As businesses increasingly move to the cloud, Software as Service (SaaS) platforms
are quickly becoming the go-to solution for everything from document management
to customer relationship tools. These platforms offer amazing benefits—scalability,
flexibility, and cost savings—but with this convenience comes a pressing concern:
data privacy and security.
In a world where data breaches and cyberattacks are constantly making headlines,
how can you be sure that your information is safe in the hands of a SaaS provider?
Let us break it down.
Why Data Privacy and Security Should Be Your Top Priority
In today’s digital economy, data is the most valuable asset businesses own. But it is
not just about protecting trade secrets and sensitive business information—it is also
about protecting personal data. Whether it is customer records, financial details, or
employee information, privacy breaches can have far-reaching consequences,
including:
- Financial Losses: Data breaches are costly—both in terms of fines and reputational damage.
- Loss of Customer Trust: A breach can severely damage your brand’s reputation, making customers less likely to trust same partner again.
- Legal Risks: Many regions have strict data protection laws like GDPR
(Europe).
Simply put, data privacy is not just a “nice-to-have” anymore; it is essential for doing business in the modern world. - Loss of Competitive Advantage: Failing to prioritize strong data privacy measures can put your business at a disadvantage in today’s market. As customers and partners increasingly value data security, companies that do not invest in robust protection are likely to lose trust.
- Operational Disruptions: Cyberattacks or data breaches can bring operations to a halt. Recovery from such events can lead to lost productivity, delayed services, and increased operational costs, affecting the business
The Risks of Using SaaS Platforms
While SaaS platforms make our lives easier by handling everything from storage to
software updates, they also raise some legitimate concerns around privacy and
security. Here are some of the top risks to keep in mind:
1. Data Breaches: SaaS providers store massive amounts of sensitive data. A
single vulnerability in their security can lead to the exposure of your data.
2. Compliance Issues: Different regions have different data protection regulations. If your SaaS provider is not following the right laws, your business could face serious fines or legal trouble.
3. Weak Security Practices: Not all SaaS providers invest equally in security. If your provider cuts corners on encryption or access controls, your data is at risk.
4. Data Ownership and Control: When using SaaS, your data is stored on third-party servers, which may limit your control over how it is managed or transferred. This can make it challenging to retrieve or delete data when necessary, affecting your organization’s data autonomy.
5. Vendor Lock-In: Some SaaS providers make it difficult to migrate data to another platform, creating a dependency on their service. This dependency can limit your flexibility to change vendors if security or compliance concerns arise.
2. Compliance Issues: Different regions have different data protection regulations. If your SaaS provider is not following the right laws, your business could face serious fines or legal trouble.
3. Weak Security Practices: Not all SaaS providers invest equally in security. If your provider cuts corners on encryption or access controls, your data is at risk.
4. Data Ownership and Control: When using SaaS, your data is stored on third-party servers, which may limit your control over how it is managed or transferred. This can make it challenging to retrieve or delete data when necessary, affecting your organization’s data autonomy.
5. Vendor Lock-In: Some SaaS providers make it difficult to migrate data to another platform, creating a dependency on their service. This dependency can limit your flexibility to change vendors if security or compliance concerns arise.
How to Protect Your Data on SaaS Platforms
Overall responsibilities for protecting the user data stored and generated by the
SaaS solution lies with the customer. There can be large volumes of personal and
sensitive data stored in the SaaS cloud depending on the business use case for
SaaS platform. While SaaS platforms do present risks, there are several ways you
can protect your data:
1. Use Strong Access Controls: Ensure that only authorized people within your
organization can access sensitive information. Implement multi-factor
authentication (MFA) to make your systems even harder to break into.
2. Encrypt Everything: Encryption is your best friend. Make sure your SaaS provider encrypts data both while it is stored and while it is being transmitted.
3. Stay Compliant: Ensure your SaaS provider helps you comply with data regulations like GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA, depending on your region and industry.
4. Review Data Policies Regularly: Technology evolves, and so do security threats. Perform regular review of data protection policies.
5. Train Your Team: Regular training on data security best practices can reduce human error, which is often a major cause of data breaches.
