As businesses increasingly rely on Salesforce to manage sensitive customer data, ensuring the security of that data has become more critical than ever. Salesforce’s vast integration capabilities and customizable architecture make it the backbone of many organizations, but they also introduce unique security challenges. Traditional Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions often fall short in addressing the specific complexities of the Salesforce software, leaving businesses vulnerable to data leaks and unauthorized access.
This is why a Salesforce-specific DLP solution is essential. Unlike generic DLP tools, which may overlook field-level security, integrations, and Salesforce’s customized workflows, a tailored solution is designed to safeguard data at every level of the platform. For CISOs, investing in a DLP solution built for Salesforce means ensuring comprehensive protection that fits seamlessly into their ecosystem, closing security gaps that off-the-shelf solutions might miss.
In this blog, we’ll explore why adopting a Salesforce-specific DLP software is crucial to securing your organization’s most sensitive data and how to find the right solution for your needs.
The Value of a Salesforce-Specific Data Loss Prevention Software
To truly safeguard sensitive data within Salesforce, organizations need a more tailored approach than what traditional DLP solutions can offer. While standard tools may provide broad protection, they often miss the unique challenges of securing Salesforce’s data at a deeper level. Let’s explore the specific value of Salesforce-focused DLP solutions and why they’re critical for comprehensive data security:
1. Going deeper than traditional DLP
Standard DLP tools primarily focus on who is accessing data and preventing unauthorized transfers. However, Salesforce-specific DLP solutions, such as Sonar, go further by addressing data movement at the object and field level. These tools provide the granular visibility needed to monitor sensitive data within Salesforce, offering insights that generic tools often overlook. This includes tracking exactly which fields and objects are being accessed, not just who has permission.
For example, if sensitive fields like Personally Identifiable Information (PII) are involved, Sonar can pinpoint precisely who accessed them and when—something most traditional DLP tools can’t do.
2. Challenges of managing Salesforce data security without a tailored solution
Protecting Salesforce data is far more complex than securing a static database or standard IT infrastructure. Salesforce is built on a highly dynamic metadata structure and relies heavily on third-party integrations, which means there are countless potential vulnerabilities.
Generic DLP tools may monitor access or data downloads, but they often miss the deeper layers of data movement specific to Salesforce. Without a tailored solution, businesses risk security blind spots in how data flows through integrations, custom fields, and metadata changes, making comprehensive protection nearly impossible.
3. The need for event-level tracking
A key feature of Salesforce-specific DLP solutions is their ability to provide event-level tracking. Traditional DLP tools may show that a user accessed data or downloaded a report, but they rarely dive into the specifics of what data was involved. With DLP tools like Sonar, you gain visibility into not just who is accessing the system but what specific fields and objects are being interacted with. This level of detail is crucial when protecting sensitive information like financial data or PII. By tying Salesforce metadata directly to the data being accessed, Sonar provides insights down to the field level—telling you exactly which pieces of data are involved in any event.
For example, if a user accesses a field marked as sensitive, Sonar can identify the exact data that was touched, offering unparalleled insight. Most DLP tools might tell you who accessed a record but can’t break down which specific fields were involved. This deeper visibility closes critical security gaps and your security team has a clear view of all data interactions.
4. Making sense of Salesforce Shield event monitoring logs
While Salesforce Shield offers useful features like encryption and event monitoring, it lacks the granular insight needed for full data protection. Shield can show general logs of activities and offer encryption for data at rest, but it doesn’t provide a comprehensive view into what specific data fields were accessed during an event.
A Salesforce-specific DLP tool helps you maximize your Shield investment by offering more detailed tracking and deeper insights, ensuring your team doesn’t miss critical data interactions that could signal a security breach. With this combination, you can elevate your Salesforce security to a level that generic tools or Shield alone can’t achieve.
