How do I find all the SaaS apps employees are logging into with their work email?

To find all the SaaS apps employees are logging into with their work email, you need to review OAuth authorizations, SSO sign-ins, and third-party app connections tied to your identity provider. These sources reveal every SaaS application employees authenticate with, including tools that were never approved, never reviewed, or monitored through traditional security systems.

Many teams use platforms like FrontierZero to automate this process by pulling OAuth grants, token activity, and identity relationships into one unified view. This allows security teams to understand not just which apps employees use, but also what level of access those applications have.

Why SaaS App Discovery Is Hard Across Modern Identity Providers

Even organizations with strong identity practices (Okta, Entra, Google, Ping, OneLogin, JumpCloud) struggle to see the full list of SaaS applications connected to their business. Visibility challenges show up consistently across all environments:

1. Employees can authorize apps without admin approval

Most SaaS applications allow user-level OAuth consent.
Identity providers log these events, but they do not aggregate them into a complete, organization-wide inventory.

This creates a blind spot where users unintentionally expand the environment’s attack surface.

2. SSO activity shows only part of the SaaS footprint

A large portion of SaaS tools do not rely on SSO.
Instead, they authenticate using:

  • OAuth
  • API tokens
  • Stored passwords
  • Social login (“Sign in with Google/Microsoft/Apple/Facebook”)

SSO logs alone will miss every SaaS app that relies on token-based or delegated authorization.

3. Third-party apps stay active long after users become inactive

OAuth tokens remain valid until explicitly revoked — even if:

  • a user is disabled
  • an account is suspended
  • a password is changed
  • a role is removed

This means SaaS access persists long after the identity lifecycle ends.

Tools like FrontierZero help teams detect and revoke inactive or high-risk tokens across the entire environment.

How to Manually Find All Connected SaaS Apps (Step-by-Step)

Identity providers differ in how their UI is structured, but the process is the same across all major systems.

1. Review OAuth App Authorizations

Open your identity provider’s OAuth or “Connected Apps” view.
Look for:

  • All apps users have granted access to
  • Permissions (scopes) assigned to each app
  • High-risk privileges (email read, file access, account-level access)
  • Apps used by only one or two employees
  • Apps with offline access tokens

Many teams use FrontierZero to consolidate these permissions across every user and surface high-risk connections automatically.

2. Review SSO Sign-In Activity

Open your identity provider’s SSO or authentication logs.
Review for:

  • Newly appearing SaaS services
  • High-frequency sign-ins to unknown apps
  • Logins from unusual geographies
  • Employee-created SaaS accounts (shadow IT)

This provides partial visibility, but will not show apps that authenticate solely through OAuth or tokens.

3. Review Token Usage, API Keys, and Service Accounts

Inspect token and key logs provided by the identity platform.
Identify:

  • Active OAuth tokens
  • Long-lived refresh tokens
  • API keys linked to users or service accounts
  • Delegated permissions
  • Apps with persistent offline access

Platforms like FrontierZero connect these signals into an identity graph so security teams can see organization-wide SaaS usage rather than searching user by user.

How do I identify high-risk SaaS apps among the ones employees use?

Flag apps that request:

  • broad read/write scopes
  • offline access
  • unrestricted file-system or storage access
  • access to messages, calendars, or personal data

FrontierZero highlights apps with excessive or unusual scopes so security teams can restrict or revoke access quickly.

How often should I review the list of SaaS apps employees use?

Most organizations review:

  • Monthly for routine hygiene
  • Weekly when SaaS growth is rapid
  • Daily in regulated or high-risk industries

Tools like FrontierZero monitor these connections continuously, reducing manual review overhead and uncovering changes in real time.

What if employees use SaaS apps that don’t appear in SSO or OAuth logs?

This happens when apps rely on:

  • password-based authentication
  • personal accounts linked to work email aliases
  • API or token-based access outside OAuth
  • browser-level login flows the identity provider can’t detect

FrontierZero correlates multiple identity signals — OAuth, tokens, metadata, and app-level relationships — to uncover SaaS apps traditional logs cannot reveal.

FAQ

How do I know if a SaaS app is safe?

Check the permissions (scopes) it requests and whether it has access to sensitive data such as email, files, contacts, or storage. Excessive or broad scopes increase risk.

Can I block specific SaaS apps from connecting to my identity provider?

Most identity platforms allow domain- or tenant-level blocking of OAuth applications. Many teams use tools like FrontierZero to automate blocking and enforce consistent controls.

What’s the difference between OAuth and SSO when discovering SaaS apps?

  • OAuth grants data access permissions.
  • SSO provides authentication only.

Many SaaS tools appear only in OAuth logs, which is why both SSO and OAuth must be reviewed.