Tuesday, 23 January 2024

How SSPM Simplifies Your SOC2 SaaS Security Posture Audit

 


An accountant and a security expert walk into a bar… SOC2 is no joke.

Whether you're a publicly held or private company, you are probably considering going through a Service Organization Controls (SOC) audit. For publicly held companies, these reports are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and executed by a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). However, customers often ask for SOC2 reports as part of their vendor due diligence process.

Out of the three types of SOC reports, SOC2 is the standard to successfully pass regulatory requirements and signals high security and resilience within the organization — and is based on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) attestation requirements. The purpose of this report is to evaluate an organization's information systems relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy — over a period of time (roughly six to twelve months).

As part of a SOC2 audit, it is necessary to conduct security checks across the company's SaaS stack that will look for misconfigured settings such as detection and monitoring to ensure continued effectiveness of information security controls and prevent unauthorized/ inappropriate access to physical and digital assets and locations.

If you're beginning or on a SOC2 audit journey, then an SSPM (SaaS Security Posture Management) solution can streamline the process and shorten the time it takes to pass a SOC2 audit successfully, fully covering your SaaS Security posture.

Learn how to streamline your organization's SOC2 compliance

What are the AICPA Trust Services Criteria (TSC)?

When external auditors engage in a SOC 2 audit, they need to compare what you're doing to a long list of established requirements from AICPA TSC. The "Common Controls" fall into five groups:

  • Security - Includes sub controls of the Logical and Physical Access (CC6)
  • Availability - Includes sub controls of the System Operations (CC7)
    • Processing integrity: Includes sub controls of the System Operations (CC7)
    • Confidentiality: Includes sub controls of the Logical and Physical Access (CC6)
    • Privacy - Includes sub controls of the Monitoring Activities (CC4)

      Within each common control are a set of sub controls that turn the overarching standard into actionable tasks.

      Passing a SOC 2 audit takes a lot of time, effort, and documentation. During a SOC2 audit, you not only need to show that your controls work during the audit period, but you also need to show that you have the ability to continuously monitor your security.

      Going through the entire TSC framework is too long for a blog post. However, a quick look into a couple of controls of Logical and Physical Access (CC6) and System Operations (CC7) gives you an idea of what some of the controls look like and how you can utilize an SSPM to ease the SOC2 audit.

      Get a 15-minute demo of how an SSPM can help your SOC 2 TSC audit

      Logical and Physical Access Controls

      This section sets out the types of controls needed to prevent unauthorized or inappropriate access to physical and digital assets and locations. Managing user access permissions, authentication, and authorization across the SaaS estate poses many challenges. In fact, as you look to secure your cloud apps, the distributed nature of users and managing the different access policies becomes increasingly challenging.

      Under CC6.1 control, entities need to:

      • Identify, classify, and manage information assets
      • Restrict & manage user access
      • Consider network segmentation
      • Register, authorize, and document new infrastructure
      • Supplement security by encrypting data-at-rest
      • Protect encryption keys

      Example

      The department that utilizes a SaaS app is often the one that purchases and implements it. Marketing might implement a SaaS solution for monitoring leads while sales implements the CRM. Meanwhile, each application has its own set of access capabilities and configurations. However, these SaaS owners may not be trained in security or able to continuously monitor the app's security settings so the security team loses visibility. At the same time, the security team may not know the inner workings of the SaaS like the owner so they may not understand more complex cases which could lead to a security breach.

      An SSPM solution, maps out all the user permissions, encryption, certificates and all security configurations available for each SaaS app. In addition to the visibility, the SSPM solution helps correct any misconfiguration in these areas, taking into consideration each SaaS app's unique features and usability.

      In CC.6.2 control, entities need to:

      • Create asset access credentiations based on authorization from the system's asset owner or authorized custodian
      • Establish processes for removing credential access when the user no longer requires access
      • Periodically review access for unnecessary and inappropriate individuals with credentials

      Example

      Permission drifts occur when a user has certain permissions as part of a group membership, but then gets assigned a specific permission that is more privileged than what the group has. Over time many users get extra permissions. This undermines the idea of provisioning using groups.

