Security is a cornerstone of any enterprise integration landscape, and SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI) provides a comprehensive framework to safeguard data and communication across systems. One of the essential components of this security framework is Security Policies. Understanding and correctly implementing security policies ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and compliance with organizational and regulatory standards.
This article explains what security policies are in the context of SAP CPI, their types, how they work, and best practices for implementing them.
Security Policies in SAP CPI are predefined or custom configurations that enforce security measures on integration flows or communication channels. They define how messages are secured during transmission, who can access integration artifacts, and what authentication and encryption mechanisms are used.
By applying security policies, organizations protect sensitive data, control access, and establish trust between communicating parties.
SAP CPI supports various security policies tailored to different scenarios:
Security policies are typically attached to adapters or communication channels within an integration flow. When a message is sent or received, the assigned security policy determines:
For example, when sending data to an external partner, a policy may require the message to be encrypted and signed, ensuring only the intended recipient can read it and verify its source.
SAP CPI offers out-of-the-box security policies available in the Web UI, such as Basic Authentication with SSL, OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token, or client certificate authentication combined with message encryption.
When configuring sender or receiver adapters (e.g., HTTP, SOAP, IDoc), you can select the relevant security policy from a dropdown list.
Upload certificates or provide credentials in the adapter’s configuration or security artifacts.
Validate that the integration flow processes messages securely, ensuring authentication and encryption behave as expected.
An integration scenario involves sending purchase orders from SAP CPI to a trading partner via SOAP. The communication channel uses a security policy with client certificate authentication and message encryption. The sender signs the message digitally, encrypts it, and authenticates to the partner using the certificate. The partner decrypts the message, verifies the signature, and processes the order securely.
Security Policies in SAP Cloud Platform Integration form the backbone of secure, trustworthy communication between systems. Understanding the different types of policies and their configuration enables integration architects to build secure integration scenarios that protect sensitive data and comply with organizational and regulatory requirements.
By implementing robust security policies, organizations can confidently leverage SAP CPI to connect diverse systems while maintaining data confidentiality, integrity, and access control.