Do you have a solid system to manage your organization’s attack surface?
If not, you could leave your business-critical data and assets vulnerable to hackers and cyber threats.
Data shows that 68% of organizations have experienced attacks from unknown and poorly managed (or unmanaged) company assets.
The number highlights the potential negative impact of not having an attack surface management program and technologies for your organization.
Learn to develop an effective attack surface management program with the five tips below.
What is an attack surface management program?
Attack Surface Management (ASM) is the continuous process of mitigating cyber risks.
Attack Surface Management involves risk assessment tasks, such as vulnerability assessment, asset discovery, cyber risk quantification, and penetration testing.
It also includes security control deployment, vulnerability management processes, and everything else that security teams do to map and protect the attack surface.
An ASM program is designed to:
- Identify and reduce your IT ecosystem’s attack surface with robust technologies and strategies, such as the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
The framework provides a globally accessible knowledge base that contains adversary (cyber-attacker) tactics and techniques based on real-world attack observations.
- Mitigate weaknesses in the remaining attack surface.
- Monitor the attack surface for changes in the threats and assets and, in turn, trigger the necessary remediation actions.
An effective ASM program is a multistage process that requires the support and close cooperation of development, network, Human Resources (HR), business unit managers, and security teams.
5 Best practices to implement a successful ASM program
Combining attack surface management training, techniques, and tool deployment is a building block of an effective attack surface management program.
Below are other essential tips to help you deploy an ASM program that reinforces your protection measures against cyber threats.
1. Get more visibility on your attack surface
Increasing your attack surface visibility is critical in reducing your security risks.
After all, having a centralized view of your attack surface positions your security team to better spot and address potential vulnerabilities.
It allows security teams to remediate the gaps before they become entry points for attackers.
Avoid having siloed cybersecurity tools and countless alerts that can distract from the overarching view of your vulnerabilities.
Instead, implement attack surface mapping and modeling.
Mapping and modeling give you a comprehensive view of your attack surface. These create visual depictions of your IT environment’s attack surface and potential attack paths.
You’ll also need to understand and see your network and its vulnerable points.
Ensure your security and network teams review the digital assets attackers can potentially uncover and exploit.
Develop a digital asset register (or regularly update your existing one) and revisit your risk management process.
Check with your organization’s various units to determine if your business criticality, classifications, and risk impact levels are up-to-date.
Doing so helps you prioritize your asset remediation correctly based on risk.
It can also help you spot and remove duplicated and unnecessary apps and services that often make up and widen your attack surface.
2. Keep track of your endpoints
Transitions to flexible workspaces and setups are increasing endpoints that exist outside corporate networks.
If you don’t monitor your endpoints, reining in and managing your attack surface can be challenging, and you can easily overlook vulnerabilities.
Implement proper security protocols to manage your endpoints and monitor your employees, remote workers, and newly onboarded vendors.
Doing so gives you more visibility and control of your endpoints as part of your attack surface management program.
For example, review your DevOps carefully since some developers tend to create new assets and workloads without adhering strictly to your security policies.
Also, the risks of shadow IT (the use of unsanctioned technology systems, software, devices, apps, and services) are often common in DevOps, expanding your attack surface.
Developers often use third-party code, infrastructure, and services that can quickly extend your organization’s attack surface.
One solution is implementing infrastructure as a code to help contain and prevent these issues. It can also keep your vulnerable endpoint configurations from opening your assets to attack.
3. Implement measures and controls to address your vulnerabilities
Leverage the information from your attack surface mapping and modeling to address your IT environment’s existing vulnerabilities.
Understand the severity of each vulnerability to prioritize the uncovered gaps accordingly and promptly deploy the appropriate actions and technologies.
It’s also vital to understand how your vulnerabilities can be exploited and the risks they pose to your assets.
For example, segmenting your network splits your attack surface into smaller areas. It makes tracking and controlling traffic flow and access easier, reducing security risks.
4. Leverage advanced attack surface management technology
The size and complexity of most modern attack surfaces mean it is almost impossible to maintain an acceptable level of security via firewalls, vulnerability management, and red team exercises alone.
You need comprehensive and continuous visibility into your IT environment’s attack surface, including how it shifts to manage it effectively.
You must deploy advanced attack surface management tools and technologies to automate and streamline your attack surface management process and cover all bases.
5. Establish a strong security culture
Human error is one of the biggest causes of poor attack surface management, leading to data breaches and cybersecurity incidents.
While your employees can’t avoid making mistakes 100% of the time, you can develop strong policies and maintain good IT hygiene to minimize the risks of human error.
Implement a strong security culture by doing the following:
- Establish robust password authentication and management
- Implement consistent security patching policies
- Limit options to bring your own device
- Maintain control over permissions and privileges
- Use superior encryption
- Reduce the amount of code running across your systems
Encourage an environment where your employees prioritize security.
It can help minimize your attack surface, strengthen asset protection, and ensure your employees follow your security protocols and policies.
Strengthen your attack surface management process
Protecting your corporate assets from cyber threats and reducing risks means being vigilant of your organization’s attack surface.
Develop a solid attack surface management program to understand what you’re dealing with and put the right remediation and security measures in place.
Leverage the best ASM tools with the features and functionalities to optimize your attack surface management program while streamlining the process.
