Consulting firms handle sensitive client information daily — whether it’s financial data, business strategies, or proprietary insights. With the rise of SaaS (Software as a Service) applications, many consulting firms have embraced these tools to boost collaboration, streamline operations, and enhance service delivery. However, using SaaS without proper security measures can expose sensitive client data to risks, creating potential vulnerabilities that could damage client trust and harm your firm’s reputation.
How can consulting firms take advantage of SaaS tools while ensuring data security and maintaining compliance with industry regulations? Here are five essential steps to protect your SaaS environment and secure the sensitive information you handle.
Step 1: Create a Complete Security Map
In consulting firms, employees often turn to various SaaS applications to manage client projects, collaborate with teams, and streamline workflows. However, the use of unapproved SaaS tools — often called “Shadow IT” — can expose your firm to risks by introducing applications that may not comply with your firm’s security protocols or industry standards.
The first step in securing your SaaS environment is creating a security map. Use SaaS discovery tools to identify all applications in use across the organization, whether officially sanctioned or not. This map will give you full visibility into the SaaS tools being used to handle sensitive client data and enable you to assess which ones require stricter security controls or need to be decommissioned.
Step 2: Clarify Responsibility for SaaS Security
Consulting firms often have multiple teams managing different clients, projects, and data. This complexity makes it essential to define who is responsible for maintaining security at every level. Without clear ownership, security gaps can emerge, putting client data at risk.
In consulting firms, the IT team should oversee access control mechanisms such as Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), ensuring that only authorized users can access specific SaaS applications. Consulting project managers and team leads must ensure that the tools they use align with both the firm’s security policies and client data protection requirements. Employees handling client data need to be trained on security best practices, ensuring that they follow protocols for secure data handling and access. Clarifying these roles will help avoid any confusion and ensure that each team is accountable for maintaining the security of sensitive information.
Step 3: Ensure SaaS Applications Meet Client and Industry Compliance
Consulting firms are often subject to the security and compliance requirements of their clients, as well as industry standards such as SOC 2, GDPR, or HIPAA (for clients in the healthcare sector). SaaS applications used by your firm must adhere to these compliance requirements to ensure that sensitive client data is protected and that your firm avoids legal or financial repercussions.
Before onboarding any SaaS tool, verify that it meets both your firm’s internal security policies and the regulatory requirements of the industries you serve. This includes checking whether the application encrypts data both at rest and in transit, provides audit trails, and offers the necessary access controls. Ensuring that your SaaS stack aligns with your clients’ compliance needs will help strengthen trust and reduce the risk of data breaches.
Step 4: Continuously Monitor and Assess SaaS Risks
The fast-paced nature of consulting means that your SaaS environment is always evolving, with new applications being introduced and existing ones being updated or reconfigured. Continuous monitoring of your SaaS tools is crucial to ensuring that your firm’s sensitive data and client information remain secure.
Implement tools that provide real-time monitoring of your SaaS applications to detect unusual activity, potential security vulnerabilities, or unauthorized access. Regular security assessments should also be conducted to ensure that SaaS tools continue to meet both internal security standards and the compliance requirements of your clients. Continuous monitoring enables your firm to respond to threats promptly, minimizing the potential for data breaches or non-compliance.
Step 5: Implement SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM)
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) tools are essential for consulting firms that use a wide range of SaaS applications across different projects and clients. Misconfigurations or improper permissions can lead to unauthorized access, potentially exposing sensitive client data. SSPM tools continuously monitor the security configurations of your SaaS applications, ensuring that they remain compliant with security best practices and industry standards.
By leveraging SSPM, consulting firms can detect and correct misconfigurations, prevent excessive access permissions, and ensure that client data remains secure. SSPM tools also help maintain alignment with compliance frameworks, ensuring that your firm’s SaaS environment adheres to both client and regulatory requirements.
Top 5 SaaS Security Solutions for Consulting Firms
Here’s an overview of some of the best SaaS security tools tailored to consulting firms, with insights into their strengths and weaknesses.
Pros:Waldo Security helps consulting firms gain visibility into all SaaS applications in use across various client projects. It allows firms to map SaaS applications to their security policies and identify gaps in compliance with standards such as SOC 2 and GDPR. Waldo is particularly effective at ensuring that SaaS tools align with both internal security requirements and client compliance needs.
Cons:While Waldo excels in SaaS discovery and compliance alignment, it lacks advanced posture management capabilities. Consulting firms may need additional tools to monitor SaaS configurations in real-time and detect potential misconfigurations.
2. Zscaler
Pros:Zscaler is widely used for securing network traffic to SaaS applications. It allows consulting firms to manage and control access to approved SaaS tools, helping prevent unauthorized applications from handling sensitive client data. Zscaler is ideal for enforcing network-level security and ensuring that unapproved SaaS tools don’t slip through the cracks.
Cons:While Zscaler is highly effective for securing network access, it doesn’t offer detailed insights into SaaS applications themselves. Consulting firms that need visibility into user activity or app configurations may need to supplement Zscaler with additional tools for more granular SaaS security management.
3. Varonis
Pros:Varonis is a powerful data protection tool that is especially useful for consulting firms managing sensitive client data. It provides robust data classification, monitoring, and analytics, helping firms ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive information. Varonis also includes posture management features to help firms monitor the security settings of critical SaaS applications like Office 365.
Cons:Varonis’s posture management capabilities are primarily focused on key platforms like Office 365. Consulting firms with a more diverse SaaS stack may need to pair Varonis with other tools to ensure full visibility and posture management across all applications.
Pros:Obsidian Security offers strong threat detection and security analytics for enterprise SaaS applications, such as Salesforce and Office 365, which are commonly used by consulting firms. It helps detect security incidents, misconfigurations, and unauthorized access, ensuring that user activities remain aligned with both internal policies and client requirements.
Cons:Obsidian’s primary limitation is its lack of discovery capabilities for unapproved SaaS tools. Consulting firms seeking full visibility into Shadow IT or unauthorized applications may need to use supplementary discovery tools to ensure comprehensive security.
5. Netskope
Pros:Netskope is a leading SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) tool that provides deep visibility into the security configurations of SaaS applications. It helps consulting firms detect and fix misconfigurations that could lead to data breaches or non-compliance. Netskope is particularly useful for ensuring that SaaS applications like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are properly secured.
Cons:While Netskope excels at managing the security posture of known SaaS applications, it has limited discovery capabilities. Consulting firms needing to identify all SaaS applications in use may need to supplement Netskope with a discovery tool for full visibility.
Conclusion
For consulting firms, safeguarding sensitive client data is paramount. By following these five steps — creating a security map, clarifying responsibilities, ensuring compliance, continuously monitoring risks, and implementing SSPM tools — you can protect your SaaS environment and secure the data you manage for your clients.
Selecting the right tools is critical. Whether you choose Waldo Security for SaaS discovery and compliance or Netskope for comprehensive posture management, the solution must align with the specific security and compliance needs of your firm. With the right approach, consulting firms can leverage SaaS tools to drive efficiency and innovation while maintaining the highest levels of data security.
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