6. Regular Audits: Conduct regular audits to verify compliance with privacy regulations and ensure internal policies are up to date. Audits help identify any potential weaknesses in your SaaS provider’s systems.
7. Data Retention Periods: Define clear data retention periods and policies. Ensure your SaaS provider allows you to set how long data should be retained before it is deleted, reducing unnecessary data storage and exposure.
8. Data Protection Agreement (DPA): Having a clearly defined DPA between the customer (Data Controller) and the SaaS solution provider (Data Processor/Sub-processor) is a recommended practice. A DPA is a legally binding contract that states the rights and obligations of each party concerning the protection of personal data. This includes setting clear terms for how data is stored, protected, processed, accessed, and used. The agreement also defines what a data processor can and cannot do with data.
2. Encrypt Everything: Encryption is your best friend. Make sure your SaaS provider encrypts data both while it is stored and while it is being transmitted.
3. Stay Compliant: Ensure your SaaS provider helps you comply with data regulations like GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA, depending on your region and industry.
4. Review Data Policies Regularly: Technology evolves, and so do security threats. Perform regular review of data protection policies.
5. Train Your Team: Regular training on data security best practices can reduce human error, which is often a major cause of data breaches.
6. Regular Audits: Conduct regular audits to verify compliance with privacy regulations and ensure internal policies are up to date. Audits help identify any potential weaknesses in your SaaS provider’s systems.
7. Data Retention Periods: Define clear data retention periods and policies. Ensure your SaaS provider allows you to set how long data should be retained before it is deleted, reducing unnecessary data storage and exposure.
8. Data Protection Agreement (DPA): Having a clearly defined DPA between the customer (Data Controller) and the SaaS solution provider (Data Processor/Sub-processor) is a recommended practice. A DPA is a legally binding contract that states the rights and obligations of each party concerning the protection of personal data. This includes setting clear terms for how data is stored, protected, processed, accessed, and used. The agreement also defines what a data processor can and cannot do with data.
How NOESIS Protects Your Data
Here is how we protect your data:
NOESIS is a case intake and data management platform from Drogevate for the Life
Sciences Industry, At Drogevate, we understand just how important it is to keep your
data safe. We have built a platform that not only helps businesses process and
extract valuable information from documents but also ensures that your privacy and
security are front and centre.
- Top-Grade Encryption: We use industry-leading encryption to secure your data both when it is being transmitted and when it is stored.
- Strict Access Controls: Only authorized personnel can access your sensitive data. To enhance security further, Noesis integrates with Okta and Microsoft 365 Single Sign-On (SSO), ensuring that only users with verified identities can access the platform.
- Audit Logging: We maintain a detailed audit log that tracks every action performed by users on the platform. This helps ensure accountability and transparency, allowing us to trace any activity back to the user who performed it, further reinforcing security and compliance measures.
- User Control and Transparency: Our platform uses role-based access controls (RBAC) to ensure that users only have the permissions necessary for their specific roles. This limits what actions each user can perform, providing an additional layer of security and preventing unauthorized access or data manipulation.
- Data Redaction: We perform and provide configurable data redaction with override options, within documents and unstructured text, ensuring that any sensitive or confidential information is obscured or removed. This adds an extra layer of protection for your most sensitive information.
- Privacy by Design: Noesis builds privacy and security into every step of our product development. By following the concept of “privacy by design,” we proactively reduce risks and ensure that your data is protected from the ground up.
- Data Retention Policies: We empower businesses to define clear data retention policies, ensuring data is stored only as long as needed. Our platform allows you to configure retention periods to minimize unnecessary data storage, reducing exposure risks and enhancing compliance with data protection laws.
- Regular Audits and Compliance Support: Drogevate conducts regular third-party vulnerability assessment and penetration testing to help clients stay secure and compliant. This allows us to continually review and strengthen our privacy and security practices, ensuring up-to-date compliance and risk management.
- Operational Resilience: Noesis is designed to minimize disruptions from cyberattacks or breaches through proactive monitoring, rapid response, and data replication across multiple secure locations. This approach ensures continuity and prevents extended downtimes, helping your business stay productive and resilient.
With NOESIS, your data is not just processed efficiently—it is handled with the
highest level of care, ensuring your privacy and security every step of the way.
