Cybersecurity is the practice of securing systems, networks, and programs from threat actors. Understanding and mitigating the attack surface is the most critical of all. The attack surface is the sum of the different entry points (the surface) that an attacker can attack in a given computing device or network. As technology advances, so does the number of these points, and it becomes harder to secure them.
Organizations today depend on numerous different systems working together. It relies on cloud platforms, remote employees, and connected devices (IoT). The attack surface increases with every new system or device. Organizations can visualize and manage these risks via attack surface visibility. It enables organizations to understand what they need to manage and the potential sources of those management threats.
In this blog, we discuss what an attack surface is, the types of attack surfaces, why visibility matters, and how to achieve it. We will also explore different tools that can help increase attack surface visibility.
What is Attack Surface Visibility?
Attack surface visibility enables organizations to see and understand all the working components of their system and its attack surface. It is knowing all systems, devices, and apps, what can be exploited, and what communications paths exist. Visibility is more than just the asset list. This will include monitoring the usage of such assets, where they are located, and any vulnerabilities they may have.
The process includes using tools and techniques to gather information about the attack surface. This data is then analyzed for risks by security teams. This also covers time-based monitoring, such as a new device showing up on the network or an update on the software. Visibility allows organizations to take action before attackers discover and exploit vulnerabilities.
Why attack surface visibility is essential
Attack surface visibility provides organizations with the ability to be proactive in the face of threats and address unique requirements.
Visibility is step one in risk reduction. When there is visibility of systems and devices, security teams can check for issues. Understanding the entire attack surface allows teams to address problems such as software that needs to be updated or network ports that are open. This minimizes the risk of a breach.
Cybersecurity regulations differ across industries. Many standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS require organizations to secure data as well as systems. These rules can be met with the help of attack surface visibility. Visibility tools report on assets, vulnerabilities, and security posture. That simplifies audit paths and demonstrates compliance.
Zero Trust is a security model centered around the premise that no system or user is inherently secure. This means checking every request for access, regardless of its origin. Teams need visibility over everything in order to enforce strict access controls and monitor behavior.
Components of Attack Surface Visibility
Visibility across the attack surface depends on a broader set of components working together. It helps organizations visualize and control their attack surface with these parts.
Asset discovery
Identify every system, device, and software in use. Security teams cannot protect something if they do not know that it exists. This includes anything from servers, laptops, cloud accounts, and even IoT devices like cameras. Visibility is based on awareness of what needs to be watched, something that is done by asset discovery.
Continuous monitoring
Continuous monitoring alerts of attack surface changes over time. Daily evolving assets like newly installed software, connected devices, or changed configurations need to be monitored. Monitoring tools track those changes and notify teams about the risks. Visibility is not a one-time thing, but it is an ongoing process. It assists in identifying issues as they arise.
Vulnerability management
Vulnerability management is a process to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in the assets. A vulnerability is a weakness, for example, outdated software or a missing patch, which attackers might exploit. Tools for visibility scan the system for those issues and rank them based on severity. Teams can then deploy updates or any other kind of fix.
Third-party risk management
Third-party risk management entails risks from external vendors or partner entities. A lot of organizations rely on externally sourced software, cloud services, or even contractors. When any of these third parties have security issues, they can impact the attack surface. Visibility tools examine these linkages to determine whether they comply with security standards.
Misconfiguration detection
Configuration errors are errors related to the misconfigurations of systems and applications set up. Things like open ports, weak passwords, or unencrypted data are the flawed spots that expose assets to become valid targets. Visibility tools compare configurations against security rules and report problems.
Common Threats Exploiting an Expansive Attack Surface
A greater attack surface simply yields more opportunities for attackers to attack. As a result, many threats exploit this growth.
Malware
Malware is software that is meant to damage systems or acquire information. It likely propagates through devices without protection, software that is not patched, or phishing emails. It is easier for malware to enter and propagate with a wider attack surface consisting of multiple endpoints (e.g., laptops or IoT devices).
Credential theft
Attackers steal usernames and passwords to access systems. The attack surface increases due to weak passwords, reused credentials, or accounts that are discovered. After getting in, the attackers can impersonate legitimate users and access sensitive data.
Phishing attacks
The social attack surface is leveraged with phishing scam Attacks. Hackers lure employees into providing access or downloading malware disguised as something else. A single click on a malicious link can lead to a broader compromise.
Misconfigurations
Misconfiguration is another common threat. Some examples would be open cloud storage, unsecured databases, or turned-off security controls. Techniques exist to find such issues across a vast attack surface, and they are exploited to exfiltrate data or cause some destruction.
Attack Surface Visibility Benefits
Organizations gain benefits from attack surface visibility. It enhances security and aligns with business objectives. Here are some of them.
Threat detection
By displaying the entire attack surface for teams, risks are identified more quickly. These tools expose vulnerabilities, such as unpatched software or open ports, prior to infiltration from malicious attackers. This advanced notification allows organizations to close gaps and prevent breaches.
Reduced downtime
Sometimes, the unseen attack surface gets exploited and can disrupt operations. By identifying weak points and securing them, visibility helps mitigate this. The server with monitoring cannot fail due to malware because it keeps the systems up and running.
Cost savings
The cost of a breach is high if it happens, including lost data, legal fees, repairs, and so forth. Visibility reduces these costs by identifying problems early. Phishing or password cracking is just one way to gain access. It is often cheaper to patch a vulnerability than to recover from an attack.
Decision making
Visibility also helps to enhance decision-making. It provides information on asset, risk, and threat data for security teams. It provides asset, risk, and threat data, allowing teams to prioritize critical issues and ensure that their systems remain secure. Managers can plan budgets and resources based on facts, not speculation.
Customer trust
It establishes trust with clients and stakeholders. Strengthening security through visibility displays the seriousness with which an organization takes protection. This is important both for compliance and for reputation.
How to Achieve Full Attack Surface Visibility?
Organizations have to visualize and manage all the parts of their systems to achieve full attack surface visibility.
Identifying all assets
The initial action is making a list of all resources. This means finding every device, application, and connection being used by teams, such as servers, laptops, cloud accounts, and third-party tools. To compile a complete inventory, tools are automated to scan networks and cloud setups.
Continuous monitoring
The next step is for teams to establish continuous monitoring. Assets change, such as new devices being added, the software being updated, or users changing configuration settings, which are monitored in real-time by monitoring tools. Alerts for risks, such as a new port that is open in the network or an unauthorized device, are sent by them. This helps maintain an up-to-date picture of the attack surface.
Assessing vulnerabilities
Evaluating vulnerabilities is the next step. The tools that scan the assets will look for such weaknesses, absence of recent software, or missing vulnerabilities on patches. A severity score is assigned to each potential exploit for each vulnerability.
Managing third-party risks
Organizations rely on vendors to provide them with software or services, and these represent an additional attack surface. The team has to verify the vendor’s security, such as server configuration or data management. There are tools to monitor these external links and report issues. Contracts should also stipulate that vendors comply with security standards.
Fixing misconfigurations
Finally, the process concludes by addressing misconfigurations. Teams scan cloud storage, databases, and firewalls for potential errors. Automated tools compare settings to security rules and then make changes based on that. Regular checks to make sure mistakes don’t slip back in.
Challenges in Maintaining Attack Surface Visibility
There are a few challenges that organizations must deal with to maintain visibility in their systems. Let’s look at some of them.
Lack of asset inventory
Without visibility into all devices, software, and connections, teams simply cannot monitor them. Organizations might have assets like an old server or a forgotten cloud account that never surfaced. This is what happens when they grow quickly or have no monitoring to track it all. Gaps in the inventory leave parts of the attack surface unprotected.
Shadow IT and rogue devices
Some of the challenges are Shadow IT (departments’ use of IT without the approval or involvement of the IT department) and rogue devices (unauthorized hardware). This is when employees use software or services that have not been approved, such as personal cloud storage. These devices escape the security watch and expand the attack surface.
Cloud and Multi-Cloud complexity
It has made it even more difficult to have visibility over cloud and multi-cloud setups. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are a few of the frequently used cloud service providers that each organization uses with different systems and rules. So, each one has its resources to track, like virtual machines or databases. Cloud misconfigurations and forgotten resources increase risk. This involves more time and tools to manage across the different platforms.
Third-Party dependencies
Another obstacle is third-party dependencies. This poses an extra burden on the attack surface as vendors and partners connect to the organization’s systems. If a vendor has poor security, such as an unpatched server, that creates a liability. This is difficult to track, especially flagged to countless partners. Not all organizations will find this easy since visibility tools also need to spread beyond internal systems.
Budget and resource constraints
The budgets and resources of many teams simply prevent further visibility efforts from rolling out at an acceptable rate. There are tools out there for scanning, monitoring, and fixing these problems, but they charge a fee. Organizations also need skilled staff to run these tools.
Best Practices for Increasing Attack Surface Visibility
Reducing attack surface visibility requires action. Organizations can use specific methods to visualize and secure their systems much better.
Automated asset discovery
Automated asset discovery identifies all systems and devices in an organization. In large networks, manual tracking is prone to missing things. Various tools will analyze the networks, cloud hosting, and endpoints to identify every asset.
