It would be no exaggeration to state that Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications have transformed the way modern businesses operate and, more importantly, how they approach growth. Tools such as Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Google Workspace, and Zoom have become critical necessities for businesses and are deeply embedded in their day-to-day operations. However, this increased adoption comes with its own set of challenges, such as securing the configuration, access, and compliance posture of these dynamic environments, among others. This is precisely what SSPM addresses.
Read on to learn more about what SSPM is, why it matters, how it works, and, more importantly, why it is becoming such a critical requirement for businesses looking to secure their modern enterprise SaaS stack.
What is SSPM?
SSPM stands for SaaS Security Posture Management. It is an emerging category in cloud security technology that is purpose-built to manage and secure configurations, access policies, and compliance posture of SaaS applications. Among its most immediate value propositions is the continuous visibility it offers into how these SaaS applications are configured and used. Through this, misconfigurations can be proactively flagged, risky and abnormal user behavior can be identified, and organization-wide policies can be enforced across the vast landscape of cloud-based tools.
Moreover, unlike other security solutions such as CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) or CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management), SSPM is not entirely focused on network-layer control or cloud infrastructure. CASB is designed to monitor data flows between users and cloud services. At the same time, CSPM focuses on infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP; SSPM is optimized for SaaS environments, such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Dropbox, Slack, and others, where the key security responsibilities are upon the customer, especially with regard to configuration and access rights.
Additionally, through SSPM, organizations can automate the entire misconfiguration detection process and map it directly to the relevant regulatory standards such as the GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and SOC 2, among others. Instead of periodic audits that do not provide a holistic assessment of misconfigurations or siloed assessments, SSPM offers real-time remediation options that proactively secure sensitive business data and significantly reduce the time required to implement these remedial measures. Such an arrangement is vital for large enterprises that utilize hundreds of SaaS tools, which are often interconnected with limited centralized oversight options.
SSPM brings a critical “order” to an organization’s SaaS security framework, as organizations' frequent adoption of SaaS tools can create “shadow IT” that is difficult to both assess and control. SSPM provides a unified view of all connected SaaS applications, including the users interacting with them and the vital configurations that determine the overall data access and security posture. The result is reduced risk, improved accountability, and support for security governance across the SaaS ecosystem.
Key Capabilities of SSPM
Some of the key capabilities of SSPM include the following:
SaaS Discovery & Inventory
One of the most challenging aspects of managing risks related to SaaS usage is the sheer sprawl involved. Organizations often lack a clear understanding of all the applications in use, making the management of risks associated with them that much more challenging. SSPM solutions provide automated discovery, categorization, and classification of all SaaS applications in use within an organization, including both sanctioned and unsanctioned applications. This is done by monitoring and scanning the network traffic, identity providers, and application logs. Information from these sources is then triangulated to form a comprehensive inventory of all the SaaS applications, along with third-party integrations.
By doing so, an organization can eliminate all blind spots that it creates. Moreover, this centralized inventory can form the basis for all posture management-related activities, as it enables accurate asset tracking, mapping of usage trends across business units, and assessment of the relative risks each application poses based on various factors, such as sensitivity, data access, and compliance requirements.
Continuous Misconfiguration Management
SaaS applications are highly configurable. While this offers tremendous operational benefits, it also poses a combination of risks. The minutest improper configuration of access settings, file sharing, and authentication controls can all lead to the exposure of sensitive data. Moreover, such misconfigurations can often remain undetected for long periods. Hence, SSPM solutions’ continuous monitoring ensures that all such settings are made according to industry standard benchmarks, such as CIS controls, along with internal policies that are tuned to flag any misconfigurations as soon as they are detected.
This misconfiguration management can be performed at scale without compromising on precision. As a result, organizations can leverage a rule-based contextual analysis to assess their configurations at all times rather than relying on periodic manual audits that are taxing on both human resources and time.
User & Access Monitoring
Detecting misconfigurations is not enough, or more accurately, “just” detecting misconfigurations is not enough. Effective SaaS security encompasses the individuals using SaaS applications, including their user roles, privileges, login behavior, and access rights across the SaaS platforms. SSPM can proactively flag anomalies such as dormant admin accounts, excessive permissions, privilege escalation, and unusual login activity, which could all be indicators of potential insider threats or compromised accounts.
Such functionalities are vital in large organizations where users are consistently being added or removed from SaaS usage, making it extremely difficult to curate access rights. SSPM ensures that such rights are aligned with business needs and that potential data exfiltration or lateral movement attempts are thwarted before they can cause serious harm.
Policy Enforcement & Automation
Enforcing uniform security policies within an organization’s SaaS ecosystem can be a significant challenge due to its fragmented nature. SSPM solutions enable organizations to define, deploy, and enforce standardized security policies that are easily integrated across all SaaS applications. These policies can include multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforcement, data sharing restrictions, permission hierarchies, and approved third-party app integrations.
Moreover, once these policies are enforced, they can be continuously validated in real time. In the event of a policy violation, the SSPM solution can immediately trigger alerts while automated remediation measures are deployed instantly. This not only ensures consistency across the SaaS environment but also decreases reliance on manual oversight.
Compliance Mapping & Reporting
Compliance with frameworks and regulations, such as the GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, or SOC 2, poses several operational and technical challenges. Moreover, some of these require continuous evidence of compliance via appropriate controls. SSPM can simplify the entire compliance process by accurately mapping SaaS configurations, user behaviors, and access controls directly in accordance with regulatory requirements. Moreover, some SSPM options provide out-of-the-box templates for key frameworks, enabling more efficient and timely analysis of the measures that need to be taken related to compliance efforts.
Additionally, SSPM tools offer automated reporting, along with historical logs, audit trails, and remediation evidence, that help an organization cover all bases and demonstrate their adherence to both the industrial best practices and regulatory obligations.
Conclusion
SSPM is a highly optimized option for organizations that wish to optimize their SaaS infrastructure. Organizations that wish to implement a more comprehensive resource that contains dedicated modules for various data security purposes may find DSPM better suited to their needs.
DSPM offers a more data-centric security approach that focuses on the organization’s granular data assets rather than SaaS monitoring. Furthermore, DSPM is optimized to address the various data security and privacy-related issues concerning sensitive data. It can identify and mitigate all issues in such assets directly, wherever they are stored, across multiple cloud environments and workloads.
Request a demo today and discover how DSPM can enhance your organization’s overall data security posture.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About SSPM
Some of the most commonly asked questions related to SSPM include the following: