Attack Surface Management (ASM) helps organizations identify and assess all of their digital assets, including those that belong to their suppliers or partners, to reveal potential security flaws. It can also run tests that simulate certain types of attacks to find potential weaknesses. This helps companies better defend themselves against real attacks or even prevent potential security breaches.
Best practices for attack surface management
- Adopting a proactive cybersecurity approach
In today’s digital age, cyber threats are a real concern for businesses and individuals alike. In response, cybersecurity strategies have evolved, with the latest phase being proactive security. One aspect of this approach is Attack Surface Management which helps organizations identify and address potential risks before cybercriminals can exploit them. By using a strong ASM strategy, companies can allocate their resources effectively, prioritize their security efforts, and make informed decisions that can prevent cyberattacks. Rather than reacting to cybersecurity threats, proactive management focuses on prevention.
- Facilitating penetration tests and red teams
When companies want to test how secure their systems are from cyberattacks, they often hire “red teams” or “penetration testers” to try and find vulnerabilities. However, these tests usually only focus on a few important parts of the company’s systems, and they can miss other areas that might also be vulnerable. Plus, these tests require a lot of research to find the best ways to attack a company’s systems.
- Vulnerability prioritization
When keeping a computer system safe, it is important to identify and fix any weaknesses as soon as possible. The best part is that tools can help by categorizing these weaknesses based on how serious they are and how much harm they could cause. The quicker these weaknesses are addressed, the less time hackers have to take advantage of them, which makes it harder for them to break into the system.
- Enhancing zero-day response
One of the best things about using ASM is that it helps people respond quickly to new security threats. When a new type of security attack happens, it can be hard for security teams to figure out how it might affect their company. The problem is even worse if they do not know what the company’s tech is. However, ASM can allow a company’s security team to focus on the weak points in its technology by automatically identifying them. This helps them respond faster and more effectively to new security threats, which is important to keep the company safe.
- Resource allocation for security
Organizations can never be 100% safe from cyber threats, and focusing on reducing risks effectively is important. This means identifying and prioritizing potential risks and addressing them streamlined and efficiently. That is where Attack Surface Management can help organizations by providing a clear view of the areas that are most at risk of attack and offering guidance on how to handle those risks. By grouping similar risks, organizations can tackle them more efficiently, which will help strengthen their overall security posture. This approach can reduce multiple risks through a single action, making it more manageable to keep the organization’s data and systems safe.
- Developing an incident response plan
Having a well-maintained Attack Surface Management program can help respond to security incidents, which unfortunately happen from time to time. These programs provide insight into which areas might be vulnerable to attacks.
When a security incident occurs, the security team will understand how it happened and what areas are at risk. This understanding is valuable in quickly assessing and developing a plan to address the situation.
- Getting the attacker’s perspective
It is important to see things from the attacker’s point of view when talking to high-level executives about cybersecurity because it gives a clear perspective. Research shows that almost 7 out of 10 organizations have been exposed to hackers at least once because of ill management of their network and the devices connected. So, gaining an attacker’s perspective can help understand how hackers might attack your organization through other networks, too.
Final words
Protecting your organization’s data and digital assets from cyberattacks is crucial. While it may seem expensive to invest in attack surface management initially, it can save you a lot of money and reputation damage in the long run. By reducing the risk of cyberattacks, you can avoid costly data breaches that can harm your organization’s finances and reputation and protect your company assets and resources.
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