Salesforce Security Risks and Misconfigurations: Complete Guide

Executive Summary

Salesforce powers business operations for over 150,000 enterprises worldwide, making it a prime target for cyber attackers. The average Salesforce environment contains hundreds of high-risk security misconfigurations that expose sensitive customer data, financial records, and proprietary business information.

In 2025, multiple large-scale supply-chain attacks against the Salesforce ecosystem exposed more than 1,000 organizations through OAuth token abuse, third-party integrations, and social engineering. Victims included global brands such as Google (2.55 million records), Coca-Cola, Cloudflare, and Farmers Insurance (1.1 million customers), among others. These incidents proved that Salesforce security risks are no longer confined to internal misconfigurations; they now extend across every connected SaaS and AI application.

The solution: Comprehensive protection requires continuous monitoring, behavioral analytics with data-layer context, automated threat detection, and ecosystem-wide visibility across all Salesforce integrations. This guide explains the most critical Salesforce security risks and misconfigurations, illustrates how recent 2025 attacks exploited them, and outlines practical strategies to protect your data and connected SaaS ecosystem.

The challenge: Salesforce's shared responsibility model places security configuration directly on your organization. Native features alone cannot protect against misconfigurations, excessive permissions, and integration vulnerabilities.

Why Salesforce Security Matters Now

Salesforce is rarely a standalone application. It sits at the center of marketing, sales, support, analytics, and AI workflows, which means small configuration errors or integration gaps can create large blast radii. Understanding how Salesforce security fits into your broader SaaS ecosystem is the first step to closing the shared responsibility gap.

The Shared Responsibility Gap

Salesforce provides robust infrastructure, but your organization must properly configure and maintain security. Teams struggle with:

• Configuration complexity: Hundreds of security settings requiring ongoing management
• Permission sprawl: Users accumulating excessive access over time
• Integration risks: Third-party apps creating hidden attack vectors
• Visibility gaps: Traditional security tools are missing SaaS-to-SaaS threats
• Compliance pressure: GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS demanding continuous verification

The 2025 Attacks: Four Critical Incidents

The events of 2025 made Salesforce security risks impossible to ignore. Four major incidents highlighted how attackers are exploiting misconfigurations, OAuth tokens, and third-party integrations to turn trusted tools into attack paths. These attacks did not rely on Salesforce platform vulnerabilities. They weaponized the way environments were configured and connected. Understanding these incidents is essential context for the Top 15 Salesforce security risks that follow.

1. Social Engineering Campaign (Early 2025 - September 2025)

Attackers impersonated Salesforce support staff, tricking employees into installing malicious OAuth applications disguised as legitimate Data Loader tools.

• Threat actors: ShinyHunters, Scattered Spider, UNC6040, UNC6395, UNC6240
• Victims: Google, Coca-Cola, Chanel, Pandora, Workday, Farmers Insurance, Cloudflare
• Method: Voice phishing → malicious Connected App installation → persistent OAuth access
• Impact: Millions of customer records exfiltrated; average 7+ day dwell time before detection

2. Salesloft Drift Integration Compromise (August 2025)

Attackers compromised Salesloft's Drift AI chat integration, stealing OAuth credentials that granted access to 700+ customer Salesforce environments.

• Attack vector: Third-party integration compromise, creating a SaaS supply chain attack at scale
• Impact: Automated data exfiltration using Python scripts to systematically query customer data, support cases, and business records
• Response: Salesforce removed Drift from AppExchange and revoked all Drift-to-Salesforce connections

3. Gainsight Supply-Chain Compromise (November 2025)

Five weeks after Dreamforce and two months after Salesforce introduced restrict-by-default controls for connected apps, attackers shifted tactics. They compromised Gainsight’s own Salesforce tenant, created rogue connected apps, and used Gainsight’s trusted integrations to reach downstream customers.

