The 10-Minute SaaS Risk Sort (Print This)

A simple 10-minute checklist CISOs and security teams can use to classify SaaS risks before the next audit or incident response call.

Why You Need a Fast SaaS Risk Sort

Security and compliance leaders already know the hardest part of SaaS governance isn’t fixing risk — it’s finding and classifying it.

With hundreds of SaaS and cloud services in daily use, few organizations can keep up with which apps store sensitive data, which lack compliance controls, and which are simply invisible.

According to Waldo Security’s 2025 SaaS & Cloud Discovery Report:

• 97 % of SaaS apps are unknown to IT.

• 93 % lack recognized compliance certifications.

• < 1 % enforce MFA.

That’s why a quick, structured risk triage process can make the difference between visibility and vulnerability.

The 10-Minute SaaS Risk Sort

This printable framework helps security and GRC teams classify and prioritize SaaS applications quickly — whether discovered manually, through CASB logs, or via automated discovery.

Use it during onboarding reviews, compliance audits, or shadow-IT sweeps.

Step 1 (1 Minute) — Confirm Identity Integration

Ask:

• Does this app authenticate through your corporate identity provider (IdP)?

• Is MFA required and enforced?

• Are offboarding and role provisioning automated?

If no, flag as Identity Risk = High.(See CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model for guidance on identity governance maturity.)

Step 2 (1 Minute) — Check Data Sensitivity

Determine what the app stores or processes:

• Customer or employee data → Confidential

• Source code or IP → Critical

• Marketing metrics, analytics, or public data → Low

Label the Data Classification = Critical / Confidential / Low. If the app’s purpose is unclear, treat as Confidential by default until verified.

Step 3 (2 Minutes) — Verify Compliance Coverage

Cross-reference the app’s published security page or documentation:

• SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, or FedRAMP Moderate/High?

• GDPR / HIPAA statement if applicable?

• Data location transparency (e.g., region or sub-processor list)?

If none of the above appear, mark Compliance = Unknown. Lack of attestation doesn’t mean insecurity — but it demands monitoring.You can validate frameworks using the NIST Privacy Framework for alignment.

Step 4 (2 Minutes) — Inspect OAuth Permissions

For apps that use OAuth, review the scopes granted. If an app requests access to files, inbox, or cloud storage, label it OAuth Risk = High. The 2025 Waldo Report found that 0.2 % of SaaS apps request these high-risk scopes — yet they remain one of the most exploited attack paths.

To learn more about OAuth abuse patterns, consult CISA Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA).

Step 5 (2 Minutes) — Evaluate Visibility and Ownership

Ask:

• Who owns this application internally?

• Is it monitored by IT or security?

• Does it log to your SIEM or CASB?

If ownership is unclear or logs aren’t integrated, assign Visibility = Low.These are prime candidates for onboarding into a formal SaaS governance workflow.

Step 6 (2 Minutes) — Assign Overall Risk Level

Combine your findings:

Criteria	High Risk	Medium Risk	Low Risk
Identity	No SSO/MFA	SSO optional	Fully enforced
Data Sensitivity	Critical	Confidential	Low
Compliance	None/Unknown	Partial	Certified
OAuth	High-risk scopes	Moderate	Minimal
Visibility	No owner / no logs	Partial monitoring	Fully governed

• High Risk: Immediate review & mitigation

• Medium Risk: Monitor quarterly

• Low Risk: Maintain governance evidence

Ten minutes later, you’ve transformed discovery into actionable classification.

Why This Works

The goal isn’t to eliminate risk in ten minutes — it’s to create a living map of what’s known versus unknown. That snapshot allows security, privacy, and compliance teams to:

• Focus investigations where governance is weakest

• Validate policy coverage across SaaS, IaaS, and identity tiers

• Provide auditors with transparent reasoning for risk posture

Visibility is the precondition for control — and the first building block of every Zero Trust architecture.

Next Step: Automate It

Manual risk sorting works as a stopgap.At scale, automation is essential to sustain visibility across thousands of apps and identities.

Waldo Security’s SaaS & Cloud Discovery Engine automates this process by:

• Discovering all SaaS and Shadow CSP accounts

• Classifying each by identity, data, OAuth, and compliance attributes

• Surfacing unmanaged identities and missing MFA enforcement

• Providing a continuous compliance view aligned with frameworks like NIST and ISO 27001

Conclusion: Ten Minutes to Visibility

Every security program starts with discovery — but what matters next is classification. The 10-Minute SaaS Risk Sort gives teams a repeatable way to turn chaos into clarity. Use it today, print it, and share it with your GRC or IAM colleagues.

You can’t prioritize what you haven’t sorted — and you can’t secure what you haven’t seen.

See how other organizations are tackling SaaS and Cloud Discovery challenges in the 2025 Waldo Security Report.

About Waldo Security

Waldo Security helps organizations discover, classify, and secure every SaaS and cloud service in use — known or unknown. By illuminating Shadow IT, unmanaged identities, and OAuth risk, Waldo enables CISOs and security leaders to strengthen compliance and governance across their entire SaaS footprint.