SaaS security adoption is rising as security breaches become more frequent . A new report has revealed a striking gap between how secure organizations believe their SaaS environments are and the reality of recent incidents . While 91% of teams expressed confidence in their SaaS data protection, 75% said they experienced a SaaS-related security incident in the past year, marking a 44-point increase over 2024 .
The AppOmni study, based on input from 803 IT and security professionals worldwide, found that confidence often stems from trust in SaaS providers rather than internal validation . The report warns that “confidence must be earned, not assumed,” pointing to a growing need for proactive configuration management and real-time monitoring .
Organizations are split between “good enough” and “best-of-breed” solutions. While 42% of surveyed organizations have implemented a dedicated SaaS security posture management (SSPM) solution, many still rely on broader platforms, such as security service edge (SSE) or cloud access security broker (CASB) tools . Of those using these consolidated tools, 43% say they prioritize other cybersecurity demands and opt for basic SSPM features built into existing solutions . Meanwhile, 45% of organizations admit they lack clarity around SaaS-specific risks, often defaulting to tools that fall short of comprehensive protection .
Among those with SSPM strategies in place, priorities are shifting. Threat detection ranks highest at 61%, followed by SaaS app inventory and unauthorized connection detection . Hybrid models are also emerging as the preferred approach, with the goal of pairing deep protection for critical apps with broader platform coverage .
Looking ahead, 61% of respondents expect AI to dominate future cybersecurity discussions . The AppOmni report outlined how AI's ability to interact with and absorb enterprise data introduces new risks, often resembling those posed by human users . Organizations are encouraged to stay informed about developments in SaaS security and implement proactive measures to protect their data .
SaaS security challenges stem from using the wrong tool . Companies that have adopted SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) are more than twice as likely to have full visibility into their SaaS stack — 62% of these organizations are able to oversee over 75% of their SaaS environment compared to those that utilize other tools and manual processes in their strategy (31%) .
SaaS security is now a top priority for 86% of organizations, with 76% of respondents saying they are increasing their budgets this year . Despite organizations committing more resources to SaaS security, data oversharing (63%) and poor access control (56%) continue to expose them to risk, suggesting that many are still unable to establish the fundamental protections needed to secure sensitive data across their environments . 79% of organizations expressed confidence in their programs .
This high confidence level may be masking critical capability gaps with 55% of respondents sharing that employees are adopting SaaS tools without security's involvement and 57% reporting they are grappling with fragmented SaaS security administration . IAM remains a challenge . 58% of respondents said enforcing proper privilege levels was difficult, and 54% lacked automation for lifecycle management—gaps which directly contribute to breaches, complicate incident response, and leave organizations exposed .
GenAI tools and SaaS-to-SaaS integrations are expanding the attack surface, leaving nearly half of organizations (46%) struggling to monitor non-human identities (NHIs) and 56% concerned with over-privileged API access . Too many organizations are relying on fragmented strategies, such as vendor-native tools (69%), general-purpose solutions like Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) (43%), and manual audits (46%), resulting in critical gaps across the SaaS environment that will only widen as these systems become more complex .