• Attack vector: ISV tenant compromise leveraged as a pivot into customer Salesforce orgs
• Method: Rogue connected apps abused over-privileged OAuth tokens, with traffic disguised behind common cloud IPs (35.226.109.204, 34.96.88.231) and familiar user agents such as “facebookexternalhit/1.1” and “WhatsApp”
• Impact: 285 customer orgs potentially exposed before Salesforce revoked tokens and removed the malicious apps from AppExchange
• Lesson: Even after platform changes, attackers can move “upstream” into vendors. Only ecosystem-wide behavioral monitoring with data-layer context can flag when a trusted ISV suddenly behaves out of profile.

4. Mass Extortion Campaign (September-October 2025)

Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters collective launched data leak site threatening public release of stolen data from 39+ organizations unless ransoms paid.

• Victims: Albertsons, Engie Resources, Fujifilm, Gap, Qantas, Vietnam Airlines, 33+ others
• Salesforce response: Refused to negotiate, stated incidents related to "past or unsubstantiated events"
• Legal impact: Triggered 14 lawsuits by October 2025
• Law enforcement: FBI seized BreachForums domain October 9-10, 2025

Key lesson: These attacks succeeded through misconfigurations and integration weaknesses – not through core Salesforce platform flaws. They underscore why fixing Salesforce misconfigurations and continuously monitoring third-party behavior are now mandatory.

Top 15 Salesforce Security Risks

The 2025 incidents exposed patterns: over-permissioned identities, unvetted connected apps, weak authentication paths, and blind spots around third-party behavior. The following 15 Salesforce security risks and misconfigurations are the ones most frequently exploited in real-world attacks. Each section explains the risk, highlights common issues, and points to both configuration hardening and behavioral monitoring approaches that reduce your exposure.

1. Over-Permissioned Users and Profiles

The risk: Users with "View All Data" or "Modify All Data" inherit complete system access when compromised.

Common issues:

• Default admin profiles are assigned to too many users
• Legacy permission sets never reviewed or removed
• Contractors retaining elevated access after projects end
• No regular access reviews or least-privilege enforcement

Impact: Complete data exfiltration, unauthorized changes, privilege escalation

Detection: Users with admin profiles who rarely log in, service accounts with excessive permissions, external users with internal data access

Behavioral indicators:

• Sudden bulk data exports from rarely used admin accounts
• Off-hours administrative activity that does not match historical patterns
• Admins or service accounts accessing new objects or fields for the first time

2. Malicious Connected Apps and OAuth Token Abuse

The risk: Connected Apps generate OAuth tokens providing persistent access – often bypassing multi-factor authentication.

Common issues:

• Users installing Connected Apps without IT approval
• OAuth tokens granted excessive scopes
• No regular audits of existing apps
• Tokens without expiration or IP restrictions
• Missing monitoring for unusual token patterns

Prevention:

• Require admin approval for all Connected Apps
• Enforce token expiration (maximum 90 days)
• Restrict OAuth scopes to the minimum necessary
• Implement IP allowlisting for sensitive integrations
• Monitor suspicious token creation patterns

Behavioral indicators:

• New connected apps using familiar names (for example, “Data Loader”) but unusual scopes
• OAuth tokens are suddenly used from new IP ranges or regions
• Applications that historically read a small subset of data are starting to query entire objects

3. Weak Authentication and MFA Gaps

The risk: Various authentication methods can bypass MFA protections, including API access, remembered browsers, and legacy protocols.

Common issues:

• MFA is not enforced for all users (especially admins and API users)
• Trusted IP ranges are configured too broadly
• Session timeout policies exceeding 2 hours
• Legacy authentication methods are still enabled
• Password-based fallback alongside SSO

Monitor for:

• Login attempts from unexpected locations
• High-frequency API calls outside business hours
• Sudden spikes in data export operations
• Session tokens shared across multiple IPs
• Deprecated authentication protocols

Behavioral indicators:

• Multiple failed logins followed by a successful login from a new device
• Simultaneous sessions for one user from geographically distant locations
• API-only users exhibiting interactive login behavior

4. Third-Party Integration Vulnerabilities

The risk: Every third-party integration expands the attack surface. The Salesloft Drift compromise demonstrated how attackers target integrations to access hundreds of organizations simultaneously. The Gainsight incident reinforced that even well-known ISVs can become pivot points into your Salesforce data.

