Nowadays, We Are Interconnected At Any Given Time Of The Day. Distances Had Shrunk, And The Flow Of Information Was Faster And Smoother Than Ever Before. Sorting Out Legal Documents, Exchanging Assets, Trading, Learning, And Pretty Much Any Aspect Of Our Lives Had Become Easier And Swifter.
However, with the development of new tech tools and solutions came a whole new myriad of risks. Certain steps must be taken in order to protect our personal credentials and business-related data. This is where attack surface management comes into play.
The all-seeing eye
First of all, as usual, let’s dive into some terms so that we can have a full grasp of what we are talking about when somebody mentioned attack surface management. Digital attack surface management refers to the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential vulnerabilities and threats to an organization’s digital assets, infrastructure, and sensitive information. This includes the monitoring and control of access points, network configuration, software, hardware, and data storage, to prevent unauthorized access or exploitation by malicious actors. The goal is to reduce the attack surface and minimize the risk of successful attacks on the organization’s digital assets. The lack of such processes can easily jeopardize the existence of any company, business venture or even vital personal credentials or assets.
Since it is such an umbrella term, we will try to highlight some of the most well-known aspects of attack surface management.
Most crucial parts of the attack surface management process
Asset inventory management: Keeping an accurate and up-to-date record of all assets that make up the digital attack surface, including hardware, software, and network infrastructure. Threat modeling is the analysis of the potential threats and risks to assets, applications, and infrastructure to determine the best ways to mitigate them. Regularly testing and scanning assets to identify security weaknesses and potential points of attack are part of the so-called vulnerability assessment process. Ensuring that systems, applications, and infrastructure are configured in a secure manner to reduce the risk of exploitation is part of configuration management, which is another crucial part of attack surface management. Assessing and managing the risk posed by third-party services, software, and partners that have access to an organization’s systems and data is an absolutely vital part too. Security monitoring and incident response could be looked at as part of a continuous improvement plan. By getting to conclusions, we can improve our processes.
Continuously monitoring systems and networks for security events and having a well-defined incident response plan in place to quickly respond to and contain security incidents.
These are some of the key components of a comprehensive digital attack surface management program, but the specific aspects will vary depending on the size and complexity of an organization’s digital environment.
In summary, ignoring Attack Surface Management can put a company’s data, systems, and reputation at risk. Therefore, it is important for organizations to take a proactive approach to manage their digital attack surface and continuously assess and mitigate the associated risks.
