SaaS identity risks encompass the vulnerabilities and threats associated with managing and securing user and non-human identities in cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environments. These risks arise from improper access controls, misconfigurations, weak authentication methods, and inadequate visibility into identities and their associated privileges. As SaaS applications become integral to modern organizations, ensuring robust identity security is critical to protecting sensitive data, maintaining compliance, and enabling secure business operations.
Key Risks Associated with SaaS Identities
1. Non-Human Identity Management
Non-human identities, such as OAuth tokens, API keys, and service accounts, are often used to facilitate third-party SaaS-to-SaaS integrations. While essential for automation and productivity, these identities pose significant security risks:
- Visibility and Authorization: Employees can set up integrations without IT approval, leading to unauthorized access points.
- Privilege Management: Excessive or improperly configured privileges can expose sensitive data.
- Inactive Integrations: Unused or inactive OAuth tokens and service accounts can become entry points for attackers if not offboarded. These provide attackers with access vectors even after the primary accounts are deactivated.
- Limited Security Controls: Unlike human identities, non-human identities cannot use security measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA), making them attractive targets for attackers.
- Third-Party Risks: Non-human identities often grant third-party vendors access to SaaS applications, creating potential blind spots in access control. Additionally, iImproperly vetted or overly permissive integrations between SaaS applications introduce complex interdependencies, making misconfigurations more likely and difficult to track.
2. Human Identity Risks
User accounts in SaaS environments also introduce several security challenges:
- Weak Password Management: Poor password hygiene and lack of enforcement mechanisms increase the likelihood of breaches.
- Improper Access Controls: Misconfigured permissions, such as excessive administrative privileges, can grant unauthorized users access to sensitive data. Organizations should aim for at least two administrators while avoiding overprovisioning.
- Authentication Deficiencies: Lack of MFA, Single Sign-On (SSO), or SAML increases vulnerability to unauthorized access.
- Misconfigurations: Errors in user access control setup can create security gaps, leaving sensitive data exposed.
- Lifecycle Management: Inefficient onboarding and offboarding processes can result in lingering access for former employees. These accounts can also be leveraged by attackers to gain unauthorized access.
- Shadow IAM: Local or unmanaged accounts created outside of IT oversight, such as direct GitHub logins bypassing Single Sign-On (SSO), can remain hidden, unmonitored, and vulnerable.
- Insider Threats: Malicious or negligent actions by authorized users can lead to data leaks or misuse of resources. These include clicking on phishing links, susceptibility to social engineering attacks, and more.
3. Shadow IT
Employees often use unapproved SaaS applications, bypassing IT oversight. This practice introduces:
- Unmanaged access points
- Increased risk to data leaks
- Privacy and sensitive data access concerns related to shadow GenAI tools
- Compliance challenges due to lack of visibility
4. Compliance Issues
Failure to manage and secure SaaS identities can lead to violations of regulatory requirements, potentially resulting in fines or reputational damage.
SaaS Identity Risks in Notable Breaches
Recent breaches highlight the consequences of weak identity security:
Microsoft Midnight Blizzard Breach
Attackers exploited misconfigurations connected to both human and non-human identities to access sensitive emails and source code. Attackers launched a password spray attack against a human account lacking MFA. Once successful, they infiltrated a non-production Microsoft 365 test tenant. The attackers then leveraged an unmanaged, legacy OAuth token with full access permissions to move into the production environment. To maintain control, they created malicious OAuth applications and linked them to fake user accounts, then used legitimate IP proxies to mask activity.
Snowflake Customer Breaches
Accounts without enforced MFA were compromised using password spray techniques. Misconfigured permissions granted attackers broad access, exacerbating the impact of stolen credentials. This led to sensitive data being exposed, and operational security was significantly undermined, eroding trust in affected organizations.
For an in-depth look at these incidents, read our 2024 SaaS Security Breaches Lessons Learned.
How to Reduce SaaS Identity Risks
Organizations can reduce identity risks by implementing the following best practices:
Enforce Strong Authentication Controls
Require MFA, SSO, and SAML for all user accounts. Minimize exceptions of your MFA/SSO policies and regularly review any existing exceptions for these critical security controls.
Audit and Manage Privileges
Adhere to the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) and grant minimal access (internal employees/external contractors/third-party integrations) based on functional needs. Regularly review and audit user access privileges to identify and remove any unnecessary permissions.
Focus On Secure Lifecycle Management
Ensure unnecessary access of ex-employees and ex-contractors or vendors with API and service accounts access is promptly removed upon termination - leverage automated tools to enforce such removal and/or to audit gaps created in the process due to exceptions.
Monitor Shadow IT
Use discovery tools to identify and manage unapproved SaaS applications., including data-hungry GenAI tools.
Manage Non-Human Identities Like Humans (If Not More Strictly)
Machine identities have inherent limitations in available security controls, therefore attackers are increasingly targeting them and you should implement strict controls for provisioning, access management, and lifecycle management at least as you do for human users. Conduct regular monitoring, Identify and revoke inactive OAuth tokens and API keys.
Monitor Privileged Activities Closely
If all security controls fail, you need to ensure real-time monitoring of high-privilege SaaS activities, such as creation of new admin accounts, adding privileges to OAuth accounts, or granting of elevated permissions. Investigate any suspicious activity to identify potential compromise.Implement Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) capabilities to help you identify and respond to live security incidents.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is SaaS identity management?
SaaS identity management involves the processes and tools used to manage user and non-human identities within SaaS environments, including access controls, authentication, and lifecycle management.
What are non-human identities in SaaS?
Non-human identities refer to OAuth tokens, API keys, and service accounts used for automation and integrations between SaaS applications.
Why is managing SaaS identities important?
Proper management reduces the risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, and compliance violations while maintaining operational efficiency.
How can I secure non-human identities?
Securing non-human identities involves auditing access permissions, revoking inactive integrations, and monitoring third-party SaaS connections.
How Valence Security Helps
Valence Security’s platform is purpose-built to address SaaS identity risks. Key capabilities include:
- Comprehensive Identity Management: Gain visibility into both human and non-human identities, ensuring proper configuration and minimal privileges.
- Discovery and Visibility of Non-Human Identities: Valence identifies legacy tokens, dormant service accounts, and inactive OAuth applications, offering actionable insights to remove or remediate them.
- Detecting Shadow IAM Accounts: Valence uncovers unmanaged local accounts that bypass Identity Provider (IdP) oversight, such as GitHub accounts not linked to Okta.
- Third-Party Integration Monitoring: The platform continuously audits SaaS-to-SaaS integrations, identifying risky or overly permissive configurations and automating privilege adjustments.
- Streamlined Configuration Management: Security teams gain a unified view of misconfigurations across all connected SaaS applications, with prioritized recommendations for quick resolution.
- MFA and Access Controls Enforcement: Valence identifies accounts without MFA or with excessive permissions, allowing teams to enforce access policies uniformly.
- Strengthened SaaS Lifecycle Management: Streamline offboarding processes across all SaaS applications, including shadow IAM accounts.
- Risk Remediation: Use extensive risk remediation capabilities to Identify and revoke inactive or OAuth tokens or other non-human identities and misconfigured permissions.
- Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR): Detect and mitigate identity-based threats in real time.
Take control of your SaaS identity security. Request a demo today to see how Valence Security can protect your organization.