Common issues:

• AppExchange apps installed without security vetting
• Shadow IT (employees installing personal productivity tools)
• Integration vendor credentials compromised
• No visibility into app data access
• Missing SaaS supply chain security assessments

Token risks:

• Service accounts with admin-level access
• API keys shared across multiple applications
• Tokens without expiration dates
• Credentials embedded in code repositories
• Former employee accounts are active in integrations

Behavioral indicators:

• Vendors suddenly requesting larger data volumes or new object types
• Integrations calling Salesforce APIs at unusual hours or from new IP addresses
• An ISV tenant (such as a marketing or analytics tool) is creating connected apps that you did not approve

5. Tenant Security Configuration Weaknesses

Misconfigured Salesforce org-wide settings are one of the most common root causes of data exposure and compliance failures. Regularly auditing core security controls is essential.

Critical settings to audit:

SSO and MFA enforcement

• Require MFA for all users with no exceptions
• Implement high-assurance MFA methods (security keys preferred)
• Disable legacy authentication fallback

Logging and monitoring

• Enable EventLogFile for comprehensive audit trails
• Configure Transaction Security policies for real-time detection
• Activate Shield Event Monitoring for enhanced visibility

Data retention

• Set a minimum 180-day log retention for forensic analysis
• Archive event logs to secure long-term storage

Sharing and access controls

• Audit organization-wide defaults (avoid Public Read/Write)
• Review sharing rules for over-permissive grants
• Restrict guest user permissions on Experience Cloud sites
• Monitor manual shares for inappropriate access

Region and data residency

• Verify instance location meets compliance requirements
• Review cross-border data transfer settings for GDPR

6. Data Classification and Loss Prevention Gaps

Effective Salesforce data protection starts with knowing what is sensitive, where it lives, and how it moves across your SaaS ecosystem.

Common gaps:

Missing classification

• No tagging for PII, PHI, PCI, or confidential data
• Inability to identify which fields contain sensitive information
• No automated classification for new data

Inadequate encryption

• Sensitive data in plain text vs. Shield Platform Encryption
• SSNs, payment data, or health information are unencrypted
• No field-level encryption for high-risk data types

Uncontrolled export

• Bulk API access without restrictions
• Data export tools accessible to unauthorized users
• No monitoring of large-scale downloads
• Reports with sensitive data shared broadly

Attachment risks

• Sensitive documents attached without encryption
• No access controls on case attachments or opportunity files
• Email attachments containing unprotected confidential data

Behavioral indicators:

• Unusual report exports that combine many sensitive fields
• Bulk API jobs pulling data from high-risk objects without a clear business reason
• Attachments are being downloaded in bulk by identities that rarely access files

7. Sandbox Environment Security Weaknesses

The risk: Sandboxes often contain copies of production data but use weaker security controls. Attackers target sandboxes to map production environments or establish persistent access.

Common vulnerabilities:

Production data exposure

• Full or partial production data without masking
• Customer PII and financial records in development environments
• No data anonymization during refresh

Weak authentication

• MFA is not enforced in sandboxes
• Relaxed password policies
• Default credentials unchanged after refresh

Access control issues

• Developers granted unnecessary admin access
• Vendors retaining sandbox access after contract ends
• No separation between production and sandbox permissions

Inadequate monitoring

• Event monitoring disabled
• No audit logging for sandbox activity
• Security blind spots enabling reconnaissance

Refresh procedure gaps

• API keys and OAuth tokens are not rotated after refresh
• Connected Apps are not updated when refreshing from production
• Hardcoded credentials copied from production

Behavioral indicators:

• Sandbox environments performing bulk queries against sensitive objects without recent development activity
• New integrations pointing at sandboxes that were never formally approved

8. CI/CD Pipeline and Change Management Risks

As Salesforce teams adopt DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines can become high-value targets if not properly secured.

