Does AppCheck operate shared or dedicated instances? (Is AppCheck a single-tenanted or multi-tenanted platform?)

What is SaaS?

Software As A Service (SaaS) relates to an information technology or software solution that is provided as a service that can be accessed (typically via HTTP using your web browser), as opposed to software that is installed locally as a binary file on customer systems.

SaaS is a very common model of service deployment and management, increasingly supported by "cloud" computing. The solution is hosted by the solution provider (in this case AppCheck) regardless of how many customers the solution is licenced to.

What is Tenancy within SaaS?

"Tenancy" is the term used to describe how many clients access a given instance of a SaaS platform or solution.

How does single tenancy differ from multiple tenancy?

In multiple tenancy, multiple (typically all) clients access a single platform/solution instance. For example, if a website is hosted at www.example.com then it is likely that there is a single platform used in a multi-tenancy arrangement (i.e. accessed by all clients).

In single tenancy each customer is instead presented with their own instance of the platform or solution. For example, a customer may have their own instance accessible at https://customer1.example.com to which they have access but no other customers have access. It is therefore said that their instance is segregated from other customers.

What is the purpose of single tenancy?

Single tenancy is intended to offer advantages such as greater security via segregation of one customer's data from another, as well as allow each customer instance to be throttled or scaled within given constraints in order to prevent resource contention.

What are the downsides of single tenancy?

Although there are some advantages to single tenancy, it is not universally used. It is more complex to implement, often takes longer to deploy or spin up new instances for new clients, can have greater costs due to redundant duplication of services, and can be more complex and costly to maintain.

Does AppCheck operate a single-tenant or multiple-tenant platform?

AppCheck is currently architected based around the deployment of a single, shared platform instance (that is, a multi-tenanted platform).

Is multi-tenancy less secure than single tenancy?

Single-tenancy does provide some security advantages in certain narrow cases. For example, if a host was susceptible to database manipulation via SQL Injection then, in certain cases, the breach of one customer instance on a multiple tenancy platform could be used to more quickly access data relating to multiple customers.

For the majority of controls however, there is no difference between a single and multiple tenancy platform, and multiple tenancy platforms offer advantages in conformity and assurance of secure configuration without variance, and the simplicity and speed of patching and updating of the platform.

What controls does AppCheck have in place to secure and segregate customer data on the multi-tenanted platform?

Customer separation is performed logically at the database level, but on a shared platform. AppCheck conducts regular vulnerability scanning, patch management and penetration testing, among many other controls, in order to provide security assurance of its platform.

For more information, please contact your account manager or see our security and compliance information pages located at https://appcheck-ng.com/compliance/