SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud – Security and Compliance

Cloud services let organizations consume IT capabilities with greater flexibility and lower cost, shifting focus from running infrastructure to business differentiation. Because customers cede operational control to a Cloud Service Provider (CSP), they must assess risk and obtain assurance that the delivered service matches what was agreed—especially for opaque areas like security. Five critical risks frame this assessment: loss of compliance, cyber risk, legal risk (notably privacy and jurisdiction), availability of service and data (including technical failure or CSP takeover/financial collapse), and lock-in that makes migration difficult or expensive. Responsibility is shared: customers must identify compliance obligations for their data and understand the division of security responsibilities and what independent certifications actually cover.

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) is a fully managed private cloud designed for mission-critical SAP workloads, not a generic IaaS. It supports SAP Business Suite, SAP NetWeaver BW, and custom SAP HANA applications, and acts as a bridge for organizations moving from existing on-premises SAP deployments toward SAP S/4HANA. HEC runs in SAP and certified-partner data centers across the US, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Architecturally, each customer gets an isolated landscape integrated with corporate networks via WAN/VPN; HANA runs on dedicated physical servers, with additional components on VMs, and customers can connect landscapes via IPsec VPN, MPLS, or interconnect providers. Administration uses shared management networks, is isolated from SAP’s corporate network, and requires two-factor authentication; public internet access is optional and can be hardened with reverse proxy/WAF or a dedicated DMZ design.

Assurance includes worldwide SOC1/2 attestations (SSAE16/ISAE3402), PCI-DSS in US West and Europe, and ISO/IEC 27001 in Europe, plus data-region selection and a data protection policy aligned to European principles while honoring stricter local laws. Security controls include layered defenses, strong physical access controls, secure media destruction, IDS/IPS/WAF monitoring, breach notification, and patch/vulnerability management under ITIL. Availability targets are contractually defined (99.5% monthly) with service credits, while continuity depends on application design despite Tier III–IV data center classifications. Lock-in largely reflects existing SAP platform dependence rather than HEC itself.

• Cloud services are categorized as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and delivered via private or public cloud models.
• Five critical cloud customer risks are loss of compliance, cyber risks, legal risks, availability of service/data, and lock-in.
• SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is a fully managed private cloud designed for mission-critical SAP applications.
• HEC runs in data centers operated by SAP and its certified partners.
• HEC data centers are located in the US East and West coast, Europe, Japan, and Australia.
• Each HEC customer receives an isolated landscape integrated into the customer’s corporate network via WAN or VPN.
• Administrative access to HEC systems requires two-factor authentication.
• All SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud data center facilities worldwide received SSAE16/ISAE3402 SOC1/2 attestations.
• The US West Coast and European data centers have certified compliance with PCI-DSS.
• The standard HEC SLA specifies 99.5% availability measured monthly and offers service credits capped at 100% of monthly subscription fees.

• “One of the primary benefits of the cloud is that it enables companies of all sizes to focus on the differentiating factors of their business as opposed to managing the IT infrastructure required to run it.”
• “The customer therefore needs assurance that the service they receive corresponds with that which they agreed to and are paying for.”
• “Not all of these risks are under the direct control of the CSP; for example, it is up to the customer to identify the regulatory compliance needs for their data and to assure that these are met.”
• “It is important that customers understand their business needs for a cloud service, the division of responsibility for security between themselves and the service provider and the scope of independent certifications to ensure that these cover their actual needs.”
• “SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is a fully managed, private cloud that offers elasticity and flexibility with optional subscription based pricing.”
• “It provides a SAP compliant platform and is not a generic Infrastructure as a Service offering.”
• “The fundamental security architecture of the HEC infrastructure follows the principle of a private cloud.”
• “All customer networks are completely isolated from each other.”
• “Customers of SAP HANA Enterprise cloud can select the geographic region in which their data is stored and processed.”
• “Where an organization has a business critical need for continuity of a service they need to design the service to satisfy this need.”