The risk: Automated deployment pipelines can inject malicious code, bypass security reviews, or deploy vulnerable configurations to production.

DevOps security gaps:

Exposed credentials

• Salesforce usernames/passwords in CI/CD tools
• Security tokens in plain text
• Connected App secrets in automation platforms
• API keys in configuration files

Insufficient code review

• Apex code deployed without security testing
• Lightning components are missing peer review
• Flow automations were not validated before release
• No static code analysis in the deployment pipeline

Malicious package risks

• Unvetted packages from AppExchange
• No security assessment before deployment
• Missing validation of package permissions

Deployment account vulnerabilities

• CI/CD service accounts with "Modify All Data"
• Automation credentials shared across teams
• No just-in-time access for deployment accounts

Version control exposure

• Salesforce metadata in public GitHub repositories
• Custom code visible to unauthorized users
• Configuration details exposed through version control

9. Identity Architecture Weaknesses

Salesforce identity architecture often spans SSO, Just-in-Time provisioning, legacy auth paths, and named credentials, creating subtle but serious Salesforce security risks when misconfigured.

Advanced authentication risks:

Single Sign-On misconfigurations

• SAML assertion vulnerabilities allowing token forgery
• Weak certificate validation in SSO flows
• Overly broad identity provider access
• Missing SAML response encryption

Identity provider compromise

• Single point of failure: compromised IdP grants access to all systems
• Active Directory, Okta, or Azure AD breaches cascading to Salesforce
• No secondary verification for high-risk actions

Just-in-Time provisioning flaws

• Automated user creation without validation
• JIT settings enabling unauthorized account creation
• Attribute mapping errors grant excessive permissions

Legacy authentication paths

• Password-based fallback alongside SSO
• Basic authentication is still enabled for APIs
• No enforcement of modern authentication protocols

My Domain is not configured

• Missing a custom domain enables phishing attacks
• Users cannot verify legitimate Salesforce URLs
• Generic salesforce.com URLs are easily spoofed

Named Credentials exposure

• External system credentials are stored insecurely
• Privileged users can access hardcoded credentials
• No credential rotation policy

10. Salesforce Shield Underutilization

The risk: Organizations purchase Shield but fail to configure advanced features, leaving critical gaps despite significant investment.

Implementation gaps:

Platform Encryption is not enabled

• Sensitive fields stored unencrypted despite licenses
• Data is vulnerable if backups are compromised
• Compliance requirements unmet

Event Monitoring is not configured

• Real-time event streaming is disabled
• Transaction Security policies are not implemented
• Missing threat detection opportunities

Field Audit Trail not extended

• The default 90-day field history is insufficient
• Shield's 10-year audit capability is unused
• Unable to meet regulatory retention requirements

Event Log File retention is insufficient

• Default 30-day retention too short for forensic analysis
• Should configure a minimum 180-day retention
• Long-term archival is not implemented

Behavioral indicators:

• Shield events that highlight repeated access to high-value fields by unexpected users
• Transaction Security policies are triggering but not integrated into a broader response process

11. API Security and Rate Limiting Gaps

API security weaknesses:

Missing rate limiting

• No custom rate limits configured
• Bulk data exfiltration attempts are unchecked
• Default limits are insufficient for security

Insecure API key management

• API keys exposed in client-side code
• Session IDs in mobile applications
• Access tokens in public repositories

Deprecated API versions

• Using outdated versions with known vulnerabilities
• No API version management policy
• Legacy endpoints are still accessible

CORS misconfigurations

• Overly permissive Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
• Unauthorized web applications making API calls
• No allowlisting of legitimate origins

Bulk API abuse

• Insufficient monitoring of Bulk API 2.0 jobs
• Ability to extract millions of records quickly
• No alerts for large-scale data queries

12. Compliance and Regulatory Violations

Many Salesforce misconfigurations map directly to compliance failures. Regulators care less about which control failed and more about whether you can prove ongoing monitoring and response.

