Don't be a Sap - Get SAP Security
Enterprise data management has become vital to business operations in today's digital age. As businesses increasingly rely on technology to manage their data, ensuring that the data management systems are secure and well-governed is critical. SAP security and governance come into play here. In this article, we'll look at the significance of SAP security and access control in enterprise data management, as well as how they may assist businesses in securing the safety and integrity of their data.
What is SAP Security?
SAP (Systems Applications and Products) Security safeguards your company's data and systems by monitoring and controlling internal and external access. SAP Systems are ERP software widely utilized by various enterprises in various industries. SAP Security consists of several components, including application, infrastructure, network, operating system, and database security. Another layer is secure code, which combines SAP code maintenance and safety in custom code. Finally, a secure SAP server setup is critical for keeping your company's confidential information safe and out of the hands of cybercriminals. It covers server security configuration, enabling security logging, system communication security, and data security.
What Benefits Does It Provide?
There are many benefits of having SAP security in place. However, here are three that will give you food for thought about your current business setup.
Provides Transparency - Another critical duty for many firms is SAP system optimization. Reducing and optimizing authorizations is a crucial action that the SAP system necessitates, and it is accomplished with the proper SAP security architecture. Creating roles and permissions devoid of hazards and SoD complexities leads to transparency in user authorization and simplifies auditing. Furthermore, a thorough and well-defined change management strategy will assist you in keeping your system clean at all times.
Categorize & Rate Security Risks - Many custom programs have security flaws, such as missing authorization checks. Any code security scanner will detect this issue. Nevertheless, whether or not this vulnerability may be exploited depends on other security aspects, such as configuration settings or the role and authorization notion. A comprehensive security solution will assess the impact of interconnectivity in those contexts and rank or categorize the security flaw accordingly. In contrast, if specialist solutions are used, they must either be custom-made or need significant effort to incorporate.
Software Monitoring - The security landscape has shifted, and safeguarding sensitive data in data centers is now more critical than ever. With a greater emphasis on network system security, you need the correct tools, platforms, and systems to safeguard critical data. So how do you implement those tools, platforms, or system solutions? The solution is an SAP interface security monitor and a simple-to-integrate SIEM system. In addition, SAP has a SIEM monitoring module that allows you to keep track of many aspects of your SAP program.
Common SAP Security Risks
When a cyber attacker gains access to SAP, their purpose is to either withhold your data (typically for financial benefit) or steal your company's critical and personal information, such as financial records, health records, social security numbers, or customer data like usernames and passwords. Malware, ransomware, and phishing are examples of cyber security threats to ERP systems, and one of the critical access points is a company's IT infrastructure.
Inappropriate Access - SAP authorisation creep is the concept where SAP users are assigned wider access over time. This is either caused by users moving internally and inheriting additional SAP access for their new function without the old access being revoked. It can also be caused by an SAP user requesting access to a single function (transaction code), and being assigned a role that provides him / her with additional access. Over time, this over-allocation results in the users being assigned wide and in-appropriate access for their job function, placing the organisation at unnecessary fraud risk.
Misconfigured Access Control Lists - ACLs govern connections and communication between SAP systems and non-SAP environments. They also decide who has access to SAP systems. Unfortunately, the ACLs that control connections between an SAP system and an external system or between SAP systems are frequently poorly set and porous, allowing someone on one system to access another readily. Misconfigured ACLs nearly always show up in penetration testing as giving attackers a method to travel laterally in an SAP environment.
Custom Code - Custom code still needs to be updated or patched; therefore, custom code introduces new dangers. In addition, a large portion of your custom code is unused. Since programming languages and SAP applications evolve, avoiding accumulating vulnerable technical debt in custom legacy code is critical. You can lessen the chance of a security vulnerability by removing unnecessary code and reverting to the standard installation.
Non-Secure Communication Protocols - An SAP environment is made up of numerous components. These systems communicate using protocols like Remote Function Call (RFC) and HTTP, and many of them employ saved login credentials that are not encrypted and lack essential security safeguards.
Bottom Line
SAP application environments are a critical component of an organization's value chain. They facilitate the management of company processes and are an essential component of day-to-day operations. Furthermore, they typically process and store sensitive and critical data. The significant flexibility of the SAP landscape and its features entails risks. Potential errors and vulnerabilities can result in operational, financial, and reputational harm. Individual technical remedies or fixes far too frequently mitigate this risk. Yet, in such a complex and interwoven environment with its dynamics, impacts, and interconnections, it is critical to manage SAP security in a risk-based manner.
