An Overview Of Single Sign-on Security Risks

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It is a technology that decreases administrative overhead and covers expenses while being a high adoption rate, non-disruptive technology, offering faster access times to applications, with reduced password requirements. The act of disabling company-wide access becomes as simple with SSO as disabling the initial account. Yet, as with any technology intended to improve performance, there are also losses on the security side. And there are unique implied security threats from Single Sign-On. Let's try to understand some prominent threats.

Single Sign-On: The Major Threats to Security

SSO is more concerned with generally providing access than with restricting it. And it's not the right time to give away something, given the rise in malware-based attacks. Despite the benefits mentioned, there are quite a few Single Sign-On security risks that come with its use.

1: Giving Instant Access to More than the Endpoint

Logon passwords are a major focus of external attackers. Studies report that credential misuse is responsible ...
... for 81 percent of data violations. Once a malicious user has initial access to an authenticated SSO account, all related programs, systems, data sets, and environments supported by the authenticated user are automatically available to them. Most SSO environments allow a certain type of portal to be used that allows access without requiring additional passwords. Despite being great for users, it's terrible from the security perspective.

External attacks using malware to gain control over an endpoint would have post-login access to everything connected via SSO immediately after infection, increasing an attacker's footprint inside the organization.

2: Inadequate Access Control

Let's assume an employee has successfully signed on via SSO, and additional external cloud applications are granted access. The customer then falls victim to a phishing attack, providing an attacker with access to the endpoint.
When detected, the account will certainly be deactivated. Even the user remains logged in, considering the way systems work. It is possible for the attacker to remain logged in, depending on the SSO solution in place and the security model of the linked application, with access to the application in question.

3: Minimum Commitment to Principle of Least Privilege

The principle of least privilege allows users to have access to the minimum necessary data, software, and systems for their work and generally means that separate elevated access credentials are required. SSO runs counter to the notion of requiring the user to authenticate every time they need to access something new because it is all about granting you access.

Besides, with uncertainties, companies like the benefit of improving productivity and decreasing service costs. So, how do you make SSO access convenient while still maintaining a good posture for security?

The response lies in the latest data protection and analytics solutions that deliver several advantages in data security. These solutions provide granular insight and control over user actions by providing a host of features. Along with SSO, they deliver specific features such as the hybrid approach of RBAC-ABAC and adaptive multi-factor authentication to dramatically strengthen the security posture of organizations. These solutions, in addition to these unique benefits, also help businesses comply with mandatory data protection obligations.

Appsian One of the leading ERP data security,compliance,implementation solutions provider that gives organizations to complete control and visibility over their ERP data.