Securely integrating your SaaS applications

Is evaluating the security of iPaaS solutions unnecessarily prolonging your progress towards application integration and optimizing your processes?

Today, most medium to large enterprises—and an increasing number of smaller organizations—rely on multiple SaaS applications. As a result, integrating those applications to optimize business processes helps ensure the efficiency of a company as a whole.

When selecting any new service provider, due diligence is required to make sure that applications run securely and work together. If they don’t natively integrate, determining how to integrate the solutions can be fraught with challenges.

Evaluating iPaaS security

• iPaaS platforms handle sensitive data while it is in transit and processing between applications, so data security is extremely important when choosing a solution.
• As you assess each iPaaS platform, be sure to evaluate data security, regulatory compliance (GDPR, Privacy Shield, HIPAA, PCI, and FERPA), and whether data is stored persistently or processed as pass-through only.
• Requesting and reviewing SOC 2 reports can significantly speed up the security evaluation process by providing comprehensive third-party audits of the provider’s security and operational controls.
• Tailoring security questionnaires specifically for iPaaS, focusing on relevant security aspects, and using insights from SOC reports can help businesses select a secure platform.

The rise of iPaaS: speed and security

iPaaS has become a transformative solution for SaaS integration, often requiring minimal IT involvement and significantly reducing time and costs.

However, much like with SaaS providers, careful vetting of iPaaS vendors remains critical. Because these platforms handle sensitive business data in transit, it is vital to determine:

• What data is being transferred?
• Does it include sensitive or regulated information?
• Is the data stored persistently, or processed on a pass-through basis?

The answers to these questions inform the appropriate level of security review. Unlike SaaS providers that often store data long-term, iPaaS solutions may present a lower security risk—particularly when data is not stored persistently.

Accelerating the evaluation process

Traditional due diligence processes can be time-consuming. Extensive security questionnaires, while thorough, often create unnecessary delays—sometimes requiring weeks of effort before integration can even begin.

To accelerate the evaluation process:

• Start by requesting the provider’s SOC 2 report.
• Review the report in detail.
• Use the findings to customize your questionnaire and focus only on iPaaS-relevant areas.

Also, ensure that questionnaires include space for explanatory comments—even for yes/no questions—to reduce ambiguity and prevent unnecessary follow-up communications.

What is a SOC report?

A SOC report is the report of an independent auditor who has audited the service provider in question and reported on the results according to the SOC Trust Services Criteria. The SOC Trust Services Criteria is an auditing standard that the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) developed for evaluating service providers.

A SOC 2 report may be provided as Type 1 (testing of the design of controls) and Type 2 (testing of the effectiveness of controls). We recommend requesting a SOC2 as it provides a validation of the controls over a period of time. SOC 2 reports can only be shared—under NDA—with auditors, customers, and prospective customers. You really don’t want the general public, including potential hackers, to have access to the full reports.

These audits investigate providers at a much deeper level than an ordinary due diligence questionnaire, with far more evidence required to complete the audit. This includes a full description of the service, how it is managed, how it is secured, so you are getting most, if not more, of your due diligence done for you in a report you can easily see if the service has issues you should be concerned with.

Summary

Business needs to move quickly—lengthy due diligence can undermine the very goals that iPaaS is intended to support. Fortunately, a well-structured approach that leverages SOC 2 reports and security questions tailored to an iPaaS platform can significantly reduce evaluation time while ensuring strong security standards.
To expedite your selection and integration process:

• Begin with a SOC 2 request
• Customize your security review based on the nature of the data and the platform
• Only ask what’s relevant to the iPaaS context

This method not only saves time—it ensures your integrations are both secure and efficient.