Source URL: https://www.valencesecurity.com/resources/blogs/lifecycle-management-in-saas-security-navigating-the-challenges-and-risks
Source: CSA
Title: Lifecycle Management in SaaS Security: Navigate Risks
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AI Summary and Description: Yes
**Summary:** The text discusses the security challenges inherent in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) lifecycle management, emphasizing the necessity of effective account deprovisioning and management of non-human identities. It highlights specific incidents, such as the Drizly data breach, to illustrate the consequences of poor management practices, and underscores how unmanaged accounts and inactive integrations pose risks to organizational security.
**Detailed Description:**
The blog post outlines critical aspects of managing the lifecycle of SaaS applications and the associated security challenges. As organizations increasingly adopt SaaS solutions for flexibility and scalability, it is crucial to recognize and address the security vulnerabilities that come with them. Key points include:
– **Lifecycle Management Importance:**
– Lifecycle management covers the full span of an application, from deployment to decommissioning.
– Poor management practices can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and compliance violations.
– **Challenges in SaaS Security Lifecycle Management:**
1. **Account Deprovisioning and Offboarding:**
– Timely deprovisioning of accounts is essential to prevent misuse.
– The Drizly data breach illustrates the risks of failing to revoke access for ex-employees.
– Automated offboarding isn’t always effective; many dormant accounts often remain active.
– Emphasis on managing “Shadow IAM,” where local accounts created outside corporate SSO can become security liabilities.
2. **Inactive Non-Human Identities:**
– Non-human identities play a critical role in system integrations but can become security vulnerabilities if left unmanaged.
– Statistics show a significant percentage of service accounts and integrations are inactive yet still possess access privileges.
– High-profile breaches, including Cloudflare and Microsoft incidents, underscore the consequences of neglecting these identities.
3. **Inactive and Unused External Data Shares:**
– External data sharing is risky if not routinely managed.
– Many external shares are left inactive, creating potential data leaks, as seen in recent data exposure incidents.
– Regular reviews of external shares are necessary to mitigate risks.
Overall, the text underscores the need for a proactive approach to SaaS security lifecycle management. Security professionals must implement comprehensive controls to manage access, monitor integrations, and regularly audit shared resources to safeguard against evolving threats in a SaaS-dominated landscape.