Today’s digital landscape thrives on collaboration, with businesses heavily reliant on third-party vendors, especially in the realm of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). However, this reliance introduces a new layer of security challenges. Security teams grapple with the uncertainty of data exposure within their SaaS supply chain, particularly when it comes to third-party vendors. These vulnerabilities can be exploited by attackers to compromise multiple applications, often remaining undetected for long periods. This highlights the critical importance of Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) in the SaaS environment.
The ease with which employees can connect SaaS vendors to company data, granting them access and permissions, has become a double-edged sword in the modern work environment. While this streamlined onboarding process fosters efficiency and scalability, it also introduces security risks. Shadow IT, where applications bypass traditional security and IT approval processes, is a prime example.
Understanding Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) in SaaS
In the context of SaaS, TPRM refers to the process of evaluating and managing potential risks posed by third-party vendors and service providers. It’s crucial for security and IT teams to identify and mitigate these risks, which can range from cybersecurity concerns and data privacy vulnerabilities to compliance gaps, operational challenges, and reputational issues.
For instance, employees can readily establish connections between SaaS vendors and company data, granting them access and permissions. While convenient, this bypasses the security checks typically conducted for traditional vendors, creating a security blind spot.
While SaaS vendors share the responsibility for security, organizations must remain vigilant in overseeing third-party risks. This vigilance is not only essential for maintaining a secure and resilient business environment but also paramount for ensuring compliance with industry standards.
Five Pillars of SaaS Security Through Effective TPRM
- Identification and Categorization: The first step is to identify and categorize all third-party connections. Understanding the potential security and compliance threats posed by these connections is critical. Without analyzing access levels and vendor security posture, security teams lack the necessary insight to effectively assess and utilize third-party applications.
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) solutions, like Wing Security’s offering, can streamline this process. They help organizations effortlessly discover their entire SaaS supply chain, including App2App connections and all third-party applications. SSPM solutions provide contextual information on access levels and continuously analyze vendor security posture, offering a comprehensive view of the risk landscape.
- Due Diligence and Assessment: Before onboarding new applications, conducting thorough due diligence is crucial to prevent introducing risky elements into your SaaS stack. This means proactively assessing third-party security controls, policies, and procedures to ensure they meet your security and compliance standards.
Organizations can address this challenge by leveraging solutions that provide essential security and compliance information about relevant SaaS vendors and applications. Details like security and privacy compliances, vendor size, location, and historical threat intelligence regarding breaches or security incidents are critical components of the due diligence process.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Continuous monitoring is a cornerstone of effective TPRM. TPRM goes beyond prevention, emphasizing the importance of regularly assessing third-party performance and security practices to ensure ongoing compliance with established standards. This proactive approach helps organizations stay ahead of evolving risks that could also impact the compliance posture of the applications themselves.
An effective strategy involves adopting a security solution capable of continuous monitoring for updates in vendors’ information, including changes in security and privacy compliances, threat intelligence alerts, and overall risk posture.
- Incident Response: Having a robust incident response plan in place is critical for managing security incidents related to third-party connections. This starts with the ability to receive near real-time threat intelligence alerts when breaches or security incidents occur, enabling swift and effective responses.
- Documentation and Reporting: Maintaining detailed records of the TPRM process is essential for demonstrating compliance with security standards. Comprehensive reports provide transparency and facilitate smooth audits of the organization’s risk management efforts.
Organizations should leverage SSPM solutions that can effectively manage the inventory of all their SaaS applications. These solutions allow them to view all relevant information supporting the TPRM process and export necessary reports for audit purposes.
The Cost of Neglecting TPRM
Failing to establish an effective TPRM practice can have severe consequences for a business. Cybersecurity breaches stemming from vulnerabilities introduced by third-party vendors can result in compromised sensitive data, financial losses, and reputational damage. Furthermore, non-compliance with data privacy regulations can lead to substantial fines and legal liabilities.
Conclusion: Building a Secure SaaS Ecosystem with TPRM
TPRM is an indispensable process for identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities introduced by third-party vendors. By strengthening an organization’s overall security posture through best practices across the entire SaaS supply chain, TPRM plays a vital role in safeguarding organizations against SaaS threats.