What is External Attack Surface Management?

External Attack Surface Management(EASM) refers to the proactive monitoring and protection of an organization’s external-facing assets, such as networks, systems, applications, and online presence, to defend against potential threats and vulnerabilities from outside the organization.

The external surface of an organization encompasses all points where its digital infrastructure intersects with the internet, including web servers, email servers, remote access services, cloud environments, and third-party applications. Managing this surface is crucial for safeguarding against cyberattacks, as external-facing assets are often the primary targets for threat actors seeking unauthorized access, data breaches, or system compromise.

Key Elements & Benefits of EASM

Key elements and benefits for External Attack Surface Management and Protection include:

Discovery:

The foundational step in external attack surface management is thorough attack surface discovery. It involves identifying all business and IT relationships your organization maintains, including those with acquired companies, joint ventures, and cloud assets closely linked to your company’s operations. A comprehensive understanding of your IT ecosystem lays the groundwork for effective risk mitigation.

Assessment:

The next crucial step is assessment following asset discovery. This involves evaluating identified assets for potential vulnerabilities and exposures. By conducting thorough external attack surface assessment, organizations can gain insights into their risk landscape and prioritize their mitigation efforts effectively.

Prioritization:

Prioritizing risks within the external attack surface is essential for allocating resources wisely. Organizations can determine where to focus their attention first by understanding the severity and potential impact of vulnerabilities. Prioritization ensures that limited resources address the most critical risks, enhancing overall security posture.

Remediation:

Remediation is a critical aspect of attack surface protection. Once vulnerabilities are identified and prioritized, taking swift and effective action to address them is essential. Operationalizing remediation processes ensures that vulnerabilities are mitigated promptly, reducing the likelihood of exploitation by threat actors. This element underscores the importance of integrating threat intelligence into remediation efforts for proactive defense.

Ongoing efforts:

External attack surface management is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. Executing the previous elements is essential for staying ahead of the ever-evolving IT and threat landscape. Regularly revisiting asset discovery, assessments, Prioritization, and remediation ensures that organizations remain vigilant and resilient against emerging threats. To enhance this process, it is important to track external attack surface continuously, incorporating strong external threat management practices, monitoring for changes or new vulnerabilities that could introduce additional risks.

By adhering to these five key elements of external attack surface management, organizations can proactively identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with their external-facing assets, thereby effectively strengthening their overall security posture and mitigating potential cyber threats.

Challenges Around the External Attack Surface:

The major challenges around the external attack surface include:

Complexity of Assets:

External attack surfaces are often vast and complex, containing various assets like web applications, APIs, cloud services, and internet-connected devices. Managing and securing this diverse landscape can be challenging, especially when assets are distributed across multiple locations and managed by different teams within the organization.

Continuous Evolution:

The external attack surface is not static; it continuously evolves due to organizational changes, technological advancements, and emerging cyber threats. Keeping pace with these changes requires continuous monitoring and assessment to make sure that security measures remain effective and up to date.

Lack of Visibility:

Organizations may struggle to maintain comprehensive visibility into their external attack surface, particularly as assets proliferate and networks expand. Limited visibility can result in blind spots that leave organizations vulnerable to undetected security risks and potential breaches.

Third-Party Dependencies:

Many organizations rely on third-party vendors, partners, and service providers for various operations, leading to dependencies on external entities. Managing security risks associated with these third-party relationships, including supply chain vulnerabilities and shared asset access, presents a significant challenge for organizations.

External attack surface management vendors play a crucial role in helping organizations manage these third-party dependencies effectively by providing solutions to track and secure all external assets, including those linked to third-party services.

Regulatory Compliance:

Compliance with regulatory requirements adds another layer of complexity to managing the external attack surface. Organizations operating in regulated industries have to routinely navigate complex data protection and privacy regulations, which need them to implement strong security measures and demonstrate compliance with regulatory authorities. As the external attack surface management market size continues to grow, businesses must stay updated with new regulations.

EASM Use Cases

EASM is a new area with only a handful of companies providing similar features for typical scenarios. Here are the most usual ways EASM is used:

Discovery and Cataloguing of Digital Assets: 

EASM aids in uncovering obscure digital assets, such as websites, domain names, IP addresses, cloud services, and SSL certificates, across diverse environments like cloud platforms, local IT systems, operational technology (OT), and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It facilitates the real-time maintenance of an inventory encompassing these identified assets.

Vulnerability Remediation and Exposure Reduction: 

EASM prioritizes rectifying various vulnerabilities, including misconfigurations, unpatched software vulnerabilities, and open ports, based on their risk level and severity, thereby mitigating potential security exposures.

