Moving to the Cloud? How to Bring your SAP Anti-virus With You

As more and more SAP organizations prepare for their move to the cloud, they are laying out the roadmap for what a successful migration looks like. While organizations are inclined to think about the new capabilities that the cloud provides, one technological option has emerged as the main concern for these organizations – security.

SAPinsider’s recent Enterprise Cloud Deployment 2024 benchmark research report found that data protection and storage was the top requirement that companies had with their new cloud deployment, cited by 83% of SAP organizations. Additionally, 53% of survey respondents said they would leverage encrypted and secure connectivity technologies, again the top response.

Securing SAP in the Cloud

Organizations have a clear need to secure their cloud deployments, but often struggle to find the right solution. Many are under the impression that SAP S/4HANA deployments have enough security measures built in that they are safe as soon as their digital migrations are completed. This is not the case.

SAP systems are not protected by standard OS-level anti-virus solutions. Additionally, network communication is encrypted as files are uploaded to SAP then stored in a repository. Therefore, any threats contained within are shielded from detection by network-level anti-virus, such as NextGen firewalls.

Hence, in S/4HANA Security Guides and the “Administration Guide to Implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 with SAP Best Practices“ SAP recommends the implementation of content scanners compatible with SAP’s internal Virus Scan Interface – VSI.

For this, many organizations are turning to bowbridge because its anti-virus offering is specifically developed for SAP’ Virus Scan Interface. Its Anti-Virus for SAP Solutions scans in-memory, has access to SAP archives, and detects hidden and obfuscated attacks within files uploaded to SAP. This solution from bowbridge is SAP-certified to offer protection across SAP landscapes, be they on-premises, hybrid or in the Cloud.

Supporting Deployment Options

Organizations must rank security among their highest priority when considering deployment options. Businesses cannot sacrifice safety for convenience when deciding which cloud provider meet their needs.

bowbridge Anti-Virus for SAP Solutions supports many different deployment options, including centralized scalable scan servers on Kubernetes and hybrid SaaS scanning and management for private-cloud deployments. Companies can also easily migrate between options, simply by altering configurations.

By ensuring that all deployment types are secure, this gives companies the flexibility to consider cost, capabilities, and scalability when deciding on how best to deploy SAP S/4HANA in the cloud.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

While moving to the cloud comes with many exciting opportunities, it also presents unique security challenges as well. Yet in an increasingly competitive environment, businesses cannot afford to remain stagnant out of security concerns.

To alleviate these fears, bowbridge offers SAP-certified anti-virus capabilities. Because it is designed for SAP specifically, users can leverage this solution on multiple types of cloud deployments, offering them flexibility when embarking on their digital transformation journey.