigurations throughout the increasingly complex SaaS estate.

As one might expect, not all SSPM solutions are created equal. Monitoring, alerts, and remediation should sit at the heart of your SSPM solution. They ensure that any vulnerabilities are quickly closed before they are exploited by cyberattacks. Solutions like the one developed by Adaptive Shield create a window into the SaaS environment.

Key Features to Look at When Comparing SSPM Options

Visibility & Insights – Run comprehensive security checks to get a clear look into your SaaS environment, at all the integrations, and all the domains of risk.

Breadth of Integrations – Foremost for an SSPM solution, is the SSPM’s ability to integrate with all your SaaS apps. Each SaaS has its own framework and configurations. If there is access to users and the company’s systems, it should be monitored by the organization because any app can pose a risk, even non-business-critical apps. A point to note is that often smaller apps can serve as a gateway for an attack. Look for an SSPM system with a minimum of 30 integrations that are adaptable and able to run checks on every data type to protect against misconfigurations. Even more, a solution should be able to support as many apps as possible that are within the SaaS IT stack, in a seamless “out-of-the-box” way.

Comprehensive & Deep Security Checks – The other vital component of an effective SSPM is the expanse and depth of the security checks. Each domain has its own facets for the security team to track and monitor such as access management, data leakage, malware defense, and even compliance policies. These and other concerns are included in AdpativeShield’s complete guide along with a printable checklist.

Continuous Monitoring & Remediation – Combat threats with continuous oversight and fast remediation. Remediating misconfiguration issues in business environments is a complicated and delicate task. The SSPM solution should provide deep context about each and every configuration and enable you to easily monitor and set up alerts. This way vulnerabilities are quickly closed before they are exploited by cyberattacks.

System Functionality – Integrate a strong and smooth SSPM system, without extra noise. Your SSPM solution should be easy to deploy and allow your security team to easily add and monitor new SaaS applications. Top security solutions should integrate easily with your existing applications and infrastructure. It should be non-intrusive, provide tiered use with low false positives, and offer self-service wizards and robust APIs to create a comprehensive defense against cyber threats.

3rd Party App Access Discovery & Control – Visibility into what 3rd party apps that have been connected and what permissions and access they have been given. Then the ability to switch off their access.

Device Posture Management – Ability to correlate SaaS app users, their roles, and permissions with their associated devices’ compliance and integrity level.

The Right SSPM Solution Prevents your Next Attack

SSPM is similar to brushing one’s teeth: it’s a foundational requirement needed to create a preventative state of protection. The right SSPM, like Adaptive Shield, provides organizations continuous, automated surveillance of all SaaS apps, alongside a built-in knowledge base to ensure the highest SaaS security hygiene.

SSPM solutions like Adaptive Shield provide you with 24/7 continuous monitoring, alerts, ticketing, remediation, and posture over time. These tools allow your security team to shut down vulnerabilities and protect your system rapidly and effectively.

Using Adaptive Shield, security teams will deploy best practices for SaaS security, while integrating with all types of SaaS applications—including video conferencing platforms, customer support tools, HR management systems, dashboards, workspaces, content and file-sharing applications, messaging applications, marketing platforms, and more.

Adaptive Shield‘s framework is easy to use, intuitive to master and takes five minutes to deploy.