Securing the Bridge: A Leader's Guide to SAP BTP in Hybrid Architectures
Introduction: Why BTP Security is Critical in a Hybrid World
The SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) has become the central nervous system for innovation and agility in the modern SAP landscape. Acting as the primary platform-as-a-service (PaaS), SAP BTP is the engine that powers custom application development, data analytics, and critical integrations. It effectively serves as the indispensable bridge between new cloud-native applications and the on-premise ERP core. As organizations accelerate their digital transformation initiatives like RISE with SAP, BTP is the key to unlocking the full potential of their SAP investment by enabling them to extend and customize their core processes without disrupting the underlying system.
However, this critical role also makes BTP a high-value target for attackers. The core security challenge for today’s leaders is that it creates new, often misunderstood, attack surfaces that compound the existing security challenges in hybrid SAP environments. An insecure application or a misconfigured connection requires a proactive approach to sap BTP security. A comprehensive strategy is therefore not just a technical requirement, but a business imperative and a core component of your overall SAP cloud security program.
Understanding the BTP Attack Surface
An effective sap BTP security strategy begins with understanding its unique attack surface. Because BTP is designed to be deeply integrated with your core systems, vulnerabilities in the platform can have far-reaching consequences. Leaders must focus on three primary areas of risk.
Custom Application Vulnerabilities (DevSecOps)
One of the primary uses of BTP is to build custom extensions and applications using frameworks like SAP Fiori and the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP). As with any custom development, the code written by internal or third-party developers can contain vulnerabilities. Common issues include injection flaws that allow attackers to run malicious database queries, broken authentication that allows them to bypass login controls, and insecure direct object references that can lead to data leakage. If a custom application that processes sensitive data has a vulnerability, it could lead to a breach of the data within that application and potentially expose the backend systems it connects to. This makes SAP DevSecOps a critical discipline.
Insecure API and Destination Configurations
Perhaps the greatest risk in a hybrid BTP architecture lies in the connections back to your on-premise landscape. BTP uses destinations and APIs, managed via services like the SAP Cloud Connector, to communicate with backend systems like S/4HANA. A misconfigured destination—for example, one that uses a highly privileged technical user with an easily guessable password or one that allows broader network access than necessary—can be a goldmine for an attacker. If a threat actor compromises a BTP application, they can abuse these insecure connections to pivot directly into the on-premise environment, bypassing firewalls and other traditional perimeter defenses.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) Challenges
Managing user identities and permissions for BTP applications adds another layer of complexity to your overall SAP cybersecurity posture. The key challenge is ensuring that the access granted to a user within a BTP application does not inadvertently grant them excessive, unauthorized access to the backend systems. These issues highlight the need for specific SAP cloud IAM best practices. For example, a user might have limited permissions in a custom app, but if the technical user that the app uses to connect to the on-premise ERP has overly broad authorizations (like the infamous SAP_ALL profile), the BTP user can effectively inherit those powerful permissions, creating a significant compliance and security risk.
The BTP ‘Bridge’ Attack: A Real-World Scenario
To understand how these risks manifest, consider this common attack path that leverages BTP as a pivot point from the cloud to the on-premise core, made possible by a weak sap BTP security posture.
Stage 1: Compromise of a Custom Application
The attack begins with the discovery of a common vulnerability, such as a SQL injection flaw, in a custom-coded BTP application that was rushed to production without adequate security testing. The attacker exploits this flaw to gain initial access to the application and its underlying data.
Stage 2: Discovery of an Insecure Destination
Once inside the application, the attacker explores its configurations and discovers a pre-configured destination pointing to the on-premise S/4HANA system. The destination uses a technical user with a weak, hardcoded password. The attacker now has valid credentials to the on-premise ERP.
Stage 3: The Pivot and Data Exfiltration
Using the compromised credentials, the attacker leverages the SAP Cloud Connector to establish a connection from the BTP environment to the on-premise S/4HANA system. Because the technical user was overly-privileged, the attacker can now access and exfiltrate sensitive financial data, using the BTP connection as a stealthy, encrypted tunnel that blends in with legitimate traffic.
Best Practices for Securing SAP BTP
A strong sap BTP security strategy is built on a foundation of proactive, continuous security controls. The following best practices are essential for any organization looking to innovate securely.
1. Integrate Security into BTP Development (DevSecOps)
Security cannot be an afterthought; it must be integrated into the entire development lifecycle. This means implementing automated security testing for your BTP applications. By embedding security scans directly into developer IDEs and CI/CD pipelines, you can identify and remediate vulnerabilities in custom code before they ever reach production. This “shift-left” approach is the most effective way to reduce the risk of application-level vulnerabilities.
