The Importance of Attack Surface Management for Organizations
Today, with the transition of organizations from traditional business processes to digital business processes, the likelihood of organizations facing the risk of cyber attacks on their digital assets is increasing. This situation brings with it the need for continuous management and monitoring of digital assets. Although the increase in the digital assets of the organization expands the cyber attack surface, it is possible to dominate digital assets with the right attack surface management solutions. The right Attack Surface Management solutions define the attack surfaces that organizations have, detect security threats on the attack surface and provide recommendations to eliminate threats.
What is an Attack Surface?
An attack surface is a term used in the field of cybersecurity to describe the set of potential points of vulnerability that can be targeted by an attacker. It refers to all of the ways that an attacker might gain unauthorized access to a system, network, or application, and includes anything that might provide an opportunity for an attacker to exploit a weakness or vulnerability.
In simple terms, an attack surface can be thought of as the sum total of all the ways that an attacker might be able to access, manipulate, or disrupt a system. This can include things like software vulnerabilities, misconfigured systems, weak passwords, unpatched software, and much more. Anything that provides an opportunity for an attacker to gain access to a system or data can be considered part of the attack surface.
It’s important to understand the concept of an attack surface because it helps security professionals and organizations to identify potential vulnerabilities and take steps to mitigate them. By understanding the different ways that an attacker might try to gain access to a system, it’s possible to implement measures that make it more difficult for attackers to succeed.
For example, reducing the attack surface might involve things like implementing strong passwords, keeping software up to date, regularly testing and patching systems for vulnerabilities, and limiting access to sensitive information. By doing these things, the attack surface is reduced, and it becomes more difficult for attackers to gain access to systems or data.
It’s worth noting that the attack surface is not a fixed thing. As technology evolves and new threats emerge, the attack surface can change over time. For example, the widespread adoption of cloud computing has created new opportunities for attackers to target cloud-based systems, and so the attack surface has expanded to include new types of vulnerabilities.
In summary, the attack surface refers to the sum total of all the potential ways that an attacker might be able to gain access to a system, network, or application. By understanding the attack surface and taking steps to reduce it, organizations can improve their cybersecurity posture and make it more difficult for attackers to succeed.
What is Attack Surface Management?
Attack Surface Management (ASM) is a cyber security management service that an organization uses to manage and protect its digital attack surfaces. ASM is used to detect, analyze, report and manage all assets in an organization’s computing infrastructure and all access points on their digital attack surfaces. As the digital presence of organizations on the internet increases, their attack surface increases at the same rate. This makes the attack surface management more and more difficult. When the attack surface reaches an uncontrollable size, the organization can be seriously damaged by attackers. With Attack Surface Management, continuous monitoring is performed on the attack surfaces that need to be managed and each digital asset is subjected to security assessment. As a result, security problems on the attack surface are detected, reported and resolved with ASM. In this way, the uncontrollability caused by the growth of the attack surface is eliminated.
ASM is critical for cyber security. These services detect assets, access points, risks and vulnerabilities on organizations’ digital attack surfaces. In this way, organizations become more prepared against digital attacks.
ASM works using many different technologies. These technologies include vulnerability scanning tools, network scanners, web application security scanners, threat intelligence platforms and artificial intelligence. With these technologies, ASM services detect all assets in customers’ digital attack surfaces, identify vulnerabilities and provide recommendations to mitigate risks.
Why Is Attack Surface Management and Monitoring Important?
ThreatMon is a leading cybersecurity company in ASM (Attack Surface Management) services. By continuously monitoring organizations’ digital attack surfaces, ASM helps them identify potential risks, remediate vulnerabilities and protect themselves from cyberattacks. ASM also helps clients become more cybersecurity aware and better prepared for cyberattacks.
- The advantages of ASM services include
- Exact detection of digital attack surfaces
- Analyzing assets and identifying vulnerabilities
- Identification and reporting of risks
- Providing suggestions to overcome weaknesses
- Continuous monitoring and protection against attacks
ASM is an important step in cybersecurity. By utilizing ASM services for the management of digital attack surfaces, organizations create a more secure environment against cyber-attacks. ASM not only helps to pinpoint an organization’s digital attack surface, but also provides the data needed to strengthen their defense mechanisms.
ASM services also help clients set an appropriate security policy. This policy includes strategies to identify vulnerabilities, mitigate risks and protect organizations from cyber-attacks. ASM helps organizations become more cybersecurity aware and better prepared for cyberattacks.
