Ensuring SAP Security and Compliance: Six Best Practices To Follow!

“There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that will be.” 

                                                           – Robert Mueller, FBI Director, 2012.

Individuals and organizations are contributing to the global data boom every single day. And business hyperconnectivity creates new challenges in cyber security. Most organizations are adopting the “better safe than sorry” motto.

What can you do? This article will help you find the answer.

Security – A Very Real Challenge!

Did you know?

The global cyber insurance market is projected to double in size by 2015 to reach nearly 22 billion US dollars!

World data is set to grow to 175 zettabytes (that is, 175 followed by 21 zeros).

Companies worldwide are producing data in large amounts. And with large data comes the risk of higher manipulation. Are companies working on securing their data? Is your company prepared to combat a cyber attack? Cybersecurity is a real challenge! But with technology advancing each day, we now have better means to ensure data security. Let’s find out more about this!

Understanding SAP Security and Compliance

Maintaining a secure IT infrastructure is essential for any organization. SAP security is a means to protect your organization’s data. It monitors and controls access both internally and externally.

54% of organizations acknowledge that their IT departments are not adequately capable of handling advanced cyberattacks.

To protect their data, organizations should ensure that all user access is properly monitored, audit logs are regularly reviewed, and that access controls are regularly updated.

Additionally, organizations should implement a password policy to ensure all passwords are complex and regularly changed. Finally, organizations should confirm security patches are regularly applied to all SAP systems to prevent unauthorized access and potential data breaches. Best practices are key to ensuring your SAP systems remain secure and compliant.

Read more: Top Benefits Businesses Can Gain Form Fingent’s SAP AMS Practices.

Risks Associated with Poor SAP Security and Compliance

Poor security and compliance measures can expose a business to cybersecurity threats and data breaches. Without proper security measures, businesses are vulnerable to malicious attacks, unauthorized access, lawsuits, insurance rate hikes, criminal investigations, and bad press.  Furthermore, it may result in heavy fines, reputation damage, and other losses. These are sufficient to put your organization out of business.

Did you know? The cost of data breaches may rise to over $5 trillion in 2024.

Therefore, businesses must understand the risks associated with poor SAP security and compliance and take the necessary steps to protect their systems and data. This includes implementing proper access control measures, monitoring user activities, and ensuring that all security measures are regularly updated and tested.

Common Challenges Faced in SAP Security Compliance

SAP security and compliance are becoming increasingly challenging for organizations of all sizes. As more organizations move to cloud-based SAP solutions, they face the challenge of ensuring consistent security and compliance across all systems.

In addition, as SAP applications continue to become more complex, organizations must ensure they have the right processes and tools to maintain security and compliance. Despite your understanding and diligence concerning safeguarding your SAP databases, chances are you are dealing with the following:

• Manual processes take too much time and are prone to errors, rendering it challenging to cover the entire digital estate.
• You will have to deal with heterogeneous point products that are difficult to manage.
• Third-party services that, in turn, are dependent on either of the aforementioned.

Organizations must have a comprehensive security compliance plan addressing these challenges to ensure their SAP systems are secure and compliant.

Read more: How secure is your business in a multi-cloud environment?

Eliminate Your SAP Cyber Security Blind spots with SAP System Best Practices.

SAP systems are the backbone of many business operations. As a result, ensuring the system is always secure and compliant with corporate policies is essential. To help ensure your SAP system is secure, here are some best practices you can follow:

1. Monitor user activity and implement user access controls

Ensure that all users have the least privileged access to do their job. This limits users’ access and reduces the chances of unauthorized access.

2. Teach the team to take responsibility

Everyone on the team may feel that they are not responsible for the breach. But the fact is that someone must take responsibility for the breach. And this fact must be made clear to all on the team.

3. Keep up to date on the latest enhancement packs

Periodically confirm that all patches and updates are installed regularly. This ensures that any security flaws in the system are addressed as soon as possible.

4. Ensure data is securely stored and encrypted

Develop a strong password policy. Require strong and unique passwords for each user and ensure that passwords are periodically changed. Use multi-factor authentication. This adds an extra layer of security and makes it more difficult for malicious users to access the system. Finally, monitor user activity regularly. This can help identify any suspicious activity or potential threats.

5. Revert to Standard installation

It’s essential to minimize the chances of potential security threats by replacing custom legacy code with updated, patched versions of the programming language standards and SAP applications. To do this, you should eliminate unused code to ensure you don’t accrue any vulnerable technical debt.

6. Identify security gaps

Staying secure requires early detection. Just as regular health checkups help detect issues early and provide a path for effective treatment, conducting frequent assessments of your ERP system can provide full visibility and comprehension of your ERP environment before you make modifications and detect when you may be lagging. Through regular health screenings, any security breaches can be identified.

Following these best practices will help keep the SAP environment secure. It is important to remember that security and compliance is an ongoing process and should be revisited and updated periodically to ensure it is up to date with industry standards.

How Can Fingent Help Attain the Best SAP Security Compliance 

Determining which SAP security software is best for your business can be challenging, as it is an important decision. Fortunately, Fingent offers a tailored solution designed to keep critical systems secure. Our security solution also integrates with an organization’s wider cybersecurity monitoring, ensuring the security team is not left in the dark regarding potential threats.

Our experts understand the complexities of managing SAP compliance and are committed to making SAP support and compliance fit your budget and anticipate future needs. We strive to provide comprehensive and cost-effective solutions to all process aspects, including data reporting, administrative tasks, data analysis, and audits. Reach out to our experts and find out how we can help you.