2. Enforce Least Privilege for Destinations and APIs
All connections between BTP and your backend systems must be configured according to the principle of least privilege. This means that every technical user account associated with a destination or API should have only the absolute minimum permissions required for the application to function. Avoid reusing powerful users across multiple destinations, and ensure all credentials used for these connections are strong, stored securely in a credential store, and rotated regularly.
3. Centralize and Govern BTP Identities
To manage user access effectively, you must centralize BTP identity and governance. Best practice is to connect your subaccounts to a central Identity Provider (IdP) like Microsoft Entra ID. This allows you to enforce consistent, enterprise-wide authentication policies, such as Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), for all your applications. It also provides a single point of control for managing the user lifecycle.
4. Continuously Monitor for Misconfigurations and Threats
BTP environments are dynamic, with new applications and configurations being deployed frequently. Therefore, security cannot be a one-time check. It is critical to continuously monitor your subaccounts, destinations, user roles, and security configurations for any changes that could introduce risk. This includes monitoring for the assignment of overly-privileged roles, the creation of new, potentially insecure destinations, and unusual user activity that could indicate a compromise.
How Onapsis Delivers Comprehensive SAP BTP Security
While SAP provides the platform and cloud providers secure the infrastructure, the ultimate responsibility for securing the custom applications, configurations, and connections lies with the customer. The Onapsis Platform is purpose-built to provide the deep, application-layer visibility and control needed to deliver comprehensive BTP security.
Assess: Gaining Visibility into Your BTP Security Posture
Onapsis Assess for SAP BTP automates the process of evaluating your BTP and Cloud Connector security posture. It continuously scans your subaccounts to identify insecure configurations, overly-privileged users, and other risks against industry best practices and recommendations from the Onapsis Research Labs, giving you a clear, prioritized path to remediation.
Control: Securing BTP Application Development
Onapsis Control for SAP BTP embeds security directly into your development lifecycle. It integrates with SAP-recommended IDEs to automatically scan custom code for security, compliance, and quality issues as it’s being written. This allows your developers to find and fix vulnerabilities early in the process, preventing insecure code from ever reaching your production environment.
Defend: Monitoring BTP for Real-Time Threats
Onapsis Defend for SAP BTP provides the continuous monitoring capabilities essential for a dynamic platform. It delivers real-time, context-rich alerts for suspicious activity, such as critical configuration changes, unauthorized additions of trusted domains, or the assignment of over-privileged roles. This provides an early warning system for potential threats.
Conclusion: A Proactive Approach to BTP Security
Securing the SAP Business Technology Platform is essential for protecting your entire hybrid enterprise. As the critical bridge between cloud innovation and your on-premise systems of record, BTP cannot be a security blind spot. A proactive and integrated approach that combines secure development practices, least-privilege access controls, and continuous monitoring is the key to enabling rapid innovation without introducing unacceptable risk. This ensures that your platform can serve as a secure foundation for your ongoing S/4HANA transformation.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is SAP responsible for securing my custom BTP applications?
No. Under the shared responsibility model for a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), SAP is responsible for securing the platform itself, but you, the customer, are responsible for securing everything you build and configure on the platform. This includes your custom application code, user access, and the security of your configurations.
What is the most common BTP misconfiguration that leads to risk?
One of the most common and dangerous misconfigurations is an insecure destination pointing to an on-premise system. Often, developers will use a highly privileged technical user with a simple password for ease of development. If this configuration is not corrected before going live, it creates a powerful and easily exploitable pathway from the internet directly to your core ERP system.
How does BTP security differ from securing traditional SAP systems?
A good sap BTP security strategy introduces new areas of focus. While traditional SAP security is often centered on managing ABAP code and user authorizations within the ERP, BTP adds a heavy emphasis on securing custom cloud-native applications, managing web-based APIs, and locking down the technical integrations unique to a hybrid cloud architecture. This differs from the focus on the underlying virtual machines when Securing SAP in Microsoft Azure and AWS.
How do I secure the connection between BTP and my on-premise S/4HANA system?
Securing this BTP hybrid integration requires a multi-layered approach. You must use the SAP Cloud Connector with a strict allowlist of exposed services, enforce strong authentication and encryption, and ensure the technical user account in the BTP destination has the absolute minimum permissions required within your S/4HANA system.
Who is responsible for the security of code developed by third-party contractors on BTP?
Ultimately, your organization is responsible for the security of all code that runs in your BTP environment, regardless of who wrote it. It is critical to include security requirements in your contracts and to have an independent, automated process for scanning all code for vulnerabilities before it is deployed.
How can we extend our existing enterprise IAM policies to BTP applications?
The best practice is to configure your SAP BTP subaccounts to use your corporate Identity Provider (IdP), such as Microsoft Entra ID. This allows you to manage users as part of your central identity and access governance program, enforcing the same strong authentication policies (like SSO and MFA) that you use for all your other enterprise applications.