4 Major Cyber Risks For SaaS Companies

Even if they already have a risk management plan in place, it is time to review it and ensure that it is entirely up-to-date and correctly implemented. In Trava’s work with customers, we have often heard phrases like

“we were investing in cybersecurity until something else came up”

and

“we just had too much going on to invest in cybersecurity.”

The truth is that the risks are too great to put off planning your cybersecurity strategy. An incident or data breach could threaten your entire company.

The SaaS industry is bringing something special to cybersecurity as it is one of the fastest-growing spaces in the global economy. There are several specific cybersecurity risks that SaaS companies should be aware of and mitigate in order to be able to continue serving their customers. But before we dive into those major risks, let’s discuss risk management.

Why Is Risk Management Important?

At the heart of cybersecurity is risk management. The term “management” is used instead of a word like “elimination” because risks can never be fully eliminated. However, by identifying the various risks facing your organization and taking steps to mitigate them, you can not only reduce the likelihood of a successful breach, but you can also reduce the costs of a breach if it occurs. Risk management is a general term that covers all the actions an organization takes to identify, mitigate, monitor, and control risk.

One of the biggest parts of risk management is risk analysis and assessment. Risk assessments identify all the possible risks that are present as well as evaluate the likelihood of those risks becoming active threats. Risks are also categorized by the magnitude of their impact. Combining this analysis of likelihood and severity allows an organization to prioritize. Prioritization in risk management is critical because budgets are often limited. Businesses need to focus on what’s most important to their processes first. Risk assessments are also frequently required by regulations and must be done for compliance purposes.

There are 5 general strategies to respond to risks once they have been identified and categorized.

• Risk Avoidance
• Risk Reduction
• Risk Sharing
• Transferring Risk
• Risk Acceptance

There is no “right” way to respond to risk. Rather, different approaches need to be used for different situations.

Now to the risks 4 Major Risks For SaaS Companies.

1. Cloud Misconfigurations

One of the biggest threats to SaaS companies is cloud misconfigurations. Instead of intentional breaches, cloud misconfigurations occur when the SaaS provider fails to set up and secure their cloud environment correctly. This can leave the door open for hackers and other malicious actors to steal data. Cloud networks are extraordinarily complex and require careful expertise in order to deploy correctly in the most secure manner.

2. Access Management

Because many SaaS applications handle sensitive data such as PII and transaction information, having secure access management controls in place is vital. Physical data centers can be secured with locks and security systems. However, ensuring the security of public cloud services is more complex. It is crucial to ensure that the single point of access that connects to the public cloud is secured.

3. Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

Many SaaS solutions are based on a variety of different software programs, and any one of these could be compromised by a zero-day vulnerability. Although the risk of a zero-day vulnerability applies to companies in all industries, SaaS companies are particularly at risk. Zero-day vulnerabilities are flaws in software that hackers discover before the developers do. This gives the hackers an advantage because no patch or fix currently exists. SaaS vendors must regularly audit their dependencies to ensure that all applications have been fully updated. Furthermore, the application architecture should be designed to prevent a breach in one application from spreading to the entire system.

4. Third-Party Risk

SaaS solutions that rely on the public cloud also must manage third-party risk. If a SaaS company has a strong cybersecurity posture but relies on a cloud provider that does not, its application and services could be compromised. Third-party risk must be factored into any cybersecurity or risk management plan.

Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed after reading this? Don’t be! Trava is here to navigate you through your unique cybersecurity needs. Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be complicated, and we’ll prove it ;)