What Is SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM)?

SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) is a specialised security system for securing third-party SaaS applications by continuously assessing usage, configurations, access controls, and compliance gaps.

Widely used throughout the workplace, SaaS (Software as a Service) creates a host of vulnerability and security management issues. “The rise of low-friction, and sometimes even free, SaaS applications have empowered business units and users—but left security teams scrambling,” sums up Matthew Gardiner, product expert at Proofpoint.

SSPM automates SaaS application risk detection to mitigate threats that security teams can’t efficiently discover and manage. An SSPM-based security strategy reduces the attack surface by identifying inactive accounts, misconfigured settings, excessive permissions, unauthorised integrations, and many other exposures in tools like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Okta GitHub, and others.

SSPM targets SaaS applications that decentralised teams or non-security personnel typically manage. It works alongside tools like Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs), which govern data policies, and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), which secures IaaS platforms. While CSPM identifies infrastructure flaws like insecure cloud storage, SSPM addresses application and identity-centric risks such as unmonitored file-sharing permissions in Google Workspace, gaps in MFA coverage, or unvetted third-party app connections in M365.

The Importance of SSPM Today

Organisations now use hundreds or even thousands of SaaS applications, many without sufficient IT oversight. Manual security reviews fail to keep pace with frequent feature updates or shadow IT expansions. Misconfigurations in these apps account for most cloud breaches, yet they often remain undetected until exploited. SSPM enforces policies aligned with standards such as CIS and ISO 270001 while identifying SaaS app misconfigurations, shadow SaaS, and identity-centric exposures. For enterprises, this means fewer data leaks, less impactful security incidents, simplified compliance audits, and increased operational efficiency.

As SaaS adoption grows, SSPM provides the centralised control needed to secure dispersed applications without hindering business priorities and growth. It bridges gaps left by traditional security models, ensuring businesses can scale securely and leverage the cloud with confidence in an era of evolving threats.

SSPM operates through automated, continuous monitoring of SaaS applications to detect security gaps like application misconfigurations, shadow SaaS, and identity exposures. It scans configurations in SaaS apps, ensuring settings align with security best practices and regulatory standards like CIS and ISO 270001. For identity security, SSPM identifies inactive accounts, over-privileged accounts, and a lack of MFA, applying least-privilege principles to minimise exposure.

When new risks or drifts are detected, SSPM flags and prioritises them and facilitates remediation, such as adjusting permissions or revoking app access, to address risks before exploitation. SSPM’s agentless approach allows broad coverage without requiring software installation on endpoints, streamlining deployment across diverse SaaS ecosystems. By integrating with existing security systems like email, DLP, CASBs, or Identity & Access Management (IAM) tools, SSPM centralises visibility and remediations, reducing reliance on manual oversight and human error.

As SaaS adoption surges, SSPM solutions address critical vulnerabilities in decentralised cloud environments. Proofpoint data reveals that in 2024, 99% of organisations they monitored experienced account takeover attempts of SSO accounts, which lead directly to SaaS applications. In turn, SSPM provides essential benefits for organisations, including:

• Continuous posture discovery and remediation: Automatically detects misconfigurations and exposures, enabling efficient remediation. SSPM reduces breach risks by addressing exposures before exploitation.
• Compliance assurance: Ensures GDPR and HIPAA adherence by monitoring configurations and access controls.
• Reduced attack surface: Identifies inactive accounts, excessive permissions, gaps in MFA, and shadow IT to shrink exploitable vulnerabilities and sources of data leakage.
• Operational efficiency: Automates security tasks like misconfiguration audits, freeing teams to focus on more strategic priorities.
• Cost reduction: Proactive risk management prevents data breaches linked to SaaS misconfigurations and compliance gaps. And improves security administration efficiency.
• Supply chain protection: Detects insecure third-party integrations and vulnerable SaaS apps. This prevents attackers from exploiting trusted partners as entry points.
• Enhanced collaboration: Bridges gaps between security teams, business units, and end users by providing centralised visibility, enabling unified risk management without hindering productivity.

By addressing these areas, SSPM removes SaaS apps as an increasing source of cyber risk.

High-profile breaches underscore the critical need for SSPM to address SaaS-specific exposures. Below are recent incidents that demonstrate the consequences of less secure SaaS ecosystems.

Midnight Blizzard’s Microsoft 365 Compromise

Russian state-backed actors exploited a legacy OAuth application with excessive permissions to infiltrate Microsoft’s corporate email systems, exfiltrating sensitive communications from senior executives. The attack bypassed traditional defences by targeting misconfigured SaaS app integrations, which SSPM could have flagged and remediated through continuous monitoring of third-party access and privilege levels.

Cloudflare-Atlassian Third-Party Token Breach

Attackers leveraged stolen OAuth tokens from a prior Okta breach to access Cloudflare’s Atlassian environment, compromising source code and internal documentation. SSPM’s policy enforcement could have restricted third-party app permissions and identified inactive service accounts, preventing lateral movement via outdated credentials.

