Is Your Company’s CRM Platform Secure?

CRMs are key to a company’s success, and Salesforce is considered the best. It is the world’s #1 CRM platform with over 150,000 customers, including big brands like Amazon Web Services, Spotify, T-Mobile, Macy’s, and others.

It’s no surprise that the formidable CRM software has become a lucrative target for cybercriminals. With millions of customer data stored in its servers, hackers constantly try to breach Salesforce’s data security and obtain personal data, bank information, user passwords, and other data points. Stolen customer data can be sold to the dark web and used for cybercrime like identity theft.However, AI has also been an essential tool for cyber security experts in counteracting these and other threats, thanks to its ability to detect and prevent cyber attacks quickly and effectively. AI can quickly analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and anomalies that may indicate a cyber attack. Incredibly, this can even be done in real-time, allowing for faster responses to threats. Additionally, AI can adapt to new threats, learning from past attacks to improve its ability to detect and prevent future ones. And just as attackers use AI to speed up processes that used to be laborious and time consuming, a cyber security system that incorporates AI can also accelerate its security processes, as automation reduces the need for human intervention and making it easier to manage security at scale.

Salesforce Data Security Measures

Salesforce is aware of this constant threat and takes cyber security extremely seriously. It has implemented top industry standards for cloud security, such as:

• Utilizing SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology for server authentication and data encryption
• Requiring MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) for all users
• Salesforce Security Health Check, a security tool that scans for potential vulnerabilities in a company’s account and gives recommendations on how to fix it
• Salesforce Shield, a robust cloud security tool that encrypts critical business applications and protects the company’s sensitive information

Salesforce security may be stringent, but hackers can still infiltrate the system as the platform doesn’t provide built-in security controls to scan data for malware, phishing, ransomware and other harmful content. Our whitepaper on the anatomy of a Salesforce digital supply chain attack reveals these vulnerabilities.

Salesforce allows for platform customizations using third-party applications. There are over 3,400 available apps that can be integrated with Salesforce, increasing an organization’s exposure to digital supply chain attacks.

Vulnerable applications and compromised developer tools are just the tips of the iceberg. Organized criminal groups are known to create third-party assets, specifically as attack vectors. Misconfigured Salesforce settings and ineffective identity management can exacerbate the threat and expose the organization.

With so much data at stake, your organization must employ additional mitigating measures to secure your data assets.

Using Advanced Salesforce Cloud Security Software

Data security shouldn’t be taken for granted. Using advanced security software, it’s possible to protect your investment in real time by scanning against malicious codes like viruses, trojans, and ransomware, which prevents attacks.

WithSecure Cloud Protection solution was designed in collaboration with Salesforce to complement its native security features. It provides additional protection, such as real-time scanning and schedule scans which the native Salesforce file security lacks. It guarantees that despite working with many third-party integrations, your cyber security won’t fail.

WithSecure Cloud Protection for Salesforce protects your data by:

Providing cloud security through smart cloud sandboxing and real-time intelligence

Even if one user accidentally uploads a malicious file from an external app, it won’t affect your organization because the threat is instantly detected and contained.

Enabling full visibility over what’s happening across the Salesforce environment

Any suspicious activity can be detected and flagged immediately. IT administrators won’t have to grapple in the dark, thanks to graphical reports and rich analytics that help them supervise user activity.

Removing the need for middleware

It’s directly integrated and works seamlessly with Salesforce through cloud-to-cloud architecture.

Salesforce Cyber Security Best Practices

Protecting your data in Salesforce is not a one-way relationship, and your organization must also take proactive measures to minimize threats and observe security best practices. Aside from working with an advanced cloud security provider, your team can take the following steps.

• Perform regular data backups using a reliable backup system
• Regularly update your operating system to take advantage of automatic security vulnerability fixes
• Use data encryption software to keep data secure from prying eyes
• Educate employees on security best practices such as safe browsing, secure passwords, and data sensitivity
• Conduct a risk assessment and update your internal security protocols
• Regularly monitor CRM activity for unauthorized access and security breaches
• Safeguard passwords by enforcing password hygiene and strong passwords

It’s impossible to prevent security risks completely. Cultivating a risk-aware culture where employees are empowered to protect themselves and are hyper-aware of the security risks they face is the ultimate mitigating action you can implement as an organization.

Conclusion

CRM platforms, like Salesforce, make lives easier and bring significant revenues. However, depending on their security alone isn’t enough, especially when it comes to safeguarding the company’s assets.

Any system can be a target for cybersecurity attacks, especially those storing large amounts of data – and Salesforce takes this responsibility very seriously, with numerous measures to enhance its cloud security and increase the protection for its clients and their customers. But it’s also down to organizations to implement ways to further mitigate these risks.

WithSecure Cloud Protection can give your company peace of mind that your resources are secure from unwanted threats