Safe growth in the cloud - GROW with SAP supported by SecurityBridge solutions
For fast-growing enterprises, success depends on speed, flexibility and security. As organisations move to the cloud to accelerate their digital transformation, the need for efficient, reliable and secure ERP solutions becomes critical. GROW with SAP, a ready-to-deploy SaaS solution based on S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, has been designed to help mid-market companies innovate with confidence, providing support for both their growth and their security.
GROW with SAP is not just technology - it is about building partnership and shared responsibility. SAP’s approach to security and governance ensures that enterprises can focus on growth while maintaining control and regulatory compliance. SNOK, as a SecurityBridge and SAP partner, supports clients on their GROW with SAP journey, ensuring that security issues do not become a bottleneck during and after the cloud conversion process.
Shared responsibility for security in GROW with SAP
Security in GROW with SAP is a shared responsibility. While SAP provides a secure foundation through resilient infrastructure and services, customers are equally essential parties in securing their environments. Understanding where SAP’s obligations end and the customer’s begin is key to an effective security strategy.
SAP’s responsibility: securing the cloud infrastructure and core services
SAP takes full responsibility for securing the cloud infrastructure, platform and core services that power GROW with SAP. This includes:
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A resilient SaaS architecture: SAP provides a multi-tenant cloud environment designed to ensure the logical separation of customer data, protecting sensitive information in a shared environment.
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Backup, restoration and disaster recovery (DR): SAP ensures that customer data is securely archived and can be restored in the event of incidents.
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Operational security monitoring and incident management: SAP actively monitors systems for potential threats and incidents, responding quickly to minimise risk and ensure operational continuity.
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Hardening and patching: SAP manages and secures the infrastructure, operating systems and applications by regularly applying security patches and updates to protect against vulnerabilities.
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Notifications of personal data breaches: In the event of a personal data breach within SAP’s area of responsibility, the company commits to notifying affected parties in accordance with data protection regulations.
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Compliance with SLAs and contractual guarantees: SAP provides documented guarantees through service level agreements (SLAs), data processing agreements (DPAs) and comprehensive support policies, ensuring contractual clarity regarding responsibilities.
Customer’s responsibility: security at the business application level
While SAP secures the infrastructure, customers are responsible for securing the way their businesses use the platform. This is where the customer’s role becomes both crucial and empowering. Key responsibilities include:
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Configuration of business processes: Customers control how their business processes are designed and executed within GROW with SAP. Secure configurations help minimise risk.
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Tenant administration and management: Customers manage their own tenants, including assigning administrators, monitoring usage and ensuring proper governance.
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Identity management, authentication and authorisation: Customers are responsible for managing user identities, ensuring strong authentication methods (such as multi-factor authentication) and defining role-based access controls to restrict who has access to what.
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Defining business roles and user groups: Careful planning and assignment of business roles, user groups and access control policies protects sensitive operations against unauthorised access.
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Ownership and protection of customer data: Customers own their data and are responsible for its classification, protection and compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA or local laws.
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Monitoring application logs and audit trails: Customers should actively review application logs and audit trails to identify suspicious activity.
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Managing API integrations and connectivity with third parties: Customers are responsible for securing any API integrations, extensions and connections with third parties, ensuring that data flows are secure and compliant.
In short, SAP secures the cloud, and customers secure their configurations and use of the cloud application. This model provides flexibility while ensuring a solid security posture when both parties fulfil their roles.
GROW with SAP APIs for customer application security
The open and transparent GROW with SAP API ecosystem gives customers detailed visibility into their security landscape. These APIs help customers integrate security data from their SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition tenant with existing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions, automate monitoring tasks and maintain compliance.
Here is an overview of the key API services that help customers stay in control:
1. Security Audit Log API
This API provides access to comprehensive audit log data detailing security-relevant events. By feeding this data into a SIEM platform, customers can automate the detection of suspicious behaviour or unusual activity patterns, ensuring a faster response to potential threats.
2. Business User and Role Changes API
These APIs help enforce the principle of least privilege and avoid unauthorised privilege escalation by tracking who is added, modified or removed from business systems. They also support monitoring changes to role assignments, including the creation of new roles or adjustment of privileges.
3. Business User Role Configuration API
By providing details on the business roles, catalogues and application tasks assigned to users, this API enables customers to maintain an overview of business role configuration and supports an effective identity lifecycle management cycle.
4. Communication Settings API
These APIs help secure integrations, detect unnecessary connections and identify inactive or risky endpoints. Customers can:
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Review communication users and the certificates, systems and arrangements assigned to them.
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Understand how communication systems are connected, including inbound and outbound users.