Strong access controls
Access controls limit who can reach systems, and robust access controls are the main barrier to entry. Open or weak access expands the attack surface. Passwords, multi-factor authentication, and role-based rules are encouraged for teams.
Regular security assessments
The consistent evaluation of security prevents the attack surface from growing unchecked. These assessments look for vulnerabilities in systems (such as outdated software or unfiltered open ports). Teams can scan their networks and cloud deployments with tools and then review the findings. This also catches new risks as they pop up, so it’s important to do it regularly.
Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM)
CTEM (Continuous Threat Exposure Management) goes a step further by offering even greater visibility. It is an ongoing process of observing, assessing, and addressing risk. CTEM tools track threats (malware, data leakage, etc.) much like attack surfaces and prioritize the level of danger. From there, teams address the worst offenders first by applying a patch to a server or locking down a weak account. CTEM is running all the time (unlike one-time scans) to keep up with the speed of attacks.
How Can SentinelOne Help?
SentinelOne is a platform focused on detecting and responding to advanced endpoint attacks.
SentinelOne is used to monitor endpoints like laptops, servers, and mobiles for threats. It provides visibility of endpoints, which form a significant portion of the attack surface, and prevents the spread of attacks.
The platform also turns to artificial intelligence to identify risks. It examines data from devices and networks to identify vulnerabilities, such as unpatched software or unusual activity. Because of this automation, teams can spot problems without the need to check all systems manually, primarily through scripts. If a server has a vulnerable, outdated server that attackers can exploit, SentinelOne raises the red flag.
SentinelOne also provides options for responding. If the detection finds a threat, it can block it automatically, including preventing malware or disconnecting a compromised device. Alerts sent to teams include information to assist in the remediation of the underlying issues, for example, an update. The visibility is turned into action in such a way that the attack surface gets reduced very quickly.
Conclusion
Modern cybersecurity framework requires attack surface visibility. As organizations rely on an awareness of the attack surface, its types, components, and threats to help them protect themselves, visibility mitigates risk, enforces policy, and supports zero trust. It then proceeds to discover assets, track them, and remediate issues such as vulnerabilities or bugs. Visibility into big attack surfaces is critical to stopping threats such as malware, phishing, and exploits.
Organizations can do this by scanning their assets and controlling access. Attack surface visibility has its own set of challenges, shadow IT, or a budget, but best practices such as automating and performing assessments are valuable. Incorporating tools like SentinelOne strengthens this with endpoint monitoring, cloud protection, and fast response.
Attack Surface Visibility FAQs
What is an Attack Surface?
The attack surface is the sum of all the points that an attacker could use to enter a system. Devices such as servers and laptops, software applications and operating systems, as well as network connections such as ports or Wi-Fi. It also means user accounts and passwords.
What Does Attack Surface Visibility Mean?
Organizations should be able to see and know each and every inch of the attack surface. This means understanding what systems, devices, and connections there are and how secure they are. Finding assets, vulnerability scanning, and monitoring events such as new devices or software updates, etc.
How can organizations reduce their Attack Surface?
Organizations can reduce the potential for risk by employing patched systems, strict access controls, and separate networks to ensure protected environments for critical assets. A proactive security posture, such as ongoing risk assessments and training employees, also reduces the opportunity for exposure.
Why do CISOs need complete Attack Surface Visibility?
For modern CISOs, deep visibility is essential to discovering and remediating unknown vulnerabilities before adversaries find and exploit them. This knowledge helps them prioritize their security investments and react much faster to emerging threats across all digital assets.
How can organizations improve their Attack Surface Visibility?
Organizations can integrate real-time visibility systems, continuous asset discovery systems, and threat intelligence platforms into their security architecture. This proactive method makes sure that an organization gets it in real-time for known and unknown vulnerabilities.
Can automation help in Attack Surface Visibility?
Automation is a central enabler of the approach since it can speed up and automate the process of detecting, analyzing, and remediating vulnerabilities across wide and complex enterprise environments. Automated systems establish more efficient and uniform security procedures by minimizing human error and shortening response times.
How does cloud security impact Attack Surface Visibility?
Visibility is further complicated by shifting cloud environments, where organizations need to monitor resources that are dynamic and dispersed over numerous platforms. Robust cloud security solutions provide industry-wide visibility by providing centralized control and continuous monitoring of your cloud assets.
What are the biggest challenges in maintaining Attack Surface Visibility?
The speed at which IT environments have evolved, including hybrid and multi-cloud, often leaves customers with partial asset inventories and blind spots. Moreover, there is so much data that it can go undetected and so many potential misconfigurations that continuous monitoring is difficult and also effective threat detection.