Attack Surface Management Process
Attack Surface Management (ASM) is a proactive security approach that involves identifying, analyzing, and mitigating the vulnerabilities in an organization’s digital infrastructure. The process typically involves the following steps:
Define the scope: The first step is to define the scope of the ASM process, which includes identifying all the assets and systems within the organization that could be vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Inventory: The next step is to take an inventory of all the assets identified on the previous step. This inventory should include hardware, software, data, and people, and should be as comprehensive as possible.
Mapping: Once an inventory of assets has been completed, the next step is to map out how the assets are connected to each other and how they are used. This mapping process helps identify potential attack vectors and weaknesses in the system.
Identify vulnerabilities: After mapping the assets and their connections, the next step is to identify potential vulnerabilities in the system. This can be done through various techniques, including vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and threat modeling.
Prioritize: Once vulnerabilities have been identified, they should be prioritized based on their severity and potential impact on the organization.
Mitigate: The final step is to mitigate the identified vulnerabilities. This may involve implementing technical controls, such as patches and software upgrades, or non-technical controls, such as training and awareness programs for employees.
Continuous monitoring: Once the initial ASM process is complete, it’s important to continuously monitor the attack surface to identify any new vulnerabilities that may arise as the organization’s infrastructure changes or evolves.
Overall, ASM is an ongoing process that requires regular attention and updates to ensure the organization’s digital infrastructure remains secure.
Cyber Threats Awaiting Organizations on Attack Surfaces
Today, organizations make a lot of use of digital assets when organizing their business. The use of digital assets brings with it the need for organizations to ensure security on these assets to prevent any hacking incidents. Because when attackers target an organization, they search for security problems on digital assets in order to achieve their damaging goals. These security problems appear as different threats.
Zero-day exploits: Zero-day exploits refer to vulnerabilities in software or hardware that are unknown to the vendor and have not been patched. Attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to a system or steal sensitive information.
Configuration Vulnerability: Incorrect or incomplete configuration of solutions used externally can expose organizations to some security problems such as Improper file and directory permissions, Administrative accounts with default passwords
Denial of Service Attacks: These attacks are carried out by attacks from multiple sources to load heavy traffic on the network or overload services. Such attacks can block access to websites, causing service interruptions.
Security Vulnerability: Security vulnerabilities occur in situations where information security measures are missing or insufficient, such as software errors, configuration errors, outdated software.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): APTs are sophisticated attacks that are typically carried out by nation-state actors or other well-funded organizations. APTs are designed to remain undetected for long periods of time, allowing the attackers to gather sensitive information or access critical systems.
Internet of Things (IoT): Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in IoT devices to gain access to an organization’s network, steal sensitive data or launch DDoS attacks.
Cloud Security: Cloud service providers are responsible for securing the underlying infrastructure, but organizations are still responsible for securing their own data and applications in the cloud. Failure to do so may result in data breaches and other security incidents.
How ThreatMon Helps Organizations Protect the Attack Surface From Threats?
ThreatMon identifies the attack surface of organizations as a result of its extensive asset discovery studies. The identified attack surface data is classified by ThreatMon. Attack surface data classified by ThreatMon includes:
- Domains
- Subdomains
- IP Addresses
- Cloud Assets
- Open Ports
- Web Applications
- DNS Records
- Mail servers
- Technologies
- Certificates
ThreatMon detects potential security threats that are present on the defined attack surface and are thought to have devastating consequences in the future. It uses the most up-to-date security research mechanisms when detecting security threats on the attack surface. As soon as a new threat appears on the attack surface, the threat is identified and a security notification is generated to take action. ThreatMon performs AI-powered Attack Surface Management to detect threats that do not exist yet. ThreatMon Attack Surface Management service detects the following threats;
- Web Application Vulnerability
- Network Vulnerability
- Misconfigured Network
- Critical Open Ports
- Sensitive Information Disclosures
- Internal Network IP address disclosure
- Data transmitted through unencrypted channels in the Web Application
- Vulnerable Products
- Unsupported Products
- Improper Error Pages
- Weak Algorithm Encryption Methods
- Default Installation Pages
- Admin Login/Login pages
- Vulnerable Login Panels
- Administrative Pages with Unrestricted Access
- Using Default Credentials on Login pages
- Missing security protocols in HTTP Headers
- Insecure Transmitted MFA Codes
- And other security problems discovered
ThreatMon combines Attack Surface Management processes with Cyber Threat Intelligence to provide brand protection and digital risk protection for its business partners. For ThreatMon Cyber Threat Intelligence & Attack Surface Management services, you can request a demo at info@threatmonit.io