Cloud Security and Governance: 

EASM assists organizations in identifying public assets hosted on various cloud platforms to enhance cloud governance and security measures. The primary objective is to unveil cloud assets that may have escaped organizational awareness and apply appropriate safeguards to safeguard them.

Detection of Data Leakage: 

EASM actively monitors for instances of data leakage, encompassing credential spills and accidental exposure of sensitive information, occurring through cloud applications and collaborative tools utilized by both third parties and internal staff.

Assessment of Subsidiary Risks: 

EASM provides insights into digital assets spread across different subsidiaries, enabling a more comprehensive evaluation of associated risks.

Evaluation of Supply Chain and Third-Party Risks: 

EASM extends visibility to encompass vulnerabilities within the supply chain and potential threats from third parties. It supports assessments aimed at gauging the organization’s exposure to such risks.

Merger and Acquisition (M&A) Risk Assessment:

EASM aids organizations in comprehending the digital asset landscape and the attendant risks that an acquiring entity may inherit from a purchased company.

Common Mistakes when Implementing EASM

The top three common mistakes when implementing External Attack Surface Management (EASM) are:

Incomplete Asset Discovery:

Failing to thoroughly identify all external-facing assets, such as websites, APIs, and cloud services, results in an incomplete understanding of the organization’s attack surface. This oversight can lead to undetected vulnerabilities and gaps in security coverage.

Inadequate Vulnerability Assessment: 

Conducting superficial or infrequent vulnerability assessments may overlook critical security weaknesses within the organization’s external attack surface. Organizations cannot prioritize remediation efforts effectively without a comprehensive understanding of vulnerabilities, leaving them susceptible to exploitation.

Poor Risk Prioritization: 

Incorrectly assessing the severity and potential impact of vulnerabilities can lead to misallocation of resources and ineffective risk mitigation strategies. Failing to prioritize remediation based on the most significant risks exposes the organization to potential cyber threats that could have severe consequences.

Advantages and Disadvantages of External Attack Surface Management

External attack surface management has various advantages and disadvantages, as it enhances visibility into external threats but may also pose challenges regarding resource demands, false positives, and integration with existing security tools.

Advantages of External Attack Surface Management

• Improved Visibility: Continuously discovers and maps exposed digital assets (domains, IPs, apps, etc.) that may be unknown to internal teams.
• Proactive Threat Detection: Identifies potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before attackers can exploit them.
• Attack Surface Reduction: Helps organizations eliminate shadow IT and unnecessarily exposed services, tightening security.
• Compliance and Risk Management: Supports regulatory compliance by ensuring assets are secure and documented.
• Enhanced Incident Response: Provides a clearer picture of what’s at risk during a breach, enabling faster containment and response.

Disadvantages of External Attack Surface Management

• Resource Intensive: Requires skilled personnel and time to manage, interpret data, and act on findings effectively.
• False Positives: May flag non-critical issues or irrelevant assets, leading to alert fatigue or wasted effort.
• Tool Integration Challenges: Can be difficult to integrate with existing SIEMs, CMDBs, or asset inventory systems.
• Limited Internal Coverage: Focuses only on external assets, leaving internal threats and vulnerabilities unaddressed.
• Data Overload: Can generate a large volume of data, making it hard to prioritize and act without strong filtering and automation.

Attack Surface Management with Cyble

Attack Surface Management (ASM) with Cyble offers organizations a comprehensive solution to identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with their external attack surface. Leveraging advanced scanning techniques, Cyble Vision discovers and catalogs all external-facing assets, including websites, domains, IPs, and cloud services. It enables enterprises to gain visibility into their entire attack surface.

Through thorough vulnerability assessments, vulnerabilities are prioritized based on severity and exploitability, allowing organizations to promptly focus remediation efforts on addressing the most critical risks.

Cyble Vision integrates real-time threat intelligence feeds into its ASM platform, providing timely insights into emerging threats and cyberattack trends targeting the external attack surface. With continuous monitoring capabilities and automated alerts, organizations are promptly notified of any changes or potential security risks, enabling swift response and remediation.

Cyble Vision offers guidance and support for remediation efforts, assisting organizations in reducing their exposure to external threats effectively. Additionally, Cyble’s Attack Surface Management platform assists organizations in meeting compliance requirements and regulatory mandates related to their external attack surface, ensuring adherence to industry standards and guidelines. Cyble’s ASM capabilities empower organizations to proactively manage and secure their external attack surface, enhancing their overall cybersecurity posture and resilience against cyber threats.

Cyble Vision in Action

EASM FAQs