Compliance gaps by framework:

GDPR violations

• Missing "Right to be Forgotten" implementation
• No data portability mechanisms
• Inadequate consent management for EU citizens
• Cross-border data transfers are not documented

HIPAA non-compliance

• Business Associate Agreement not properly implemented
• Shield encryption is not configured for PHI
• Audit logs are insufficient for HIPAA requirements
• Access controls are inadequate for healthcare data

PCI-DSS failures

• Payment card data is stored without encryption
• No tokenization of credit card numbers
• Insufficient network segmentation
• Cardholder data in fields without proper security

Data sovereignty issues

• The instance location violates local laws
• Data residency requirements not met
• Cross-border data flows are undocumented

SOC 2 evidence gaps

• Missing continuous monitoring capabilities
• Access reviews are not performed regularly
• Security control effectiveness is not measured
• Incident response procedures are not documented

13. Role Hierarchy and Sharing Model Complexity

Sharing model risks:

Over-complex hierarchies

• 500+ roles making access analysis impossible
• Hidden "grant access" pathways through hierarchy
• Unintended data visibility to executive roles
• No documentation of intended access patterns

Organization-Wide Defaults misconfigurations

• Objects set to Public Read/Write by default
• All users accessing records they shouldn't see
• External users viewing internal data

Manual sharing proliferation

• Thousands of ad-hoc sharing rules
• Users are manually sharing records broadly
• No audit trail of manual sharing decisions
• Accumulation of inappropriate access over time

Sharing rule complexity

• Overlapping criteria-based and owner-based rules
• Conflicting rules granting unintended access
• Rules that layer multiple access grants
• Unable to determine effective permissions

Territory management

• Territory-based sharing bypassing role hierarchy
• Parallel access paths create confusion
• Territorial inheritance is not well understood

14. AppExchange Package Security Risks

Package security concerns:

Unvetted managed packages

• Installation without security review
• No understanding of the requested permissions
• Vendor security posture unknown

Excessive package permissions

• Packages requesting "Modify All Data" unnecessarily
• Access to all objects when only specific access is needed
• Overly broad API permissions

Vulnerable package code

• Third-party Apex code with SOQL injection vulnerabilities
• Cross-site scripting (XSS) flaws in Lightning components
• Security controls bypassed by package functionality

Package sprawl

• Hundreds of installed packages creating unmanageable attack surface
• Performance degradation from unused packages
• Licensing costs for unused packages

No dependency tracking

• Missing visibility into package interdependencies
• Risks during package updates or removal
• Breaking changes impacting business processes

15. Privileged User Access and Separation of Duties

Privileged access issues:

Too many System Administrators

• Dozens of users with a System Admin profile
• Most need only delegated admin or custom admin permissions
• No justification for broad admin access

No separation of duties

• Single individuals creating users, assigning permissions, modifying security controls, and accessing all data
• No checks and balances on administrative actions
• Insider threat risk amplified

Shared admin accounts

• Generic "admin" or "integration" accounts used by multiple people
• No individual accountability for changes
• Unable to trace actions to specific users

Missing privileged access management

• No just-in-time admin elevation
• Permanent admin rights instead of temporary grants
• No session recording for privileged activities

Former employee access

• Departed employees' admin accounts are not immediately deactivated
• Offboarding delays creating security windows
• No automated account lifecycle management

Real-World Attack Patterns: 2025 Lessons

The 2025 Salesforce ecosystem attacks followed a consistent pattern that cut across different threat actors and vendors. Each campaign refined the previous one, showing how attackers move from social engineering to vendor token theft to full supply-chain compromise. Mapping these patterns to your own Salesforce security posture is critical to closing the gaps before they are exploited.

