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SaaS Stats, Part 2: The SaaS-Identity Attack Surface

Jun 22, 2023

Jun 22, 2023

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4 minutes

With extensive analysis of the SaaS landscape, Grip uncovered an astounding 74,979 unique SaaS applications. Our research and global data collection have allowed us to gain valuable insights across the SaaS-Identity attack surface.

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Yuval Sarel, Deputy CTO & Josh Mayfield VP, Product Marketing
SaaS Stats, Part 2: The SaaS-Identity Attack Surface
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Introduction

At Grip, we have conducted an extensive analysis of the SaaS landscape, uncovering an astounding 74,979 unique SaaS applications. Our research and global data collection have allowed us to gain valuable insights across the SaaS-Identity attack surface. Here, we will provide you with an overview of our findings, highlighting the key trends, popular categories, and emerging technologies within the SaaS industry.

Understanding the SaaS-Identity Attack Surface

The SaaS industry has witnessed exponential growth in recent years, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and transforming traditional software delivery models. SaaS applications are cloud-based software solutions that provide users with a range of functionalities and services, accessible through a web browser. This eliminates the need for complex installations, updates, and maintenance, making SaaS a convenient and cost-effective choice for businesses of all sizes.

Identities are assets, not people. Users are entrusted with identity assets, custodians of their corporate identity which demands continuous discovery, contextual risk analysis, and consistent enforcement and protection.  

Paired with the diversity of SaaS apps and services are corporate identities continuing to expand into more apps, more services, and more risk as identity sprawl is accelerated by ever-broadening SaaS services — from HR to IT and factories to finance, the digital enterprise runs on SaaS.

Key Insights from the SaaS-Identity Attack Surface

1. Diverse Categories of SaaS Services

Our analysis revealed a vast array of SaaS spanning various categories. These categories include but are not limited to:

  • Project Management
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
  • Human Resources (HR)
  • Marketing Automation
  • Financial Management
  • Collaboration Tools
  • E-commerce Solutions
  • Business Intelligence and Analytics
  • Communication and Messaging

Each category comprises numerous unique applications, tailored to address specific business needs and challenges.

2. Popular SaaS Applications

While the SaaS landscape is highly diverse, certain applications have gained significant traction and popularity among businesses. Some of the noteworthy SaaS applications in our research include:

  • Salesforce: A leading CRM platform that empowers businesses to streamline their sales, marketing, and customer service processes.
  • Slack: A collaboration tool that enhances team communication and productivity through instant messaging, file sharing, and integrations with other software solutions.
  • Shopify: An e-commerce platform enabling businesses to establish and manage online stores, facilitating seamless transactions and inventory management.

And that’s just the letter “S”. Beyond these widely popular apps, Grip maps and monitors identities in SaaS relationships, which includes many less-well-known tools — but each remains another point of expansion for identity sprawl with the adoption of every SaaS service. And many times, it takes nothing more than a signup form and a corporate identity plugged in.  

These popular applications have established their dominance in their respective categories, offering robust features, user-friendly interfaces, and reliable customer support.

Grip’s zero-touch discovery enables organizations to see the entire SaaS-Identity attack surface and take action to safeguard identities, whenever and wherever SaaS is used. This includes the regular practices of containment and mitigating risk, especially accumulated risk for rogue SaaS-Identity relationships. Grip’s AI-powered access control gives security teams the ability to impact more than they can touch, revoking access and releasing zombie accounts, dangling access, and decommission abandoned SaaS services.

3. Emerging Trends and Technologies

Our research also shed light on the emerging trends and technologies that are shaping the future of the SaaS industry. These include:  

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI-powered SaaS services are gaining prominence, revolutionizing various aspects of business operations. From chatbots and virtual assistants to predictive analytics and data-driven insights, AI is enhancing efficiency and decision-making processes.
  • Integration Capabilities: SaaS apps that offer seamless integrations with other business systems are in high demand. This allows organizations to create interconnected ecosystems, improving data flow and eliminating silos.
  • Data Security and Privacy: With increasing concerns about data breaches and privacy regulations, SaaS providers are investing heavily in robust security measures and compliance frameworks. Encryption, access controls, and data backup solutions are becoming crucial features of modern SaaS applications.

Grip SSCP enables organizations to dynamically assess risk to identity assets based on use, misuse, and abuse, contextual intelligence, device and SaaS insights, and internet telemetry — regardless of the SaaS type or variety.  

And with Grip, security teams can achieve decentralized enforcement by infusing security policy to identities directly, triggering appropriate controls, realized on-demand for SaaS today and SaaS yet to be deployed.

Grip's zero-touch discovery — 10-minute deployment to
unlock 10+ years of SaaS-Identity attack surface risk

Conclusion

Security is hard. SaaS security is even harder. Within a distributed environment with assets everywhere and access from anywhere, identity and context are the ultimate control surface. Identities are assets, and the context is SaaS.

By harnessing the power of SaaS solutions, businesses can unlock new opportunities, streamline operations, and gain a competitive edge in their respective industries. Whether it's project management, customer relationship management, human resources, finance, or supply chain management, the SaaS applications discussed in this article offer unparalleled functionality, usability, and value. Embrace the future of technology and embark on a transformative journey by exploring the myriad possibilities of SaaS applications.

Get started with a 30-day trial and free SaaS-Identity Risk Assessment

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