Asset Correlation
Asset correlation in cybersecurity refers to connecting and analyzing relationships between different assets within an organization's IT infrastructure. This involves identifying how assets are interconnected, communicate, and depend on each other. The goal is to gain a holistic view of the IT environment and understand how a compromise of one asset could impact others.
Here's why asset correlation is essential in cybersecurity:
Understanding impact of vulnerabilities: By understanding how assets are related, security teams can better assess the potential impact of a vulnerability in one asset on other connected assets.
Prioritizing remediation: Asset correlation helps prioritize remediation efforts by identifying the most critical assets and the potential cascading effects of their compromise.
Improving incident response: During a security incident, asset correlation can help quickly identify the affected assets and their dependencies, enabling faster containment and recovery.
Detecting anomalies: By establishing baselines for standard communication patterns between assets, security teams can use asset correlation to detect abnormalities that could indicate malicious activity.
Enhancing security controls: Asset correlation can inform the placement and configuration of security controls, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems, to effectively protect critical assets and their dependencies.
Asset correlation helps organizations move beyond a siloed view of their assets to a more interconnected and comprehensive understanding of their IT environment, enabling them to assess better and manage cyber risks.
ThreatNG can be a valuable solution for asset correlation in cybersecurity, helping organizations understand the relationships between their internet-facing assets and the potential impact of vulnerabilities. Here's how ThreatNG's features can help with asset correlation:
External Discovery and Assessment
ThreatNG's external discovery capabilities are crucial for identifying and cataloging all internet-facing assets, including those not known to internal teams or managed by traditional asset discovery tools. This comprehensive inventory of assets forms the foundation for asset correlation.
ThreatNG's external assessment capabilities help identify vulnerabilities in these internet-facing assets and assess their potential impact on related assets. Its various security ratings evaluate susceptibility to different attack vectors, such as:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: This rating analyzes the external components of web applications to identify potential weaknesses that attackers could exploit to take control, which could then be used to pivot to other connected systems.
Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: This rating assesses the risk of attackers taking over unused or improperly configured subdomains, which could be used to launch attacks against other assets within the organization.
Data Leak Susceptibility: This rating evaluates the likelihood of sensitive data being exposed through various channels, such as cloud misconfigurations or dark web leaks, which could compromise related assets that rely on that data.
Cyber Risk Exposure: This rating considers various factors, including exposed sensitive ports, known vulnerabilities, and code secret exposure, to determine an organization's overall cyber risk exposure. This can help identify critical assets that must be protected to prevent cascading effects.
ThreatNG's investigation modules enable deep dives into specific assets or areas of concern to gather more detailed information for asset correlation. For example:
Domain Intelligence: This module provides detailed information about domain names, subdomains, and associated technologies. It helps identify relationships between different web assets and potential attack paths that could exploit those relationships.
Sensitive Code Exposure: This module scans public code repositories for sensitive information, such as API keys, access tokens, and database credentials, that attackers could exploit. It helps identify connections between code repositories and other assets that could be compromised if the sensitive information is leaked.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module identifies the organization's cloud services and SaaS applications, helping assess the risk of attackers exploiting misconfigurations or vulnerabilities in these services to access other connected assets.
ThreatNG's intelligence repositories provide valuable information about potential threats and vulnerabilities that could affect multiple assets within the organization. This information includes data on:
Dark web activities: ThreatNG scans the dark web for mentions of the organization, its assets, or its employees, helping identify potential data leaks, compromised credentials, or planned attacks that could target multiple related assets.
Ransomware events and groups: ThreatNG tracks ransomware events and groups, providing insights into current attack trends and potential threats to the organization's entire infrastructure, which can help identify assets that are particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks and their potential impact on other connected assets.
Known vulnerabilities: ThreatNG maintains a database of known vulnerabilities, helping organizations assess the likelihood of attackers exploiting specific weaknesses in their assets and the potential impact on related assets.
Working with Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG can integrate with other security solutions to enhance asset correlation and risk management. For example, ThreatNG can complement:
Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs): ThreatNG can enrich CMDB data with information about external assets and their associated risks, providing a more complete view of the organization's IT infrastructure and the relationships between different assets.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems: ThreatNG can feed its findings into SIEM systems to provide a broader view of security events across the organization. This will enable more effective detection and response to attacks that could exploit asset relationships.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): ThreatNG can enrich threat intelligence data from TIPs with its external attack surface and digital risk insights, enabling more accurate threat modeling and risk assessment based on asset correlation.
Examples of ThreatNG Helping with Asset Correlation
Identifying a Vulnerable Web Server and its Dependencies: ThreatNG could identify a vulnerable web server connected to a critical database server. By understanding this relationship, the organization can prioritize patching the web server to prevent attackers from exploiting it to access the database.
Uncovering a Subdomain Takeover Risk and its Potential Impact: ThreatNG could identify a vulnerable subdomain used for marketing campaigns. If attackers take over this subdomain, it could redirect users to malicious websites or distribute malware. By understanding the potential impact of this subdomain takeover, the organization can prioritize securing it to protect its users and reputation.
Detecting a Leaked API Key and its Connected Assets: ThreatNG could identify an API key accidentally exposed in a public code repository. Attackers could use this API key to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or systems. By understanding which assets are connected to this API key, the organization can assess the potential impact of its compromise and take appropriate mitigation measures.
By combining its powerful external discovery, assessment, and monitoring capabilities with comprehensive threat intelligence and investigation modules, ThreatNG provides a valuable toolset for asset correlation in cybersecurity. This enables organizations to understand the relationships between their internet-facing assets, assess the potential impact of vulnerabilities, and proactively defend against attacks that could exploit those relationships.