Social Engineering Campaign (Early 2025 - September 2025)

Attack method: Threat actors impersonated Salesforce support and trusted partners, convincing employees to install malicious OAuth applications disguised as legitimate Data Loader tools.

How it worked:

1. Attackers researched target organizations and employees
2. Posed as Salesforce support via phone or email
3. Created urgency (security update, compliance requirement, performance issue)
4. Directed users to install a malicious Connected App
5. Gained persistent access via OAuth tokens
6. Systematically queried and exfiltrated data over days or weeks

Key lessons:

• User training alone is insufficient against sophisticated social engineering
• Need technical controls preventing unauthorized Connected App installation
• OAuth tokens require continuous monitoring for abuse patterns
• Multi-layered approval workflows are essential for sensitive integrations

Salesloft Drift Integration Compromise (August 2025)

How it worked:

1. Attackers compromised Drift's OAuth credentials
2. Gained the ability to authenticate as Drift application across all customer instances
3. Developed automated Python tools for mass data extraction
4. Systematically queried each customer's Salesforce environment
5. Exfiltrated high-value data: customer records, support tickets, financial information
6. Operated undetected until Salesforce identified the compromise

Key lessons:

• Third-party integrations create systemic risk across the customer base
• A single compromised vendor affects hundreds of organizations simultaneously
• Need continuous monitoring of third-party application behavior
• OAuth scope minimization limits the blast radius of compromise
• Vendor security assessments must be ongoing, not point-in-time

Gainsight Tenant Compromise (November 2025)

Attack method: Adversaries gained a foothold in Gainsight’s Salesforce tenant and created rogue connected apps that abused existing high-scope tokens to reach downstream customers.

How it worked:

1. Attackers obtained access to Gainsight’s Salesforce environment
2. Created new connected apps with legitimate-sounding names but abnormal scopes
3. Issued large-volume API queries toward customer orgs from common cloud IP ranges
4. Hid behind user agents that blended with normal analytics and crawler traffic
5. Relied on customers’ trust in Gainsight traffic to avoid scrutiny

Key lessons:

• Even after Salesforce improved default settings, attackers moved “upstream” to ISVs
• Whitelisting vendor traffic without behavioral monitoring is no longer safe
• Ecosystem-wide data-layer monitoring is required to see an ISV behaving out of profile across multiple customers

Mass Extortion Campaign (September-October 2025)

Attack method: Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters collective launched a data leak site threatening public release of stolen data from 39+ organizations.

Salesforce response: Refused to negotiate, stated incidents related to "past or unsubstantiated events."

Law enforcement action: FBI seized BreachForums domain October 9-10, 2025.

Key lessons:

• Attribution debate: Were these new attacks or data from previous compromises?
• Organizations must independently verify their Salesforce security posture
• The shared responsibility model creates legal ambiguity in breach scenarios
• Extortion campaigns increasingly target multiple organizations simultaneously
• Need for independent security monitoring beyond vendor assurances

Configuration-Based Data Exposure (2023-Ongoing)

Root cause: Organizations failing to properly restrict organization-wide sharing defaults, external user permissions, and Experience Cloud guest access

Ongoing risk: Configuration drift and security setting changes remain a continuous concern requiring automated monitoring

Key lessons:

• Default configurations prioritize functionality over security
• Manual configuration reviews are insufficient given the complexity
• Need for continuous automated configuration monitoring
• Security posture degrades over time without active management
• Guest user access requires special attention and regular audit

How Vorlon Secures Your Salesforce Environment

Vorlon is designed for the world revealed by the 2025 attacks: one where Salesforce is only as secure as the hundreds of SaaS and AI tools connected to it. Instead of focusing solely on static misconfigurations, Vorlon combines continuous discovery, configuration monitoring, and behavioral analytics with data-layer context to detect and contain attacks across your entire SaaS and AI ecosystem.

