Tasks related to identity governance must be carried out across a variety of different SaaS apps because they now account for the lion’s share of the technology used by employees in the majority of organizations. Centralized IT teams, who are ultimately in charge of managing and securing app access, face a significant challenge because they are unable to fully understand the subtleties of the native security settings and access controls for hundreds ( or thousands ) of apps. Even if they could, they would be easily overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks.
The application owners in the company who are most familiar with how the tool is used and who needs what kind of access must be involved in order for modern IT teams to organize and govern SaaS identity governance.
With automated workflows to save time and make the process manageable at scale, Nudge Security is a SaaS security and governance solution that can assist you in achieving that. Learn how it functions by reading on.
1. Find out which SaaS applications everyone in the organization uses.
The first step in SaaS identity governance is to compile a complete list of the technology being used and by whom, as the proverb goes.
In order to give IT and security teams the context they need to evaluate new SaaS providers, Nudge Security finds and categorizes every SAAS app that has ever been introduced by anyone in the company. It also includes a vendor security profile for each app. Additionally, after reviewing an app, they can mark it as” Approved,”” Acceptable,” or” Unacceptable” to indicate whether usage is appropriate. Automated nudges can be triggered in response to new accounts for any” Unacceptable” apps to point the user in the direction of a comparable, approved app or to clarify the need for that specific app.
2. Give employees access to a list of approved apps.
IT teams want to give workers the tools they need to adopt technologies that will boost productivity and maintain the company’s security and compliance in the ideal world. Unfortunately, employees frequently lack the knowledge of which tools are best suited to both their own needs and those of the company.
Everyone in the organization can view a comprehensive list of approved applications that adhere to the necessary security and compliance standards thanks to Nudge Security, which makes it simple to create and share an app directory with employees. Whether or not the technical owner of each application is located within central IT, employees can browse the list by category and submit access requests. This keeps visibility and centralized governance while eliminating the need for IT to act as the “event forwarder” between users and app owners.
3. Update app owners
When trying to find the right people in your company to get context on a SaaS application or user account, do you ever feel like you’re on the worst scavenger hunt in the world? You are not by yourself. This information is frequently falsified and altered. You can automate nudges to periodically confirm app ownership thanks to Nudge Security, which uses a variety of techniques to determine the most likely “technical contact” ( like the first user ) for each SaaS application found in your environment.
Nudge Security automates emails or Slack messages to presumptive technical contacts using this process to find out if they are the right technical contact or to update this information. No more email tangles and Slack threads to solve the problem. As administrative responsibilities change, you can automate the process of updating this information with Nudge Security. ……………………………………
4. Reviews of automatic user access
Periodic user access reviews of in-scope systems are frequently necessary for businesses that must adhere to compliance standards like SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and others to make sure that only those who need access are actually granted access. Additionally, anyone who has enjoyed conducting user access reviews is aware that doing so typically entails using a variety of spreadsheets with conflicting and incomplete data, as well as exerting considerable manual effort to identify who is using what.
With Nudge Security, you can automate the process in place of this spreadsheet puzzle. You can automate nudges to app users to check if they still need access by first grouping your in-scope assets together. The responses are then gathered for you by Nudge Security, who then sends the app owners the consolidated list of accounts. In order to confirm that the removals have been completed, it also gathers user feedback and records every action in a.pdf report that you can share with auditors.
5. 5. Clean up any unused accounts you may have.
Cost savings are another good justification for reviewing who needs access to what on a regular basis in addition to compliance requirements. According to Gartner’s research, 25 % of SaaS is either overused or underutilized. That can add up quickly regardless of how big your business is.
You can quickly identify and prune inactive and abandoned SaaS accounts by using Nudge Security, which keeps an eye on the status of all of your organization’s cloud and SaAS account status. Additionally, you’ll have access to the most recent data in some attractive charts, allowing you to keep an eye on SaaS account statuses next to trends in adoption.
Nudge Security’s playbook for removing unused accounts allows you to audit multiple applications at once, reducing SaaS sprawl at scale. You can always find unutilized accounts one app at a time from the overview page of each application.
6. Make sure all offboarding is done.
A dirty little secret: the majority of workers have downloaded apps that are not authorized by IT or even their department managers. With Nudge Security, you can view every account that has ever been created using a company email. This covers a variety of underutilized assets, such as domain registrations, developer accounts, and social media accounts. Through OAuth grants, you can also check to see if those apps are linked to other apps, reducing the possibility of something breaking after a worker leaves the company.
Better yet, you can automate important IT offboarding processes like suspending accounts, changing passwords, and revoking OAuth grants with Nudge Security. In order to guarantee that all access is revoked, you will also begin by compiling a complete inventory of each account ever created for the departing employee.
Free trial of Nudge Security
At Nudge Security, our goal is to reduce friction for end users and manual labor for IT and security professionals worldwide as they regain control over SaaS security and governance. To see what it can do for you, begin a free 14-day trial right away.