INITIATE PILOT AND RESEARCH PROJECTS
SAP S/4HANA
SAP HANA has been one of the major topics in the SAP environment for the last few years. Many customers are currently faced with the question of whether or not to migrate your SAP system. In addition to the actual changeover itself, there are many other topics on which you should have already informed yourself in advance, as these influence the success of SAP HANA in your company. What do you already know about SAP HANA? I would like to encourage you to think about security in the following article. If you would like to learn about the architecture of HANA, I recommend a contribution from our colleagues at erlebe Software. SAP HANA Scenario But why are we even talking about HANA Security? Why is it so important to consider new security strategies with the new technology? With HANA it is possible to analyse data quickly. BW scenarios primarily benefit from the in-memory database (IMDB) used, as speed advantages in data access are particularly positive. Compared to a classic ERP / R3 scenario, the normal DB is replaced by HANA. The desired speed advantages result. However, migration is expected to be required for the changeover. This is caused by customer-specific developments in the system. HANA is not a further development of SAP ERP, HANA is the next stage of an ERP system. It is well known that an ERP system contains the capital of the companies. Therefore a new HANA system like all other ERP systems is also interesting for attackers. On the one hand, such a system contains the critical business data that are available for espionage. In addition, most business processes are mapped in such a system and offer an attack surface for sabotage. In addition, users do not initially know the new technology well. This also applies to administrators in the area of a new technology. Attackers quickly gain a dangerous leap of knowledge over these user groups. SAP HANA has a lot of new features, although many existing ones are used by SAP ERP, so there is a risk here.
SAP administrators are present wherever SAP systems are used. This now applies to many industries and corporate divisions. SAP systems can be found in the areas of accounting, cost accounting, activity-based costing and controlling. In all of these areas, they ensure smooth operation and further development, helping the company to make internal processes more efficient and thus save costs and resources.
COMPLY WITH ORDER OF OPTIMISATION
SAP Hosting should not be thought of as an off-the-peg suit, but as a made-to-measure suit. For mid-sized companies in particular, it is crucial to first identify corporate goals, technical conditions of the IT architecture and individual requirements. During this planning phase, added value and potential savings can also be identified.
For example, many customer ABAP programs work by uploading or downloading data. There are potentially large security gaps here that allow access to server data. In addition, the widespread direct invocation of operating system commands that are not covered by a self-programmed authorization check is a major problem. Even though classic SQL injection, i.e., the entry of extended SQL commands, is a potential security vulnerability, it occurs rather rarely in SAP systems. More widespread is the unintentional dynamization of SQL calls because input parameters are not sufficiently checked. The need to check all in-house developments internally for such security vulnerabilities before they are delivered in SAP's own code has led to the development of the SAP Code Vulnerability Analyzer tool.
The "Shortcut for SAP Systems" tool is ideal for doing many tasks in the SAP basis more easily and quickly.
In addition to the actual changeover itself, there are many other topics on which you should have already informed yourself in advance, as these influence the success of SAP HANA in your company.
Starting with a meticulous documentation of our work.