Security Threats and PeopleSoft: Some Protection Measures

 In today’s digital era, data privacy and security are of paramount importance. Many data privacy laws have been enacted worldwide. With a significant percentage of employees working from home, data security has become even more critical in the current scenario.

ERP systems, being a treasure trove of data, especially need to be protected. Worldwide, companies use legacy ERP systems such as SAP and PeopleSoft to handle the full spectrum of their everyday operations across business verticals. At the same time, data breach instances have risen in recent years. Well-known companies have been fined millions of dollars for data breach incidents.

Let’s get a comprehensive overview of the best practices that organizations should take to help secure PeopleSoft applications from data breaches in this context. Some of PeopleTools’ new security features will help users protect PeopleSoft, both internal and external, from threats to their systems and data.

Crisis Planning

It’s essential to have the best security practices in place from the start when it comes to PeopleSoft security. When the network is under threat, it’s too late to devise a plan. Cyberattacks can be avoided by adopting the right preventive measures for PeopleSoft applications. When there exist ways to get around them quickly, it is useless to put in place expensive protection mechanisms.

Security Threats: Concern Areas

E-mail servers, PeopleSoft Stack, PeopleSoft Database, Tuxedo AppServer, WebLogic/Proxies, and IDE/LCM are the primary areas of concern about threats. Phishing is a major e-mail issue. Persuading users to click on malicious links, phishing messages also use tempting clickbait. Attackers now use ransomware, crypto-mining malware, sextortion e-mail, business e-mail hack, fake spam, and huge attacks on Shibboleth IDP. Many mitigations could be used to avoid phishing attacks. Monitoring, Web Advisor, URL Request Filtering, and IP Reputation are some of them. Security specialists claim that attacks from DDoS and IoT BotNet are also likely to become more common. Drastic new threats may be faced by EHRs and other IT devices used in hospitals.

The Sources of Security Threats

Just 40 percent of security breaches are executed by outsiders. The other 60 percent are carried out by insiders. Insider attacks may be either deliberate or inadvertent. According to reports, 44.5 percent of insider wrongdoing is intentional, while the other 15.5 percent is inadvertent. Forgetting your laptop, forgetting your USB drive in an unsecured location with important data are some examples of inadvertent negligence. Factors contributing to insider abuse include moral danger, moral luck, Broken Pane Syndrome, normalization of deviance, intentional indifference, hubris, etc.

PeopleSoft Resources

Information on securing the network infrastructure and maintaining PeopleSoft security is presented by the Hardening Security Red Paper, a PeopleSoft and Oracle text. A list of secure configurations and additional network protection techniques such as intrusion detection systems, web application firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and Oracle Adaptive Access Manager is included in this Security Red Paper (Doc ID 747524.1). In addition, the paper included information on the security of PeopleSoft Internet Architecture, hardening PeopleTools security, and securing custom PeopleSoft applications.

Several protection updates have also been made to PeopleTools 8.55. These changes/updates must be implemented by organizations promptly.

Conclusion

ERP data security is of utmost importance, especially in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as people work remotely. Given the current cybersecurity landscape, it would be a pertinent step for organizations to choose and deploy a reliable data security and analytics solution. That way, comprehensive data protection can be realized.