      Classic deprovisioning issues, an SSPM solution can spot inactive users and help organizations to quickly remediate, or at the very least, alert the security team to the issue.

      Under CC.6.3 control, entities need to:

      • Establish processes for creating, modifying or removing access to protected information and assets
      • Use role-based access controls (RBAC)
      • Periodically review access roles and access rules

      Example

      You might be managing 50,000 users across five SaaS applications, meaning the security team needs to manage a total of 250,000 identities. Meanwhile, each SaaS has a different way to define identities, view them, and secure identities. Adding to the risk, SaaS applications don't always integrate with each other which means users can find themselves with different privileges across different systems. This then leads to unnecessary privileges that can create a potential security risk.

      An SSPM solution allows visibility into user privileges and sensitive permission across all connected SaaS apps, highlighting the deviation from permission groups and profiles.

      System Operations

      This section focuses on detection and monitoring to ensure continued effectiveness of information security controls across systems and networks, including SaaS apps. The diversity of SaaS apps and potential for misconfigurations makes meeting these requirements challenging.

      In CC7.1 control, entities need to:

      • Define configuration standards
      • Monitor infrastructure and software for noncompliance with standards
      • Establish change-detection mechanisms to aler personnel to unauthorized modification for critical system, configuration, or content files
      • Establish procedures for detecting the introduction of known or unknown components
      • Conduct periodic vulnerability scans to detect potential vulnerabilities or misconfigurations

      It is unrealistic to expect from the security team to define a "configuration standard" that complies with SOC2 without comparing against a built-in knowledge base of all relevant SaaS misconfigurations and to continuously comply with SOC2 without using an SSPM solution.

      Get a 15-minute demo to see how an SSPM solution automates your SaaS security posture for SOC2 and other standards.