The 3 Essentials of Effective DLP: Visualization, Proactive Detection, and Remediation
When it comes to protecting sensitive data in Salesforce, traditional DLP solutions often fall short because they lack three essential components: visualization, proactive detection, and remediation. Without these elements working together, organizations are left with limited visibility into their data, delayed responses to threats, and an inability to fully address potential risks. Let’s define each of these critical capabilities and discuss why having a DLP software that integrates all three is crucial for safeguarding Salesforce data.
- Visualization: Visualization provides a clear, real-time view of how data is being accessed, moved, and used within Salesforce. Traditional DLP tools often offer high-level reports but fail to deliver the depth of insight needed to track data movement at the field and object level. Without effective visualization, organizations struggle to identify data security risks and unusual activity. A robust DLP solution provides transparency into who is interacting with sensitive data and where that data is going, allowing businesses to manage security risks with confidence.
- Proactive detection: Proactive detection involves identifying potential threats before they escalate into security incidents. While many traditional DLP tools are designed to respond to events after they’ve occurred, a Salesforce-specific solution should provide real-time alerts for suspicious activity. By continuously monitoring user behavior and data flows, proactive detection enables businesses to stay ahead of threats, flagging risks before they lead to data breaches. Generic tools often miss these early warning signs, putting organizations at greater risk.
- Remediation: Remediation is the ability to quickly and effectively respond to identified risks. Detecting a threat is only part of the equation; a strong DLP software must also offer the tools to resolve security issues swiftly. This might involve restricting user access, reversing unauthorized changes, or halting the transfer of sensitive data. Many traditional DLP solutions lack integrated remediation capabilities, forcing security teams to manually intervene—slowing down response times and leaving data vulnerable to further exploitation.
DLP Software Comparison – Analytics Studio, Own Secure, Varonis, and Sonar
When evaluating security and monitoring solutions for Salesforce, it’s key to understand how different solutions compare in terms of capabilities. Let’s look at how Analytics Studio, Own Secure, Varonis, and Sonar stack up.
| Software | Best For | Key Features |
| Analytics Studio | Businesses with in-house Salesforce technical resources | Pre-built event monitoring reports, manual customization required, 24-hour data refresh rate |
| Own Secure | Businesses focusing on permissions control | User permission management, automated security assessments, Salesforce integration |
| Varonis | Large enterprises with complex data needs | Data classification, user behavior analytics, multi-software file-level monitoring |
| Sonar | Security-focused Salesforce customers | Real-time alerts, field & object-level insights, proactive detection, indefinite event log retention |
1. Analytics Studio
Salesforce Analytics Studio provides useful pre-built dashboards that can be customized to meet specific needs, making it a good choice for teams with strong technical resources. However, it requires considerable in-house expertise for ongoing customization and SQL query management. While it offers valuable insights into Salesforce activity, the lack of real-time data refresh and the limited focus on sensitive data access across integrations can be a challenge for teams needing more immediate and granular visibility. For organizations with the right resources, Analytics Studio can be a helpful tool, but it might not offer the depth of protection needed for highly sensitive or dynamic environments.
Key features include:
- Pre-built dashboards: Event Monitoring includes pre-built reports through Salesforce Analytics Studio.
- Customization needed: Reports require significant customization, needing in-house expertise to write, manage, and refresh SQL queries regularly.
- Focus limitations: None of the pre-built reports focus on how sensitive data is accessed across integrations.
- Data refresh rate: Event Monitoring data is only refreshed and delivered to Analytics Studio every 24 hours, meaning you can’t view log files until the following day after a potential threat.
- Event log retention: Event log files are purged after 30 days, limiting historical data for investigations.
2. Own Secure
Own Secure is well-suited for businesses looking to strengthen internal controls around user permissions and data classification. It automates security assessments and helps administrators identify and correct vulnerabilities, such as over-permissioned users or gaps in data tagging. However, its strength lies in permissions management, and it lacks some of the deeper analytics and field-level insights that other tools provide. This makes Own Secure a great solution for organizations focused on tightening permissions but may require supplementation with other tools for more comprehensive DLP coverage.
Key features include:
- User permission management: Automates the process of monitoring and adjusting user permissions based on access needs and security risks.
