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In 2020, a significant shift to remote work was made possible because of software-as-a-service, which determines how businesses function. By their very nature, SaaS solutions demand that data be sent from your internal network to a service provider. This may put sensitive data in danger while it is in motion or at rest. Many SaaS solutions can be used for free, and teams may even be setting up identities to use services without the awareness of internal legal or IT departments. Thus there are a variety of legal implications that must be kept in mind.
Companies now choose the multitenant option more frequently after years of doubt and hesitancy. As a result, SaaS is currently disrupting the IT environment for financial services. As a result, banks with a history of valuing security want to ensure that the SaaS vendors and cloud network operators they collaborate with share this commitment.
It cannot be very comforting to consider all of these technologies' corporate data as your tech stack expands. The technologies in your stack must be as safe as possible while handling sensitive data, including customer information and employee Social Security numbers.
1. Forward vendor security evaluations
SaaS security can, thankfully, be a worry-free experience. However, your IT management team and having a knowledgeable manager about the SaaS mentioned above security concerns and who can also do a Vendor Security Assessment on all of your vendors will give you this piece of mind.
The IT manager will put a VSA in place with each SaaS tool vendor your company deals with. One or two vendors will likely fall between the cracks if you keep all of your vendor data in a spreadsheet. G2 Track, a SaaS system of record solution, can be helpful in this situation.
You can be confident that every vendor receives a VSA since G2 Track offers an intuitive dashboard with an exhaustive and constantly updated list of your vendors. If a vendor hasn't finished this evaluation, you may be confident that the next time a call is planned or before you renew for another year, this is to secure your data.
2. Search for compliance inspections
Additionally, it's usually in your best interest to confirm that they're finishing their compliance checks, specifically SOC 2 audits, if you're considering adding a new tool to your tech stack before signing the dotted line.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has defined SOC 2 as a compliance audit. Most service providers who keep customer data in the cloud must adhere to this compliance level, which is typical for modern technology enterprises. As they adhere to the policies and procedures to protect this sensitive information, SOC 2 mandates compliance for these businesses.
Never collaborate with a new vendor who hasn't passed their SOC 2 audit. If you do, you will be giving a business that lacks adequate security measures access to your private information.
3. Examine your current technology
One benefit of employing a VSA is that it will show your team which providers lack adequate security or have inadequate security standards. In addition, you may explore the user sentiment data of these products in great detail if you have access to this kind of information.
It's simple to remove a tool from your stack if one of your SaaS services has security flaws and your team does not consider it essential to their daily tasks. Similarly, suppose it has lax security measures, and your team thinks it necessary but doesn't particularly enjoy the product. In that case, you can start looking for a tool with comparable functionality but better protect sensitive data.
4. Inform your group.
Your staff must know the warning signs of all potential vulnerabilities and understand the kind of data they are supplying to the tools internally to achieve total SaaS security. They must be careful not to submit any private information, such as a social security number, that the agency doesn't require or isn't pertinent.
5. Make use of a SaaS management platform.
As already said, you may arrange your list of vendors and the VSAs they send using a SaaS management application like G2 Track. Furthermore, G2 Track will assist you in maintaining compliance and staying abreast of any pertinent information regarding Privacy Shield self-certifications, data processing addenda, and GDPR declarations. Additionally, if you are familiar with every program used inside your tech stack, you will constantly be aware of which of these tools has access to employee and business data.
The SaaS provider's ability to isolate the operations of its various clients from that of other clients is another crucial factor to consider. Again, let's go back to our shared tenancy analogy: the building's facilities manager grants access to the tenants. The only difference is that every tenant has a private apartment or workplace. This can be accomplished most effectively in cloud-based IT using virtual private clouds. These let you launch resources into a virtual network you define that resembles a conventional network you would run in your own data centre. To maximise isolation, each SaaS service is provided in a separate VPC.
Inquire about certification and review the documents before selecting a cloud services provider. SOC 1 and SOC 2 are essential general compliance certificates, as is ISO 27001. However, there are numerous other pertinent certificates in other financial services fields. AWS, for instance, has over 3,500 different controls and manages these controls via a Master Controls Set tied to the various external compliance requirements for recurring audits. On the AWS Artifact service, many of these are made available to the public, along with instructions on ensuring compliance in different jurisdictions.
SaaS technology in various crucial financial and regulatory sectors of the banking industry promises lower costs and more agile performance. These applications typically cover the management of private client data, regulatory compliance, and other business processes. With the right technology and best practices, SaaS services can be more secure than on-premise applications. Banks have several alternatives for keeping control of the security architecture, such as the encryption of customer data.