Complete Discovery and Mapping

What we discover:

• All Salesforce instances across your organization, including shadow IT
• All Connected Apps and OAuth integrations (authorized and unauthorized)
• Third-party applications with Salesforce access
• Downstream data flows to other SaaS platforms, data warehouses, and AI tools
• Employee-installed integrations bypassing IT approval

Why it matters: You cannot secure what you cannot see. Most organizations underestimate their Salesforce attack surface by 3-5x.

Identity and Secrets Management

What we monitor: All Salesforce authentication mechanisms, including user credentials, OAuth tokens, service accounts, API keys, Connected App secrets, and session tokens.

Coverage:

• Over-permissioned profiles with View All Data or Modify All Data
• Stale credentials unused in 90+ days
• Orphaned service accounts from former employees or deprecated integrations
• Long-lived API tokens without expiration dates
• Unusual token generation patterns indicating Connected App abuse
• Service accounts shared across multiple applications

Automated actions:

• Flag risky permissions for immediate review
• Recommend credential rotation schedules
• Identify candidates for least-privilege remediation
• Alert on suspicious token creation patterns

Security Posture and Configuration Management

Configuration monitoring:

• MFA enforcement policies (with exception tracking)
• Session timeout policies and trusted IP ranges
• Login IP restrictions and geofencing rules
• Password complexity requirements
• Authentication method configurations

Misconfiguration detection:

• Weak session handling allows prolonged access
• Overly permissive trusted IP ranges
• Risky sharing settings and organization-wide defaults
• Public group memberships granting broad access
• Permission sets and profiles with excessive privileges

Continuous management:

• Track configuration drift over time
• Alert on security setting changes
• Recommend hardening based on your risk profile
• Provide a prioritized remediation roadmap

Behavioral Analytics and Threat Detection

Anomaly detection:

• Bulk data export attempts exceeding normal patterns
• Unusual query patterns accessing sensitive objects
• Access from suspicious or unexpected IP addresses
• Credential-sharing behaviors across multiple locations
• Off-hours administrative activity without justification

Social engineering indicators:

• Unusual Connected App installations
• Rapid permission escalations
• Multiple failed authentication attempts
• Session token generation spikes

Advanced correlation:

• Establish behavioral baselines for each user and service account
• Identify deviations from normal patterns
• Correlate Salesforce events with activities in other SaaS applications
• Detect lateral movement and multi-stage exfiltration patterns

Real-Time Detection and Automated Response

Alert triggers:

• Malicious Connected App creation or modification
• OAuth token abuse patterns
• MFA bypass attempts
• Bulk data downloads exceeding thresholds
• Privilege escalation activities
• Suspicious authentication patterns

Automated remediation:

• Token revocation and invalidation
• Account suspension for compromised users
• Connected App removal or permission reduction
• IP blocking for malicious sources
• Integration quarantine pending investigation

Integration capabilities:

• Connect with existing SIEM platforms (Splunk, QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel)
• Orchestrate with SOAR tools (Palo Alto XSOAR, Demisto, Swimlane)
• Provide enriched threat context for security analysts
• Recommend specific response actions based on threat type

Compliance and Audit Readiness

Frameworks supported:

• SOC 2 Type II
• ISO 27001
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• GDPR
• HIPAA
• PCI-DSS

Evidence collection:

• Data flow maps showing where Salesforce data travels across the SaaS ecosystem
• Policy adherence tracking over time
• Automated compliance scorecards with trend analysis
• Security control effectiveness measurements
• Incident response documentation

Audit capabilities:

• Generate audit-ready reports for compliance assessors
• Document all configuration changes with timestamps and actors
• Track access reviews and recertification
• Maintain comprehensive security incident records
• Demonstrate continuous monitoring capabilities

Why Ecosystem Security Matters for Salesforce

Salesforce Doesn't Operate in Isolation

Your Salesforce environment serves as the central nervous system for customer relationships, sales operations, marketing automation, and business intelligence. This interconnectedness creates tremendous business value – and significant security challenges traditional tools miss.