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Obtain detailed data on arrangements between systems, describing inbound and outbound services.
5. HTTP Security API
With these APIs, customers strengthen the security of web applications, preventing threats such as clickjacking and unauthorised data sharing. Data provided through these APIs supports:
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Monitoring CSP (Content Security Policy) configuration, including trusted sites and policy enforcement.
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Managing trusted network zones, CSS stylesheets and CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) settings.
6. Certificate Management API
By actively managing customer certificates, certificate trust lists and signing certificates used in communication configurations, customers reduce the risk that expired or compromised certificates will disrupt operations or expose data.
GROW with SAP and strengthened security with SNOK’s SecurityBridge platform
The SecurityBridge platform, available in Poland through SNOK, strengthens SAP security through seamless integration with the security APIs provided by SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. This enables GROW with SAP customers to establish real-time event log monitoring, gain configuration oversight and achieve security automation maturity. Key benefits include:
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Effective threat detection through continuous monitoring of security audit logs, user activity and role changes to detect anomalies and potential threats within one’s own tenant.
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Simplified security and compliance management thanks to automated oversight of user roles, authorisation settings, communication protocols and system connections to identify and mitigate security risks.
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Proactive risk reduction by ensuring that unused accounts, misconfigured HTTP security settings and untrusted certificates are identified and remediated before they become security threats.
For growing companies, the cloud offers enormous opportunities but also introduces new responsibilities. By adopting a clear shared responsibility model and providing customers with comprehensive APIs, SAP enables companies to actively manage their security posture.
Why are SNOK and SecurityBridge key to safe growth with GROW with SAP?
SNOK, as an official partner of SAP and SecurityBridge in Poland, offers a unique combination of technology and expertise that supports Polish enterprises on their journey towards safe growth with GROW with SAP.
“Observing SAP implementation projects, we often notice that security aspects are pushed aside as clients and implementation partners focus on meeting tight go-live deadlines. Unfortunately, such an approach leads to serious security gaps that can threaten the entire organisation. SNOK, together with the SecurityBridge platform, comes to the rescue, providing the tools and expertise needed to integrate security into the implementation process without extending timelines - this is not a choice between security and speed, you can have both.” - Jaroslaw Kamil Zdanowski, SNOK Partner responsible for cybersecurity and SAP BASIS
Comprehensive protection and visibility
The SecurityBridge platform, available through SNOK, provides comprehensive protection for SAP applications against internal and external threats. As “the only holistically integrated security platform, natively embedded within the SAP technology stack”, SecurityBridge from SNOK offers:
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Instant alerts thanks to advanced machine learning algorithms and signature-based detection
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Seamless integration with existing SIEM systems, enabling holistic security management
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Effective incident management from identification and analysis through to resolution and documentation
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Continuous oversight of compliance with industry regulations and internal security policies
Local expertise for global challenges
SNOK offers not only tools but also local experience and support for Polish enterprises. As a SAP and SecurityBridge partner, SNOK understands both the technical and business aspects of implementing cloud ERP solutions, providing:
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Expertise in local regulations and compliance with Polish law
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A team of specialists with in-depth knowledge of both SAP products and security in the context of Polish enterprises
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A tailored approach adapted to the unique needs and challenges of Polish companies
An investment in the future
By choosing to implement GROW with SAP with security provided by SNOK and the SecurityBridge platform, enterprises are not only investing in modern, scalable ERP technology, but also in a solid security foundation that will evolve alongside the company’s growth and the emergence of new threats.
For rapidly growing companies, finding SAP security specialists can be a challenge, and this is precisely where a partnership with SNOK provides significant added value. SNOK acts as an extension of the client’s IT security team, delivering specialised knowledge and tools for proactive SAP security management.
Summary: Safe growth in an era of digital transformation
For mid-sized enterprises in Poland, GROW with SAP offers the opportunity for rapid implementation of a modern, scalable ERP solution with built-in business best practices. However, every cloud migration brings new security challenges that require a specialised approach.
SNOK, as a SAP partner and distributor of the SecurityBridge platform in Poland, acts as a bridge between innovative cloud solutions and solid security, enabling enterprises to focus on growth and innovation while maintaining control over data security and regulatory compliance.
Interested in learning how implementing a comprehensive security platform for SAP can be the fastest and most effective way to achieve a mature SAP security posture?
Contact us today, and our experts will be happy to tell you more about our targeted approach to excellence in SAP security. For more information, follow SNOK on LinkedIn.
SNOK is an official partner of SAP and SecurityBridge in Poland, offering comprehensive solutions in SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementation, cybersecurity and technology advisory.