      Related word
      1. Android Hack Tools Github
      2. Best Pentesting Tools 2018
      3. New Hacker Tools
      4. Pentest Reporting Tools
      5. Hack Tools Download
      6. Hacking Tools Windows 10
      7. Pentest Tools List
      8. How To Make Hacking Tools
      9. Top Pentest Tools
      10. Pentest Tools Find Subdomains
      11. Hack Tools Github
      12. Pentest Tools For Windows
      13. Hacker Tools 2020
      14. Android Hack Tools Github
      15. Hack Tools Mac
      16. Pentest Reporting Tools
      17. Hacking Tools Windows
      18. Pentest Tools For Android
      19. Hacking Tools Download
      20. Hack Tools For Mac
      21. Hacking Tools Download
      22. Hacker Tools Linux
      23. New Hack Tools
      24. Easy Hack Tools
      25. Hacking Apps
      26. Pentest Tools Url Fuzzer
      27. Hacker Tools Windows
      28. Hacking Tools 2020
      29. Hacker Tools For Ios
      30. Hack Tools For Mac
      31. Hacking Tools Free Download
      32. Hacking Tools For Games
      33. Hacking Tools Windows 10
      34. Hacking Tools 2019
      35. Pentest Tools Tcp Port Scanner
      36. Hacker Tools Github
      37. Pentest Tools Url Fuzzer
      38. Hacker Tool Kit
      39. What Is Hacking Tools
      40. Termux Hacking Tools 2019
      41. Pentest Recon Tools
      42. Pentest Box Tools Download
      43. Hack Tools Pc
      44. Pentest Tools Website
      45. Hacker Tools Github
      46. How To Make Hacking Tools
      47. Beginner Hacker Tools
      48. Hacking Apps
      49. Pentest Tools Windows
      50. Hacking Tools Online
      51. Hack Tools
      52. Pentest Tools Website
      53. Pentest Tools Website Vulnerability
      54. Hack Website Online Tool
      55. Computer Hacker
      56. Pentest Tools For Windows
      57. Pentest Tools
      58. Hacker Tools For Pc
      59. Best Hacking Tools 2020
      60. Hacking Tools Online
      61. Hacker Tools Windows
      62. Pentest Tools List
      63. Hacking Tools For Games
      64. Hacking Tools For Beginners
      65. Pentest Tools Alternative
      66. Hacker Tools For Pc
      67. Free Pentest Tools For Windows
      68. Hack Tools Mac
      69. Hacking Tools 2020
      70. Hacking Tools
      71. Hacking Tools 2020
      72. New Hacker Tools
      73. Hacker Tools Windows
      74. Top Pentest Tools
      75. Pentest Tools For Ubuntu
      76. Pentest Tools Url Fuzzer
      77. Hak5 Tools
      78. Ethical Hacker Tools
      79. Hacker Tools For Pc
      80. Pentest Tools Github
      81. Tools Used For Hacking
      82. Hack And Tools
      83. What Are Hacking Tools
      84. Wifi Hacker Tools For Windows
      85. Pentest Tools Windows
      86. Hacking Tools Github
      87. Hacker Techniques Tools And Incident Handling
      88. Hacker Tools Free Download
      89. Pentest Tools Download
      90. Black Hat Hacker Tools
      91. Kik Hack Tools
      92. Hack Tools Mac
      93. Hack Tools 2019
      94. Pentest Tools Port Scanner
      95. Hack Tools For Games
      96. How To Hack
      97. Hack Website Online Tool
      98. Hack Tool Apk
      99. Hacking Apps
      100. Nsa Hacker Tools
      101. Pentest Tools Android
      102. Pentest Tools Alternative
      103. Hacking Tools For Windows
      104. Best Hacking Tools 2019
      105. Pentest Tools Free
      106. Pentest Tools Review
      107. Pentest Tools Open Source
      108. Kik Hack Tools
      109. How To Hack
      110. Pentest Tools Kali Linux
      111. Hack And Tools
      112. Pentest Tools Github
      113. Ethical Hacker Tools
      114. Install Pentest Tools Ubuntu
      115. Hacking Tools Software
      116. Pentest Tools Alternative
      117. Pentest Tools Bluekeep
      118. Hack Tools
      119. Physical Pentest Tools
      120. Hacking Tools Online
      121. Hacking Tools Download
      122. Tools Used For Hacking
      123. Game Hacking
      124. Wifi Hacker Tools For Windows
      125. Top Pentest Tools
      126. Usb Pentest Tools
      127. Hacking Tools Windows 10
      128. Hacking Tools For Mac
      129. Hack Website Online Tool
      130. Hacking Tools For Games
      131. Hacker Tools Free Download
      132. Github Hacking Tools
      133. Hack Tools For Games
      134. Hacker Tools Mac
      135. Hacking Tools For Pc
      136. Hacking Tools Mac
      137. Hacker Techniques Tools And Incident Handling
      138. Hacker Tools 2019
      139. Hack Tools 2019
      140. Pentest Tools Port Scanner
      141. Blackhat Hacker Tools
      142. Hak5 Tools
      143. Free Pentest Tools For Windows
      144. Hacker Tools Software
      145. Hacker Tools Windows
      146. How To Make Hacking Tools
      147. Pentest Tools Tcp Port Scanner
      148. Hacker Tools Mac
      149. Pentest Tools Android
      150. Tools Used For Hacking
      151. Pentest Tools Website Vulnerability
      152. Black Hat Hacker Tools
      153. Pentest Tools Framework
      154. Hacker Tools Free
      155. Pentest Tools For Android
      156. Hacker Tools Software
      157. Usb Pentest Tools
      158. Hack Tools Mac
      159. How To Hack
      160. Hack Rom Tools
      161. Hacking Tools For Beginners

      No comments:

      Post a Comment