ERP Software Security

Opensource, SaaS ERP Software Security Trends

The topic of information security is escalating each year and the innovations in technology to address internet security and software security particularly with mission critical ERP software applications, will continue to escalate as well to meet this growing threat over the new decade. With the emergence of web-based software as a demand or SaaS software applications that is hosted by a third party service provider, the question is whether this platform is safer and more secure than traditional on-premise ERP software applications.

The motivational factors behind the viruses and malware programs developed today vary dramatically from the nerdy hacker trying to get into private systems as a machismo challenge to his intellect. Today’s security wars are now motivated by financial gains and the developers are now automatically generated by computer programs and codes rather than individual hackers. The product of this new paradigm is a barrage of malware and virus threats versus just a sporadic attack seen a decade ago. The number of viruses and threats produced each month are mind boggling and the numbers continue to escalate each year. It’s no wonder that businesses are facing real issues with respect to enterprise systems and ERP software data security and privacy that could dramatically impact the core of their operations. One key area of challenge in particular is has been with company emails and the internet virus threats.

In today’s technological environment, the landscape of security software has evolved significantly. Virus software has to address the impact when a virus is attacking an ERP system as well as be proactive and one step ahead of malware developers to be able to deal with potential virus threats in the future. The key is to prevent a virus attack before it has a chance to infect and do some real damage. Developing virus software to protect against future potential attacks historically focused on the desktop computer. However, with today’s technology innovations protection development efforts once focused primarily on the desktop computer and the server needs to include preventative attacks to web-based SaaS ERP software systems via the Cloud, or the internet.

Software as a Service, or SaaS ERP software apps for many companies are an attractive alternative to traditional 0n-premise ERP software alternatives as the headaches associated with ERP system security, including email are outsourced to a third party service provider. The traditional on-premise solution of installing software applications on servers and desktops put the security responsibility with the customer. With SaaS ERP applications and web-based software in general the security burden is handed off to the SaaS vendor who will secure the data and the system before it is delivered within the customer.

Web-based software solutions initially targeted small and midsized businesses. However, today web-based SaaS software and ERP applications encompass virtually all business sized and industries with ERP module applications or a full suite of enterprise resource planning systems to entirely service a business. SaaS based enterprise solutions are gaining in popularity for many reasons, and with the growing challenge with security, they are gaining more popularity just on the security benefits alone.