Proactive SaaS Security: 5 Steps to Enhance Customer Data Protection
The rise and omnipresence of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solutions indicates their significance and magnitude in business operations. And for a good reason, too.
SaaS platforms offer unmatched cost efficiency, scalability, and time management.
But with the dynamic rise, threats have multiplied along the way. Given the nature of sensitive data that SaaS platforms handle, it’s no surprise they’ve become a centerpiece in a majority of security breaches.
The ongoing and everpresent threat of cyberattacks makes SaaS security systems imperative and non-negotiable.
Let’s get right in and find out more about customer data protection in SaaS companies.
How to protect your customer data in 5 steps
Anyone who’s ever dealt with security management knows how stressful and overbearing it can be. With the number of cyberattacks at an all-time high, it seems as if you need to stay on your toes at all times.
Sometimes it can be a lot for many teams to manage, requiring help from an external cybersecurity company.
Fortunately, there are five ways you can fortify your SaaS security rather quickly, and see the results instantaneously.
Employ multi-factor authentication mechanisms
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds a degree of data protection that supports and safeguards traditional username and password sequences.
It means that even if a fraudulent party gets ahold of your password, they still need to go through additional authentication steps to get access to your data.
With MFA, the security systems will request further login details, like an SMS verification code or biometric fingerprint, and then decide if you’re truly that person.
The more steps in the MFA process, the higher the certainty that the system will deem you to be who you’re claiming.
Single-factor authentication is the weakest form of protection as the malicious attacker would need only your username or password to get a hold of your client’s data. So, at least two steps are necessary to ensure security all across the board. That’s why MFA is sometimes called two-factor authentication (2FA).
MFA can be tailored according to your audience and your company’s needs, meaning you can implement various methods to enhance security:
Phone: Get a text message with instructions to insert the code and verify your account
Email - Similar to SMS, you get an email notification with a code you need to use to confirm who you are
Biometric - Prove your credibility via facial recognition, fingerprints, or eye scan
Authenticator apps - Numerous mobile apps (like Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator) offer code generation
Some of these methods have higher security measures than others but might require a higher level of implementation. Eventually, it’s up to the company to decide based on their needs and budget available.
Strong data encryption
Data protection is at the forefront of security measures within SaaS companies, and account takeover prevention is critical, as it usually leads to data theft and misuse.
When signing up to your platform, customers provide you with loads of personal and sensitive information; and they trust you to safeguard that data from any misuse or theft.
If you were to allow for any breach or mishandling of such information, the customer’s trust in your security systems and in the whole platform could be severely damaged. A loss of trust on such a level is difficult to remedy and often leads to customer and revenue loss.
Not to mention that various regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), demand strict data protection standards. Compliance with these regulations is often non-negotiable.
Non-compliance, in turn, can lead to severe legal actions, high financial fines, and ultimately the irreparable reputation of your platform.
But, it’s not wise to think about such an issue just from a regulatory standpoint. Customers nowadays prefer knowing how you collect, store, and protect their sensitive data.
They expect you to communicate clearly about your safety policies which eventually leads to fostering trust in your brand.
Implement security tools and technologies
SaaS security tools are not there just to safeguard your applications and personal data from hacking; they also help you keep up with standard regulatory practices.
Using safety tools ensures your customers of their data privacy and subsequently helps you maintain your reputation, customer retention, and financial gain.
Here are seven benefits of integrating such tools into your security systems:
Proactive vulnerability management: Security tools continuously scan your system for any weaknesses and potential security gaps. Using vulnerability management solutions can help you pinpoint and address any issues before they can even become major problems.
Prevent account takeovers: Adding an extra level of security (like MFA) is just one of the ways to prevent it from happening.
Keeps data secure and confidential: Your and your customer’s data must always remain confidential. Encryption protocols protect your data integrity and make it unreachable to any outsider.
They’re scalable and adaptable: When your platform grows, so do your needs for more complex protection systems. Luckily, most such tools are designed to grow simultaneously; especially when we talk about cloud solutions designed to be flexible and adaptable to the changing circumstances.
Detect incidents and promptly respond: Timely incident recognition and response are necessary for minimizing data attacks. Advanced safety tools and technologies allow you to monitor any unusual behavior, set alerts, and implement responses to such incidents.
Monitoring and reporting: Data protection is not a set-it-and-forget-it type of task! You need to be on the lookout constantly; striving to improve your security practices and being able to face new challenges daily should be a top priority.
Implementing various security solutions will allow you to manage threats proactively, and build trust with your customers, ultimately supporting the growth and success of your business.
4. Data backup and recovery plans
A tight data backup and recovery system is a prerequisite for business continuity and disaster recovery.
When unwanted occurrences like hardware failures or cyberattacks happen, a solid data backup will allow systems to be restored and all operations to continue without major disruptions.
On the other hand, not having such measures will lead to loss of critical data, downtime, and customer trust.
Not all data loss is a result of malicious attacks. Sometimes software issues or human mistakes can lead to it. Whatever the case, backups provide copies stored in secure locations, ready to be used again.
For example, backups play a major role in ransomware attacks, when fraudulent parties get a hold of a company’s data and then ask for a ransom to release it. In that case, a company can just reach into its backup storage, and retrieve all the info, without paying the attacker or hindering its operations.
Another case where data backups come in handy is migrations. System upgrades or data migrations can bring all sorts of issues; backup systems ensure that the data is stored safely and ready to be restored in such an event. Additionally, data integration tools play a crucial role in facilitating smooth migrations by seamlessly combining data from different sources and ensuring consistency throughout the process.
5. Employee training and awareness
‘A chain is only as strong as its weakest link’; it couldn’t be more true when talking about SaaS security.
The human factor is one of the leading causes of security penetrations. An employee who’s not trained well enough can click on suspicious links, accidentally give away sensitive data, or fail to adhere to set security protocols.
Embracing well-thought-out programs to educate employees about the dangers of cybercrime, and ways to recognize and fight it, will significantly reduce the chances of major human mistakes.
Fostering a security-first culture within the organization will empower your employees to take more responsibility and understand the impact of security and their role in the whole process. In turn, it’ll help them effortlessly align themselves with the company’s goals and mission.
Take your customer data protection to a new level
SaaS platforms, with all the bells and whistles, still face some heavy obstacles that can lead to data and financial losses and loss of customer loyalty.
Implementing bulletproof security measures like MFA, data backups, or advanced tools can help mitigate those situations and allow you to come out alive and well after an attack.
Cybersecurity awareness is the foundation of a healthy business, and fundamental in solidifying your organization against data attacks.
Thus, embracing and nurturing a culture of safety is the foundation of your SaaS business success. So, go ahead and dive deeper into this topic and make your SaaS invulnerable!