How Does On-Premises Hosting Prevent Salesforce Data Security Risks?
On-premises hosting offers the ultimate level of security and control over your Salesforce environment, preventing costly and harmful breaches, attacks, and data loss events.
Why It Matters: Data loss can occur from a variety of sources—including insider threats. Salesforce users who strictly control their environment are better equipped to prevent devastating attacks.
- The average cost of a data breach in 2023 is $4.45 million, according to a study by IBM.
- An astonishing 79% of companies utilizing cloud computing experienced a data breach in 2020.
Here are 8 ways on-premises hosting supports a successful Salesforce data security strategy:
- Provides More Control Over Data Usage
- Increases Network Security
- Allows Physical Access to Servers
- Adopts a Self-Sufficient Security Approach
- Ensures Compliance with Data Security Regulations
- Reduces Reliance on Salesforce
- Offers a Customizable Infrastructure
- Represents an Essential Aspect of a Comprehensive DevSecOps Approach
1. Provides More Control Over Data Usage
Salesforce data security is all about control. Who has access to your data? How are they using it? The degree to which an organization can control the ways their data is used has a massive impact on their ability to maintain a secure environment.
On-premises hosting gives organizations the highest level of control over their Salesforce data because it is managed within their own physical IT infrastructure.
Working in the cloud is convenient but requires a degree of trust in the platform. And when it comes to data security—particularly for those in regulated industries like finance and healthcare—it’s essential to know the exact security measures in place regarding sensitive data.
2. Increases Network Security
Technological environments can be configured to suit the specific needs of the user. But some of these configurations are done at a granular level dictated by the hosting platform. Working in the cloud leaves users susceptible to whatever vulnerabilities exist within the platform itself—some of which they might not even know about.
Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other network security tools can all be managed to fit an organization’s specific needs when they host their IT platform on-premises.
A comprehensive data security strategy should address an organization’s unique needs. On-premises hosting provides the flexibility needed to accomplish this.
3. Allows Physical Access to Servers
Proactive data security means organizations are able to adjust to emerging issues in real time. Providing an immediate response to security incidents reduces the damage caused by unauthorized access to system data. Protecting the hardware of your system is just as important as protecting the data contained within it, and this is only possible when your system is hosted on-premises.
A thorough analysis of the system is possible without relying on the assistance of a third-party provider—making organizations more flexible and self-reliant while reducing response times.
Having the ability to access your own servers also means minimizing your connectivity with outside applications. Anything connected to the internet is essentially in danger. Working on-premises mitigates this risk.
4. Adopts a Self-Sufficient Security Approach
It’s almost impossible to operate within Salesforce without working with third-party applications. This expands the capabilities of your environment, but each add-on introduces another level of risk. What happens if that vendor experiences a hack? Will your environment become compromised as well?
Reducing your reliance on external applications and servers limits the risk of cybercriminals using compromised connections as a back door into your environment.
Customizing your Salesforce environment expands your capabilities, but the associated risk needs to be mitigated as much as possible. Working on-premises is a major step toward locking down your environment.
5. Ensures Compliance with Data Security Regulations
Organizations working within regulated industries are subject to a series of data security regulations. Any failure to meet these regulations results in fines, penalties, and loss of consumer trust. It’s each company’s responsibility to stay informed on the requirements and consistently audit their adherence to them.
On-premises hosting enables those in regulated industries to maintain the visibility they need to achieve consistent compliance.
Having increased control over data usage, customized security measures, and the ability to quickly produce audit logs collectively increase an organization’s ability to meet regulatory requirements.
6. Reduces Reliance on Salesforce
Salesforce itself is a secure platform. However, users still experience outages and loss—either through improper usage, compromised third-party applications, or Salesforce itself experiencing an outage. These vulnerabilities will always be present and are simply part of using the platform.
Organizations that minimize their reliance on the Salesforce platform gain more control over their environment and the security of their data.
Working on-premises—and off-platform—enables teams to continue working, even when Salesforce itself experiences an outage. Ensuring continuous connectivity increases value to customers while supporting regulatory compliance.
7. Offers a Customizable Infrastructure
The path to preventing data security risks in Salesforce looks different for every organization. This is why at AutoRABIT, we stress the importance of maintaining total control over your IT infrastructure. The highest levels of oversight are only possible when you can customize settings for every aspect of your data security strategy to fit your specific needs.
On-premises hosting allows InfoSec teams to fine-tune their security settings and create the most secure environment possible.
Having the capability to work with the physical infrastructure of your platform goes far beyond the customizability of a standard data security strategy. This second aspect helps protect your system from the inside and out. Adding a physical layer of security on top of the technological safeguards mentioned above creates a comprehensive approach that offers extensive protection.
8. Represents an Essential Aspect of a Comprehensive DevSecOps Approach
DevSecOps aims to instill a focus on data security across various teams. This includes everything from planning out an application or update all the way through to deployment. The idea is that if everyone is focused on maintaining a secure environment, data security risks are less likely to pop up. Only a comprehensive approach will achieve this goal, which should include considering how the platform is hosted.
On-premises hosting supports DevSecOps tools that provide a secure infrastructure for additional development products.
Tools such as static code analysis, automated release management, and data backup and recovery all help create error-free updates and applications. But what if these stable applications are then released into an unstable environment? All benefits of risk avoidance are lost. On-premises hosting provides the control teams need to maintain a secure environment, remain compliant with data security regulations, and be flexible enough to adjust to emerging threats as they present themselves.
Next Step…
Salesforce data security requires a holistic approach to successfully prevent breaches, leaks, and hacks. On-premises hosting is a huge part of this, but it isn’t the only factor.
Check out our blog, “9 Tips to Strengthen Data Security in Salesforce,” to learn more ways to prevent these costly and harmful attacks.
FAQs
What is on-premises hosting?
On-premises hosting, also known as on-prem hosting, involves the local hosting and operation of software applications and IT infrastructure within an organization’s own physical location or data center. This approach grants businesses complete control over their hardware, software, and data, enabling customization and adherence to security policies. On-premises hosting can offer enhanced data privacy and compliance with regulations as data is stored within the organization’s jurisdiction. However, it necessitates significant up-front capital investment and ongoing maintenance responsibilities. Scaling may be more challenging compared to cloud-based solutions, and robust disaster recovery solutions are essential for ensuring business continuity. Despite the rising popularity of cloud computing, certain organizations with specific regulatory or security needs continue to favor on-premises hosting, while others opt for hybrid solutions combining both on-premises and cloud environments to leverage their respective advantages.
Why would I want on-premises hosting over cloud hosting for Salesforce?
The way your Salesforce environment is hosted has to serve your direct business needs, but this looks different for everybody. While on-premises hosting offers the highest levels of control for IT teams, it isn’t perfect for every organization. Hosting your Salesforce environment in the cloud enables teams to work across disparate geographic regions and saves on overhead costs. However, those who need the highest levels of control over their environment—such as companies in regulated industries like medicine, banking, and insurance—will benefit from on-premises hosting’s increased levels of control. Companies need to analyze their requirements and their resources to choose the hosting option that works best for them.
How does preventing data security risks help release teams?
Cybersecurity problems like breaches, leaks, and losses create redundant work for team members. It also impacts the organization’s ability to serve their customers. Data security needs to be baked into every process within an organization because the negative effects will be felt by every team. The resulting downtime from a breach will preclude team members from performing their duties. Data losses cause other team members to redo work they’ve already completed. And all of this adds up to financial losses for the organization that can be felt by each team member. Release teams benefit from preventing these issues by being able to continually focus on pushing out new products, updates, and applications without worrying about fixing previous errors or reinstating legacy functionalities.