- Data classification: Highlights gaps in data classification and enables organizations to tag sensitive data.
- Automated assessments: Conducts regular automated assessments (daily, weekly, or monthly) to identify and address security risks.
- Salesforce integration: Installed as a managed package directly within Salesforce, offering seamless integration.
3. Varonis
Varonis is a powerful software designed for enterprises with extensive data management needs. Its ability to classify data, track user behavior, and monitor file activity across multiple systems makes it particularly useful for organizations operating in complex environments. Varonis excels in providing deep insights into data usage and potential risks across platforms, though it’s not as tailored for Salesforce-specific protection as some other options. It’s best suited for large businesses that need a robust, all-in-one solution to manage data security at scale.
Key features include:
- Data classification: Automatically tags and classifies data based on sensitivity to ensure proper access controls are in place.
- User behavior analytics: Monitors user behavior across files and applications to detect unusual patterns that might indicate a security risk.
- File-level monitoring: Tracks file activity across multiple platforms, providing insights into who is accessing data and how it’s being used.
- Multi-platform support: Works across various systems and applications, making it suitable for enterprises with complex, multi-cloud environments.
4. Sonar
Sonar is specifically designed to offer comprehensive protection for Salesforce environments. Its real-time monitoring and proactive detection capabilities make it ideal for security-focused teams who need to stay ahead of potential data risks. Sonar goes beyond traditional dashboards by offering field and object-level insights, helping organizations track how sensitive data is being accessed in real time. The ability to retain event logs indefinitely also ensures that organizations have access to critical historical data for investigations and audits, making it a powerful tool for teams that rely heavily on Salesforce for storing and managing sensitive information.
Key features include:
- Real-time alerts: Proactively monitors Salesforce for potential misconfigurations and provides immediate alerts for any suspicious activity or data risks.
- Field & object-level insights: Ties Salesforce metadata to individual fields and objects, providing granular visibility into exactly what data is accessed and by whom.
- Proactive detection: Continuously monitors for security threats, identifying misconfigurations and risks before they become incidents.
- Indefinite event log retention: Retains historical event data indefinitely, enabling long-term tracking and comprehensive incident investigations.
Why Sonar is the Ultimate Salesforce Security Software
After comparing various security tools like Analytics Studio, Varonis, and Own Secure, it’s evident that each offers valuable features but lacks the comprehensive, Salesforce-specific capabilities required for complete data protection. Let’s dive into why Sonar is the ultimate Salesforce security software.
1. Ease of use
Sonar stands out for its ease of use, requiring minimal configuration and offering dashboarding that simplifies implementation. Unlike other tools that demand extensive customization and time-consuming setup, Sonar provides a fast and straightforward process with minimal technical expertise needed.
With a growing number of integrations in play, simplicity is key. Sonar minimizes complications, ultimately reducing the margin for error, ensuring a smooth onboarding process for teams.
2. Deeper level of visibility
Sonar extends beyond traditional impact analysis in Salesforce by offering comprehensive visibility into how changes affect your entire integrated tech stack. As businesses integrate more softwares, understanding field mapping and bi-directional data synchronization is crucial for following data security policies, safeguarding customer privacy, and maintaining smooth business processes.
Sonar provides granular field and object-level insights, allowing companies to monitor which fields and objects are accessed or potentially compromised. Coupled with real-time alerts and remediation, Sonar ensures immediate responses to security events, mitigating risks quickly and effectively.
3. Proactive and customizable security:
A one size fits all and reactive approach to security is no longer effective. Sonar automates threat detection and response to prevent issues before they escalate. With real-time incident logs, exportable access reports, and tailored action plans, your team is set up to succeed.
Sonar empowers businesses to quickly pivot when a threat arises, minimizing downtime and costly mistakes. Its ability to anticipate and address risks makes it an essential tool for maintaining Salesforce security.
For businesses operating in Salesforce, it’s mission critical to have visibility into how information is flowing between integrations, when an unexpected change occurs, and where exactly it exposes risk. Request a demo to see how Sonar can empower your team!