Fortinet’s SharePoint Data Leak

A misconfigured Microsoft SharePoint instance led to the theft of 440GB of internal Fortinet data, including customer credentials and financial records. SSPM’s automated configuration checks would have detected improper sharing settings and enforced least privilege access to sensitive files.

Snowflake Credential Exploitation Campaign

Hackers used stolen credentials and absent MFA-based authentication to breach Snowflake customer accounts, compromising 165 organisations and exposing 590 million records. SSPM’s identity-centric controls could have discovered MFA gaps mitigating identity-based attacks.

SSPM combines proactive security measures with automated governance to address SaaS-specific posture. Its core elements ensure continuous protection against evolving threats while maintaining operational agility.

Continuous Monitoring

SSPM tools continuously scan SaaS applications like Microsoft 365 and Salesforce to detect misconfigurations, shadow SaaS, and identity exposures. This constant oversight identifies issues such as public file-sharing settings, inactive accounts, or password violations, before they can escalate into breaches.

Risk Assessment

By evaluating configurations against benchmarks like CIS controls or industry standards such as MITRE ATT&CK, SSPM prioritises risks based on severity and business impact. It flags over-privileged users in Salesforce or inappropriate OAuth integrations in Microsoft 365. This enables targeted remediation efforts.

Policy Enforcement

SSPM automates security policies across SaaS apps to ensure settings align with organisational policies. It discovers and remediates app misconfigurations, shadow SaaS, and identity exposures. These actions reduce the impact of human error in highly decentralised IT environments.

Remediation

When risks like misconfigurations, shadow IT, or identity exposures are detected, SSPM provides risk-based prioritisation and step-by-step guidance for IT teams. Revoking unused access or adjusting user entitlements minimises the attack surface of the organisation.

Reporting and Analytics

Customisable dashboards track compliance status, exposure trends, and remediation progress. SSPM generates reports for standards like CIS and ISO 270001.

“SaaS security requires coordination across centralised security teams, departments, and end users —SSPM solutions facilitate this,” highlights Gardiner. These components work synergistically to transform fragmented SaaS ecosystems into securely governed assets. They balance productivity with robust risk reduction.

SaaS applications introduce unique risks due to their decentralised management and dynamic configurations. A 2024 SaaS security survey revealed that almost a third of organisations encountered a SaaS data breach within the last 12 months. SSPM addresses these challenges by automating visibility, control, and remediation across SaaS applications.

• SaaS app misconfigurations: Incorrect settings, like public file sharing, password policy violations, or MFA coverage gaps, expose sensitive data. SSPM detects and remediates these gaps, which frequently account for SaaS-related breaches.
• Over-privileged access: Users with unnecessary permissions increase breach risks. SSPM enforces least-privilege principles, reducing privilege escalation and lateral movement opportunities for attackers.
• Shadow IT: Unapproved SaaS apps usage is exploding and creating blind spots where data leaks or compliance violations thrive. SSPM discovers and assesses these unsanctioned SaaS apps, enabling risk-based decisions.
• Compliance violations: SaaS app configurations often expose compliance weaknesses in regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS due to out-of-scope configuration or auditing gaps. SSPM aligns configurations with regulatory benchmarks.
• Insecure integrations: Poorly secured or managed integrations allow attackers to exfiltrate data or manipulate app functionality. SSPM audits third-party connections and elevates potentially risky integrations.
• Insider threats: Employees may accidentally or intentionally expose data through SaaS app usage or misconfigurations. SSPM discovers and remediates these risks.

“We frequently observe Google Docs phishing and malware distribution via links to Google Drive URLs,” says Maor Bin, Proofpoint’s lead researcher in SaaS threat detection. ”SaaS platforms remain a ‘Wild West’ for threat actors and defenders alike. New tools like Google Apps Script are rapidly adding functionality while threat actors look for novel ways of abusing these platforms,” he adds.

By targeting these vulnerabilities, SSPM transforms SaaS environments from a security liability to resilient, audit-ready business assets.

While SSPM secures SaaS app settings, CSPM hardens cloud infrastructure, and CASB detects and controls data flows. Together, they provide a layered defence against evolving cloud threats.

SSPM delivers tangible security improvements across industries by addressing SaaS-specific risks. Below are scenarios where organisations transformed their SaaS security postures.

Media Giant’s SaaS Sprawl Mitigation

A $10B media company struggled with 1,200+ SaaS apps, including shadow IT tools exposing sensitive content. SSPM discovered 250% more apps than IT initially tracked, many with excessive permissions or unvetted integrations. By automating risk prioritisation and remediation workflows, the organisation boosted its security posture score from 40% to 85% in two years, preventing $1.49M in potential breach costs.

As SaaS adoption accelerates, securing these dynamic ecosystems becomes critical to mitigating risks like data leaks, ransomware, and compliance gaps. The need for SSPM systems is clear and is only growing with the proliferation of SaaS apps and related threats. Thus, it is not surprising that the security risks of SaaS applications — sanctioned and unsanctioned — have become the next security control frontier for security teams. Fortunately, Proofpoint has been committed to helping customers address this challenge. Get in touch to learn more.