The hidden attack surface:

• Average organization: 15-30 applications directly connected to Salesforce
• Marketing automation: Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot
• Data warehouses: Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks
• Analytics tools: Tableau, Looker, Power BI
• Communication platforms: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom
• AI applications: ChatGPT Enterprise, Anthropic Claude, Custom AI tools

Each connection represents a potential attack vector through AppExchange add-ons, custom integrations, or OAuth tokens with excessive permissions.

The 2025 Incidents Prove Ecosystem Risk

The widespread attacks demonstrated that threat actors systematically exploit the Salesforce ecosystem rather than the platform itself.

Attack patterns revealed:

• Compromising a single trusted integration provides access to hundreds of customer environments
• Attackers map data flows, identify high-value targets, then exfiltrate systematically
• Third-party compromise creates SaaS supply chain attacks at scale
• Shadow IT amplifies risk: employees install productivity tools without IT oversight, requesting broad OAuth scopes

Traditional Security Tools Miss SaaS-to-SaaS Threats

Why conventional security fails:

Network firewalls and endpoint protection

• Cannot see API-based data flows between cloud applications
• No visibility into OAuth token usage or API calls
• Miss SaaS-to-SaaS data exfiltration entirely

SIEM

• Lacks visibility into Salesforce event logs unless specifically configured
• Struggle to correlate Salesforce activity with other SaaS application behaviors
• Generate alerts only for events they can see

CASB

• Focus on sanctioned application usage and shadow IT discovery
• Misses nuanced security posture issues within applications
• Cannot detect behavioral anomalies indicating compromise
• Lack identity-centric view across the SaaS ecosystem

What Vorlon Provides: Holistic SaaS Security

Vorlon treats Salesforce as a critical node in your broader SaaS and AI ecosystem – not an isolated application.

Complete visibility

• Discover every application, integration, token, and identity with Salesforce access
• Map shadow IT that security teams don't know exists
• Visualize data flows across your entire SaaS landscape

Cross-application correlation

• Detect attack patterns spanning multiple platforms
• Identify credential harvesting in Salesforce, followed by privilege escalation elsewhere
• Recognize multi-stage attacks across your SaaS ecosystem

Identity-centric security

• Track both human users and non-human identities (API keys, service accounts, OAuth tokens)
• Monitor identity usage across the entire SaaS stack, not just within Salesforce
• Detect anomalous identity behavior indicating compromise

Behavioral analytics at scale

• Establish normal patterns for data flows through Salesforce and connected applications
• Alert on deviations indicating compromise or insider threats
• Apply machine learning to identify subtle attack indicators

Automated response

• Revoke tokens automatically when threats are detected
• Disable integrations before data exfiltration occurs
• Quarantine suspicious activity in real-time
• Orchestrate response across multiple applications simultaneously

Take Action: Secure Your Salesforce Environment Today

What You Get With Vorlon

• Complete discovery of all Salesforce connections and integrations–including shadow IT
• Identity visibility for over-permissioned OAuth tokens, service accounts, and user permissions
• Real-time detection of social engineering attempts, credential theft, and OAuth token abuse
• Automated response that stops threats before data exfiltration occurs
• Continuous compliance with automated evidence collection for SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, PCI-DSS
• Expert support from SaaS security specialists who understand your challenges

Next Steps

Don't wait for a breach. The 2025 attacks demonstrated that sophisticated threat actors are already targeting organizations like yours.

Get started:

1. Request a security assessment: We'll analyze your Salesforce environment and identify your top security risks – no cost, no obligation.
2. Schedule a demo: See how Vorlon provides comprehensive visibility and automated protection for your Salesforce ecosystem.
3. Talk to our team: Discuss your specific security challenges with SaaS security experts who understand Salesforce, integrations, and modern attack patterns.

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Contact us: https://vorlon.io/contact-us

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