SaaS Security: Make sure your Partners are Data Breach Impenetrable

HubKonnect-SaaS-Security

Keeping data secure is the most important aspect of our service

As service providers, we are responsible for the sensitive data of all of our clients.  If we cannot provide security to our partners, they have no reason to utilize our services. Time and time again, we see companies taking shortcuts and cutting corners, and in the long run, it ends up costing them the most valuable aspect of their business: their customers. At HubKonnect, data security is one of our highest priorities and our development team makes certain we don’t fall into any of the following traps that usually result in a data breach.

Strong Authentication Practices

There are a number of authentication practices you can follow, but in reality, if you’re not implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA), then you’re setting yourself up for failure. In my experience, two-factor authentication (2FA) is just not reliable enough to provide the type of security you and your clients are expecting. The beauty of MFA lies in the options that are available for authentication. Every client is going to be different, and they’re going to have varying factors that go into their authentication. By utilizing MFA, you will be able to customize each authentication process for the client, which will result in a more secure infrastructure overall.

Segregation and Data Integrity

Protecting our clients’ data is the most precious responsibility we have.  There needs to be a great deal of segregation between clients’ data to ensure anonymity and to prevent one client from being able to see the data of another client that is supposed to be secure. Security is going to be the subject of many initial client questions, and the more prepared you are to handle these questions with facts and results, the closer you are to building a strong client relationship. Your segmentation practices will need to be thorough enough to give each client their own space, but they must not jeopardize the integrity of your entire data structure.

Application Infrastructure

Whenever companies extend their web-based applications through other services, they potentially expose their entire database to threats. Applications that have security issues or have flaws in their infrastructure, inadvertently create risks when utilizing other services. The scope of these threats varies with each application, but in our opinion, opening yourself up to even the most minute threat is a bad practice that can result in more issues down the line. It’s vital to understand every application you are extending, to circumvent these threats and provide a secure service for all of your data. Ask for training on the application from your partner. It will show them you are actively working towards securing their data, and it will also lead to you having a better overall understanding of their business.

Employee Training

So you built your SaaS company from the ground up, secured funding, started valuable partnerships, and are beginning to hire more employees. Well done, but companies can not overlook the importance of training their employees on optimal security practices.  It has to be the single most important cultural focus of a SaaS company.  There needs to be a thorough training program for every new hire you bring on board. These employees may have interviewed well, but you don’t know the level of knowledge each new hire has on cyber security. At HubKonnect, we make sure every new hire is up to speed with security protocols and regularly provide refresher training.

Replicating Accounts and Passwords

One thing that drives us crazy, is a company that reuses account names and passwords across their platform. You might as well paint a red X on the data in these accounts to ensure it gets compromised. Diversifying account names and passwords is one of the easiest ways to create another layer of security, but for the sake of time, accounts and passwords are duplicated. Do yourself a favor by taking the extra minute to create unique accounts and passwords. Get in the practice of changing passwords every 30-90 days, depending on the importance of the data you are protecting.

In SaaS security, there are a million ways you can do something wrong, and at HubKonnect we believe only one way you can do it right. One large data breach could violate the most important thing we have, the trust of our clients.  Take the extra time needed to ensure a safe and secure environment for your clients’ data.