The Second Layer of Salesforce Security Many Teams Miss

Automated tools give you visibility. Adversarial testing gives you clarity. In Salesforce environments, you need both.

The Problem with Checkbox Security in a Platform-Centric World

Salesforce has become more than just a CRM—it's the backbone of how many organizations operate. It holds customer data, governs workflows, drives revenue, and connects to dozens of internal and third-party systems.

But that complexity is exactly what makes it hard to secure. And too often, security teams rely solely on generic scans or scheduled audits that were never designed to handle the nuance of Salesforce's layered permissions, custom logic, and evolving integrations.

The result? A lot of surface-level findings—and a lot of assumptions about what those findings actually mean.

Automation Is Essential—But It's Only One Layer

There's no question that modern scanning tools play a vital role in Salesforce security. The right platforms can surface deeply nested permissions, cross-object access paths, and inheritance logic that would take weeks to map by hand.

They show you where access may be broader than expected. They highlight unusual configurations. They create a necessary first layer of awareness. Some newer tools, including the platform Raxis uses, are even beginning to decode Salesforce's unique permission structures—mapping out who can access what in ways that were nearly impossible just a few years ago.

But here's the thing: awareness is not the same as understanding.

Visibility tells you what exists. Adversarial testing tells you what's possible.

That's the distinction that matters when you're trying to protect a live environment.

What Real Salesforce Penetration Testing Looks Like

Where scanning leaves off, real-world testing begins. A skilled adversarial tester doesn't just read a report—they ask: Could someone use this? What could they do next? What happens if two seemingly minor issues are chained together?

That process includes:

• Reviewing custom Apex code for unsafe methods, logic flaws, and injection risks
• Mapping profile and permission interactions in context—not just listing them, but testing them
• Validating tokens and third-party integrations to see how they behave in a real attack chain
• Demonstrating proof-of-concept exploits to show which theoretical risks are actually exploitable—and how

It's not about volume. It's about impact.

From Potential Risk to Proven Reality

Policy analysis tools can identify where risks might exist. But in most environments, that's just the start of the conversation. Without validation, it's hard to prioritize—and harder to prove compliance.

That's where Raxis comes in.

We take the data surfaced by those tools and pressure-test it—building out scenarios, testing assumptions, and proving (or disproving) whether a risk has real-world consequences. That proof isn't just helpful for remediation; it's often essential for audit and compliance teams that need evidence, not just alerts.

Of course, Salesforce is just one example. Raxis performs red team and penetration testing across environments—from cloud-native applications to internal networks to OT and IoT systems. What makes our work stand out is the methodology: creative, adversarial, and relentlessly focused on how systems fail in the real world.

Securing the Future: Remediation and Monitoring

Once a risk is proven, the next step is solving it. Our deliverables go beyond "here's what's broken"—they offer practical remediation guidance that dev and ops teams can actually use.

And because Salesforce environments change constantly, we also support ongoing visibility using Salesforce-aware scanning tools that informed the initial test. That means you're not just reacting to issues after the fact—you're watching for policy drift in real time.

Security Isn't About Finding More. It's About Knowing What Matters.

Good scanning tools are necessary. But they don't tell the whole story—and they were never meant to.

When you pair automated visibility with human-led testing, you get more than just a list of potential problems. You get clarity. You get confidence. You get the kind of assurance that comes from knowing how your environment would hold up under pressure—not just hoping it will.

In a Salesforce environment, that's the difference between checking the box—and closing the gap.

About the Author: Mark Puckett is CEO of Raxis, Forethreat, and Decrypted Systems. Cybersecurity leader and entrepreneur. Hobbies are photography and sports cars.