TL;DR
Atlassian powers collaboration across engineering, IT, product, and business teams. From issue tracking in Jira to code collaboration in Bitbucket and documentation in Confluence, it supports the workflows that run modern organizations.
Is Atlassian secure? The platform offers strong built-in protections, but real security depends on how your environment is configured and governed. This guide covers Atlassian security best practices from a SaaS perspective, with a focus on access, integrations, and compliance.
What Is Atlassian Security?
Atlassian security refers to the controls and configurations used to protect Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, and related Atlassian apps against unauthorized access, data exposure, and misconfigurations.
Atlassian manages the platform and infrastructure. Your team is responsible for:
- Managing user permissions and group access
- Governing app installations and third-party integrations
- Monitoring configuration changes and user activity
- Controlling external collaboration and content sharing
Atlassian Security Risks
Overexposed Projects and Spaces
Jira and Confluence content may be visible to all users or even anonymous users due to default or inherited permissions.
Broad or Persistent Admin Rights
Admins may retain rights across multiple sites or products, often without oversight.
Dormant or Misconfigured Accounts
Inactive users or misaligned IdP syncs can result in accounts with unnecessary access.
Marketplace Apps with Excessive Permissions
Apps can request global access scopes, persist after deactivation, or remain connected without ongoing reviews.
Gaps in Audit Coverage
Security-relevant actions like permission updates or data exports may not be logged centrally or monitored.
Atlassian Security Best Practices
1. Enforce Least Privilege Across Products
- Use group-based permissions to standardize access
- Restrict project and space visibility to only required teams
- Avoid granting global admin roles unnecessarily
2. Integrate with Identity Provider and Enforce MFA
- Use SSO to control access and automate deprovisioning
- Require MFA for all users, especially administrators
3. Review and Remove Dormant Users
- Monitor user activity and deactivate accounts with no recent logins
- Regularly audit external collaborators or guest users
4. Govern App Installations and Integrations
- Maintain an inventory of all connected apps
- Limit installation rights to a small set of administrators
- Review app scopes and access permissions quarterly
5. Enable and Monitor Audit Logs
- Turn on audit logging in Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket
- Feed logs to your SIEM for centralized alerting and analysis
Built-In Atlassian Security Features
Atlassian offers:
- Role- and group-based access control
- SSO and MFA support
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- Granular app permission scopes
- Audit logging and export
These tools provide a strong foundation, but need configuration and governance to be effective.
How Valence Helps Secure Atlassian
Valence gives you cross-product visibility and control:
- Maps user and app access across Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket
- Detects over-permissioned roles and exposed content
- Flags dormant accounts and inactive third-party apps and API keys/tokens
- Automates remediation through secure workflows
- Integrates with your broader security tools (SIEM, SOAR, ITSM)
Atlassian Security Checklist
Final Thoughts
Atlassian is essential to how teams plan, ship, and collaborate. Securing it means more than turning on MFA or reviewing user lists. It requires understanding how people, projects, and apps connect, and managing those relationships with precision. With the right controls, governance, and monitoring in place, you can reduce risk and support collaboration at scale.
If you’re ready to secure Atlassian and your entire SaaS ecosystem, book your personalized demo today.
